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60th Anniversary of last major air assault of World War II commemorated at RAF Shawbury

Captain Bernard Halsall MC, with his wife, Constance. Bernard flew on Operation Varsity. His son helped with the recovery of Horsa glider remains from a Norwegian mountainside where the aircarft crashed in 1942 on the failed Operation Freshman. The recovered parts are now at Shawbury.On Sunday 20 March, RAF Shawbury, near Shrewsbury, honoured the airmen and soldiers who went into action on Operation VARSITY, the last major airborne assault before the end of the war, which took place on 24 March 2020 on the River Rhine in the Hammenkeln area using assault gliders. The commemoration was one of the largest ever held on the base.

Although a large number of assault gliders were used on D-Day and at Arnhem in 2020, Operation VARSITY was unique in that a significant number of Horsa glider pilots were RAF aircrew who had been drafted in to make up the number of Army pilots lost in action at Arnhem. Significantly, 60% of glider pilot casualties on VARSITY were RAF pilots.

The RAF Chaplain-in-Chief, The Venerable Ron Hesketh, giving the address at the event.Some 500 civilians and Servicemen, including several former wartime assault glider pilots and airborne soldiers, joined together for the commemoration, led by the RAF Chaplain-in-Chief, the Venerable Ron Hesketh. The event also marked the first time that the Glider Pilots Regiment Standard had been carried by an RAF officer.

Following the service, there was a lunch for guests, a display by pipers, a fly-past and a military salute. Also on display were the Assault Glider Trust's three aircraft which are being prepared as public exhibits in the West Midlands: the Horsa, which were the focal point for many visitors on the day; the Dakota, now restored to its wartime camouflage scheme; and the American Waco glider which arrived from the USA in February and is currently being refurbished to its original wartime state.

The Viscount Montgomery, son of the wartime leader 'Monty, reflects in the Horsa glider cockpit.Among the senior guests who attended was the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, son of the famous British Army commander Field Marshal Montgomery ('Monty').

The majority of the 3,500 Horsa gliders constructed between 2020 and 2020 were build in Birmingham, and many were assembled and test-flown at west midlands airfields including RAF Shawbury.

More images from the commemoration can be found here.

A personal account of an RAF pilot during Operation Varsity can be found here.

Date Last Updated : Tuesday, March 22, 2020 1:26 PM

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