 Ladies and gentlemen, the picture you are about to see is as important in the film document as is ever made by the Army Air Forces. In graphic detail, it reveals the operation used by gliders in the invasion of Normandy, gliders which you helped to manufacture. You will not soon forget this picture. You may even be able to recognize gliders which you built with your own hands. I think you will swell with pride when you see how well they performed but without them, the invasion of German air territory could not have been a success at once. Yes, you will be filled with justifiable pride and speaking for the Air Technical Service Command and the entire Army Air Force. I want you to know that we shared this pride with you. The job is not yet done. We still need gliders of every description. Gliders such as only you can make. In the past, you worked very hard, but now you have worked even harder. For out of your toil and come to aircraft, we need to speed victory. Thank you. This is the story of the operation which began the assault on the continent of Europe. We will transport and resupply parachute and glider elements of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division and will be prepared to transport elements of the British 1st Airborne Division as directed. The US 101st Airborne Division will begin landing approximately 30 minutes prior to civil twilight on the morning of D-Day to assist the 4th Division in the initial assault and capture the town of Carantan. The US 82nd Airborne Division will land to the immediate west of the 101st for the purpose of preventing the movement of enemy reserves to the east and north. Simple, isn't it? This mission which reads so easily calls for an attack from England on the continent of Europe walled in by the formidable defense in depth of the Atlantic Wall bristling with gun emplacements and fortifications. Combined chiefs of staff decided that frontal assault alone would not crack Fortress Europe. The Atlantic Wall must be vaulted and the cracking process begun from the rear. The initial effort by land, sea and air would be made in this area spearheaded by troop carrier and airborne forces. For the D-Day there must be a number of lesser D-Days. The first large-scale airborne operation was performed in conjunction with the assault on Sicily 10 July 1943. Taking off from fields in Africa for dropping zones in Sicily troop carrier units transported by glider and aircraft units of the 1st British and the US 82nd Airborne Divisions The year before this operation a troop carrier group transported a parachute infantry battalion from England to start the invasion of North Africa. But the invasion of Sicily was the first real test for troop carrier units which had trained and maneuvers in Texas, the Carolinas and England. The Sicilian operation indicated there was much to be learned about the planning of an airborne operation. Troop carrier aircraft were shot down by friendly forces and parachute drops were widely scattered. Factical success however, rich in experience for the units which would later participate in the assault on the continent. The lesson was driven home that more navigation aids were badly needed that gliders must be landed at slow speeds that some type of air brake was necessary to decrease the rate of descent of gliders going into small fields that protection for the nose of the glider and rough landing should be provided not only to protect the pilots but to facilitate unloading. The technique had to be worked out for gliders landing on water. The lessons of Sicily was added the experience of the highly successful operation in the Marcom Valley of New Guinea in which troop carrier and airborne forces showed the practicability of a well-planned daylight operation. The lessons learned from the operations in Sicily, Marcom Valley and Solano were made a part of training and maneuvers. The griswold nose was developed to protect the glider and rough landings. Prestor was adopted. Permit landing the glider in restricted areas. Glider was introduced. Blitz landings were out. Glider pilots were taught a slow constant rate of descent with a slow landing to a precise spot on the ground. F was suitable for towing the CG-4A glider. 5 was used as a B-17 in dual-toe. Edromes in France. Ambulance ships and overseas grew the doctrine expressed in War Department Circular 113. Employment of airborne and troop carrier forces. Doctrine was put into practice and Circular 113 became the blueprint for all future airborne operations. Airborne and troop carrier units are theater of operation forces. Their employment must be an integral part of the basic plan made by the agency directing all land, sea and air forces in the operation. The coordinating directive must be issued in time to allow realistic preparation and training by troop carrier and airborne units for the specific operation. Airborne troops must be employed in mass and the bulk of the force landed in as small an area as possible. The use of highly trained pathfinder teams dropped in advance to mock dropping zones and glider landing zones is essential. Procedures must be prescribed which will ensure that troop carrier aircraft on course at proper altitudes and on correct time schedules are not fired upon by friendly forces. Operational training groups which were committed to the United Kingdom were trained in flying procedures of the United Kingdom before they left the states. Parted overseas, the airborne planning committee headed by the air commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force was composed of representatives from all the services involved in the airborne operation. Navy, ground as well as the troop carrier command and the airborne divisions concerned. British ground crews helped assemble their own