Mike Peters - Glider Pilots in Sicily

First Published in Great Britain in 2012 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Mike Peters, 2012

ISBN 978-1-84884-683-8
eISBN 978-1-78337-848-7

The right of Mike Peters to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Acknowledgements

I decided to write this book following the 50th anniversary of Operation HUSKY in 1993. I remember listening to the very vivid accounts of two Glider Pilot Regiment (GPR) veterans who had survived Operation LADBROKE, Jock East and Les Howard; sadly, both passed away some years ago. It was their personal stories that inspired me to write this book, which includes all the contributions of those other glider pilots who, over the years, have shared their at times painful memories so freely with me. I remain grateful to Wallace Mackenzie, Harry Howard, Robin Walchli, Mike Hall, John McGeough, Les Howard, Jock East and Tom Davidson. More than 300 officers and men of 1st Airlanding Brigade lost their lives off the coast of Sicily and in the subsequent battles of July 1943, all leaving bereaved families behind them. I am indebted to those family members who have contributed their personal memories and letters, among them Mike Barrie, Patricia Woodcock, Mrs Dorothy Brown, Graham Coulson and Nigel Clifton. I extend my sincere thanks to them all.

The planning, preparation and execution of the airborne landings on Sicily was a complex and challenging task for all of those involved, generating vast tomes of information and files. Sourcing and verifying the research material for this book has thus been difficult at times. Fortunately, I have had the benefit of enthusiastic assistance and advice from John Howes, a skilled and pro-active researcher whose hard work and technical advice has saved me many weeks of time and effort when researching Operations BEGGAR, LADBROKE and FUSTIAN. In addition to providing invaluable assistance as a researcher, he has also allowed me to make use of previously unpublished extracts from his fathers account of the weeks leading up to the landings, including personal memories of LADBROKE and its immediate aftermath. Johns father, Sergeant Norman Howes, was a member of the 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment.

Many of the anecdotal accounts from GPR veterans included in this book were drawn from The Eagle , the excellent magazine of The Glider Pilot Regimental Association (GPRA). Thanks must therefore go to the editor, David Brook, whose willingness to allow the publication of these accounts, has provided an unprecedented insight into the first large-scale glider operation undertaken by the British Army. I am also grateful for the support, time spent proofreading, and the encouragement offered so freely by fellow historians and GPRA members, Luuk Buist (my co-author on Glider Pilots at Arnhem ), Steve Elsey and Steve Wright.

Researching distant campaigns can be difficult and costly. Fortunately however, through the generous support of Alain Chissel and Alison Biegel of Anglia Tours, I have had the privilege of leading a series of battlefield tours on Sicily which gave me the invaluable opportunity to walk over the landing zones and objectives many times, verifying my research and gaining a feel for the ground in the process. On most of those tours I was working with my good friend and fellow battlefield guide and author Tim Saunders, to whom I am extremely grateful for sharing so generously his extensive knowledge of the island and the campaign that took place on it in 1943.

Closer to home, I have been extremely fortunate in receiving much practical help and advice from fellow Airborne historians and International Guild of Battlefield Guides members Jo Hook, Tim Lynch, John Greenacre and Bob Hilton to whom I am indebted for proofreading and checking the draft chapters, and for allowing me to bounce my ideas off them. I must also mention Andrew Duff and Tom Dormer of Battlefield History TV who, along with Tim Saunders, sent me to Sicily to record and tell the story of the gliderborne operations on camera providing me with another opportunity to walk the Airborne battlefields and cemeteries of Sicily.

Access to archives and museums is critical to any authors research, and I have relied heavily on the support of the Airborne Assault Museum at Duxford. Its ever-patient curator Jon Baker, the assistant curator Becks Skinner, and Tom Lusby have been a great help throughout the writing of this book. I unreservedly recommend the museum and its archive to anybody interested in the history of airborne forces. In a similar vein, I also have to acknowledge the continued support of Stuart Eastwood and the staff at the Kings Own Royal Border Regiment Museum and thank them for allowing me to use source material from their archives. The Prince Consort Library in Aldershot has also been very supportive, as has Mark Hickman of The Pegasus Archive. I must also single out Chantal White, the librarian of the recently closed Army library at Wattisham Flying Station, to whom I am most grateful for her patience and unending enthusiasm, particularly when ordering on my behalf a seemingly endless list of reference books and source material.

Maps and photographs of the Sicily operations are very difficult to find, and in this respect I owe particular thanks to Robert Sigmond, Bob Gerritsen and Ian Blackwell for their great support in sourcing several of them for me.

Speaking of patience, I have to salute Henry Wilson, the commissioning editor at Pen and Sword Ltd, who really does deserve a medal for coping with my constant shifting of the projected completion date for Glider Pilots on Sicily . I extend my thanks to him and to my editor, the accomplished military historian and good friend, Peter Harclerode.

Finally, and most importantly, I must acknowledge the support and endless patience of my wife Karen, and two sons Adam and Tom, who have put up with me spending hours every evening and weekend researching and writing when I could have been spending time with them. I can now also apologise publicly to Karen for suggesting a family holiday to Sicily and then revealing that it was in fact a reconnaissance of the islands battlefields. To my wider family and colleagues at work I also extend my grateful thanks for reading and commenting on my draft chapters, and for their continual interest and encouragement.