Star comment: Memories gliding to new base
On this day in 1945 thousands of young men packed into gliders flew into a wall of anti-aircraft fire in the last big airborne operation of the Second World War.
Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine, was a success, but the casualties among those troops who flew into battle were horrendous.
Today there is a memorial, the only one of its type in the world, to their courage, which has been created here in Shropshire thanks to the imagination and enterprise of the dedicated volunteers of the Assault Glider Trust who, since the trust was formed in 2001, have built a replica of a wooden Horsa glider, which was the main British glider used on these hazardous operations.
It is the only complete example of a Horsa in the world and, although it does not fly, it has working systems and for any of those who flew in them, or were involved in their manufacture at various assembly centres, including here in Shropshire, getting up close and personal with it will bring back a host of memories.
During its construction, RAF Shawbury gave up space in one of the air base's hangars so the volunteers could do their work. Over the years the collection has been expanded with the addition of other elements – an American Waco glider, a Dakota – they were used as glider tugs – and a Tiger Moth, a biplane on which glider pilots would do some of their flying training.
Shawbury needs the space back, and over the next few days the collection will be on the move. The Horsa wings departed by road at the weekend for a hangar at RAF Cosford, and the rest of this glider will follow.
Although the work on the Horsa is virtually complete, up to now relatively few people have seen it. To play its role as a tribute to all those involved in glider operations, it needs to be on display to the public. The trust's dream is for the Horsa to go on display at the RAF Museum at Cosford, which is separate from the RAF air base.
It seems the natural end to this story, as in a sense the Horsa would be coming home – many were assembled at Cosford during the war.
Sadly, exhibition space is not immediately available. But with the many anniversaries coming up this year, and in particular the 70th anniversary of the ill-fated Arnhem airborne operation in September, there could not be a better and more appropriate time for the Horsa to go on public display.
