Читать книгу Remembering D-day: Personal Histories of Everyday Heroes - Martin Bowman - Страница 67

Flying Officer, Mosquito navigator, 418 Squadron, RAF Holmsley South near Bournemouth.

‘Six aircrews were detailed to act as “Flak bait” to cover the paratroop and glider drops in the Cherbourg Peninsula, by drawing searchlights and flak away from these more vulnerable aircraft. So successful was this that two of the six were hit, one so badly that it crash-landed near base and burnt up. The crew ran!’

US 8th Air force base, Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire in May 1943 during the visit of HM King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Behind the royal entourage is a Horsa glider, one of hundreds waiting on airfields throughout UK. On the eve of D-Day many Horsas were used by American paratroopers.