I found these photos of Horsa gliders most of which landed east over the River Dives well away from their Landing Zones. These are gliders Chalk numbers 45, 94, 100, 221 CN 45: S/Sgt. Bill Potts & Sgt Jones landed at or near Bolbec both were taken prisoner CN 94: S/Sgt Lawrence & S/Sgt. Shorter Coup de Main glider which landed nearly on Periers En Auge bridge, both glider pilots and crew evaded capture and made it back to RV on 7th June. CN 100: S/Sgt. Dow & Sgt. Chadwick landed at Belle Epine ferme, Chadwick shot and left to die and Dow was captured and escaped capture. CN 221: S/Sgt. Ridgeway & Sgt. Foster Landed south of LZ K at La Vielle Eglise north of Vimont, Ridgeway was captured and Foster was killed with the Free French http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/opac.search?lan=E&seop=5&sele=52&sepa=1&doty=___&sest=planeurs%201944&chna=&senu=74791&rqdb=1&dbnu=1
Hello Brithm, CN94: landed at Periers EN Auge close to the Dives bridge CN100: this a the first time I see a picture of CN100. Great!
Ludo, There's another pic of Glider CN100 to be found on Pinterest. Looks like it was taken a little later as the back fuselage has been rolled on its side. No idea where La Ferme Belle Epine is located ... Bourgeauville area? Edit: Whoops, the guy on Pinterest must have picked it up from brithm ... ? https://twitter.com/6thairborne/status/474888097034153984
CEE, yes, La belle Epine farm is at Bourgeauville, a village not far from Saint Vaast. I will scan a map to show where it landed. Regards, Ludo
Hi Ben and welcome, Here's a bigger version of your photo. I have five views of this glider taken from different angles. Is this the glider you mean seen in a field below the village of Grangues and above the Chateau de Grangues where a number of gliders and aircraft crashed? I can't see the powerline tower which could be due to the poor quality of the aerial. The modern transmission line can be seen on Google earth. Regards ...
Hello yes it's this glider , north of Chateau de Grangues. the modern transmission line is on the same place that the powerline tower one the horsa picture i have a map with this powerline tower , I'll try to find it Ben
Ben, Brithm sent me this very good comparison not long ago which shows the horsa and location better. I'll add the other photos for interest sake.The rear fuselage has been rolled over at some point. There are a number of poles dug in throughout the field and the wing damage may have been caused by striking one. Whether these were erected for this purpose I don't know as the area doesn't strike me as likely spot for glider landings? Since it is near the German HQ at the Chateau precautions may have taken to situate anti-glider poles in the surrounding fields. Regards ...
nice pictures indeed , the wing was damaged by striking a pole an other pictures from this glider http://archives.numerisees.calvados.fr/console/ir_ead_visu_lien.php?m=&ir=7179&id=150501009 and one from inside glider n°94 http://archives.numerisees.calvados.fr/console/ir_ead_visu_lien.php?m=&ir=7179&id=150502688 Ben
Ben14 great stuff. Many thanks for posting this. Ludo68000 did suggest to me that this glider was not Chalk Number 100 as he pointed out the hills behind suggesting hilly area of Grangues but I was admant as the description by S/Sgt. Dow in One Night In June was that the wing hit a pylon and taken off the port wing so I assumed this was glider 100. If this is the place where the glider landed it is not 100 as it landed at Belle Epine Farm, Bourgeauville which is 5 miles away East. Ben14 thanks for putting a contempory photograph up it is nice to see where the gliders landed today. Question now is which glider was it? Ludo68000 pointed out that it is likely the pilots and passengers survived the landing otherwise there would be official report on this. So either evaded capture or taken prisoner later. Brithm
Hello Brithm on this picture , the AC number is LH ??? on this page you can find a PDF file with this testimony (in french) of Willy Trout (7Bn para) http://www.ladives1944.com/t%C3%A9moignages/grangues-et-environs/ on paragraphe 2 he talk about a glider at Grangues with safe passengers (so not gliders on Chateau de Grangues wood) and paragraphe 4 it's Glider n° 110 of Brucourt there's an other unknown glider , 2 km west of the LH ???
Ben, Thanks for the link to "Un fleuve pour la liberté, la Dives", an excellent site that I somehow managed to miss up to now - merci! Regards ...
Hi Ben, On your map you point to Glider 110. Would this be the one that came down in Bricqueville on the west side of the Dives River? From the book "Operation Tonga" by Stephen Wright: "110 - N - S/Sgt Hunter, J. - Sgt Stonebanks, W. - Hit tree nr Briqueville. - Stonebanks killed and Hunter sustained broken leg." I may have found the other unknown glider nearby the Brucourt area you point to. It's very faint and I could be mistaken. South is to the top of the aerial. Gernealleutnant Riechert travelled to the Brucourt heights to view the area and mentions a crashed 4 engined aircraft 100 metres away from a road and other gliders scattered about. It's hard to know if he is referring to his immediate area or further afield. I occasionally put up some stitches on a server of the 6th Airborne area in Normandy. They are good for overall views but not for exploring in closeup detail. https://spideroak.com/browse/share/Stuf/198412 And a bit off topic would you by any chance know the exact location of the Vermughen farm? Regards ...
Hi Cee yes it's the second unknown glider http://ncap.org.uk/sites/default/files/frames/zoomify/000/000/023/NCAP-000-000-023-371/TileGroup0/4-2-6.jpg The glider 110 has crash on a tree 200 m South-West of the city Hall of Brucourt For the Vermughen farm , i think it was where the racecourse of Cabourg was built ? (after war) Ben
Hi CEE, Brith and Ben, I think the glider pointed above is CN84. It was piloted by S/SGt HUNTER, and Sgt COLLINS. There were no reported casualties near the glider. The port wing was broken during the flight and it is a miricla Hunter managed to land without damage. I came to the conclusion it is CN84 after reading Wally Troutt account Regards, Ludovic
Don't know if it's of any interest but the interior shot of the glider shows the large cockpit panel that held the Rebecca receiver equipment. As far as I'm aware only 20 gliders had the necessary modifications made to carry Rebecca before D-Day, 19 of them being LH serial gliders.
Ben, Good pic! According to Steve Wright's Operation Tonga: 220 - K - *S/Sgt Ridgeway, W. - †Sgt Foster, P. - Landed in marsh nr Vimont. Ridgeway captured. Foster shot whilst attempting to get to Allied lines 221 - K - S/Sgt England, W. - Sgt Graham, J. - Landed LZ N. England wounded and captured. Freed by Para patrol. So Steve has a different CN for the glider that landed near Vimont. Rather than a marsh it appears to be fairly solid ground ? When you blow up Brithm's photo above it does appear to be a 221 under the wing on first impression. Or is the 1 the side of a squarish 0 ? Regards ...
