HUGE GLIDER ARMADA

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 189, 9 May 1944, Page 5

HUGE GLIDER ARMADA

Further U.S. Rehearsal In Britain (British Official Wireless.) . RUGBY, May 7. A huge American glider armada went through its latest combat technique today before Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory and other chiefs of the Allied expeditionary air force. They saw the sky filled with motorless aircraft which were being primed silently and rapidly to fly airborne infantry into the battle zone. They saw twin-motored C 47 gliders go into the air and then race to a designated landing strip and descend rapidly into simulated enemy territory. Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory told the assembly: “One of the great moments in history is in front of us. It will be the greatest military project ever undertaken. The recent operations in Burma and the ones that you will soon carry out show that airborne forces are one of the most powerful weapons in modern warfare. They will becofne increasingly important with each new operation. I fully realize what a difficult task lies before you. and that it requires a very high state of training to land, in the right spot to do the most to Harass the enemy. But 1 have the greatest confidence that you will put on a great show. Troop-carrier planes rounded off the dav's demonstration by flying over a field In the close-knit combat formation they will use when dropping paratroops on enemy territory.