horse of gliders before turning them over to troop carrier. This horse now belongs to the ninth troop carrier command. Each group now had 73 aircraft instead of the normal 52. The troop carrier force of three wings and 14 groups contained one experienced wing and five combat wise groups from the Mediterranean. Three planes in each squadron are equipped for aerial pickup is necessary for accuracy and delivery of resupply containers. Combined team of troop carrier crews and parachute technicians will drop on objective areas and set up homing devices for the main aerial convoy. Teams consist of nine to 14 technical men and five security personnel. The Pathfinder School, starting without precedent and table of organization and with little equipment turned out 50 trained troop carrier crews and 260 British and American airborne officers and men by D-Day. Finder airplanes were equipped with every navigational aid used by troop carrier and the flight crews and airborne teams received 30 to 60 hours training in their use both in the air and on the ground. Each Pathfinder team is equipped with eight specially designed holofane lights from which DZ light teas are made. By D-Day, crews who had lived, trained and were briefed together could navigate under instrument conditions to within 600 to 800 yards of a pinpointed position in unfamiliar territory. March through May, 35 lower echelon and three full scale command exercises were held culminating in a full dress rehearsal for the operation against the continent. The times, loads, distances and navigational aids were exactly as would be used in the assault. Landing zones were selected for their similarity to those in Normandy which intelligence showed were 900 to 1500 feet long and averaged 500 feet wide. Mosaic showed that the objective areas would hold 1300 gliders. The Normandy fields were bounded by trees 15 to 75 feet high along with numerous dense hedges. The pilots were allowed to choose their own fields and release was made at heights from 800 to 1000 feet. Both ideas were impractical. The high release made the gliders more vulnerable to ground fire and sacrificed accuracy and when each pilot shows his landing field there were too many conflicting patterns. Following this maneuver it was decided that leaders were to choose the landing field for the three other gliders in his element and the release would be made at 400 to 600 feet. There are certain to be crack ups. This must be made between realistic training and the number of gliders which may be expended on the maneuver. Percentage of horse or crack ups was to be so much higher in the actual operation was that a sufficient number were not available for extensive practice in full load landings into small fields. Because of their rugged fuselage construction most of the CG-4A gliders which sustained damage upon landing deliver their loads of personnel and equipment in fighting condition. Airborne infantry file into buses for their last land-born ride until D-Day. Equipment is issued. Grab a few moments to read letters from home and write a few lines that this is business and you want to be sure you're in business when the time comes so you take inventory of your stock and trade and keep everything clean and shining and ready. The ships blossomed out in their new war paint. On D-2 invasion markings were applied. Another lesson from Sicily. Invasion money revealed the objective. By now the high command insisted that individuals should know their destination. Hours before takeoff time parapacts were assembled and delivered to the C-47s. These received their quarters of troops who will cross the beaches and move forward. If troop carrier and air first was to go in by boat as were some attached in supporting units of both divisions. The lift of the required aircraft and gliders was not available to put them in by air as early as D-Day minus one. And time narrows down. Gliders for the first night's operation are assembled for the takeoff. Glider pilots are told to assemble at division headquarters after landing for evacuation to England. Airborne general has a final talk with his men. General inspection. Watch their ships. To his passengers. It's from the supreme commander. The eyes of the world are upon you and the hopes and prayers of all liberty. This trooper will drop his British leg pack loaded with demolition supplies just before he lands. Board the ships that will show the way into enemy territory. If troop-laden aircraft will home tonight on navigation aids set up by these pathfinders. This is one minute out of one hour in one day in the world's history that has rarely been equaled. These are the first ships to take off in the airborne invasion of Fortress Europe. The finder ship is airborne at 2154. The finders head for the coast of France. Other C-47s move into position for their takeoff at the head of the runway. Thirty minutes after the pathfinders take off the first serials of C-47s follow on the invasion path. The invasion fleet is already weight anchor. There's 3,000 en route clearing at DZ but actually it's variable. 500 to 1,000. Visibility is poor in less than two hours. Panzers moving into the peninsula made 100 glider loads of anti-tank guns and troops essential for the initial phases. It was estimated that only 50% of personnel and equipment would be available for use after the landing. This calculated risk was accepted. The serials were made up of the reliable CG forays which were easier to put into strange fields in darkness. Here are 200. Time for the gliders to go. This is a softened up for the beach landing. Mimicostal installations. Premisee had been obtained a long time before D-Day. The 8th and 9th Air Forces had accomplished that. Standing offshore the invasion craft weight as the light planes blast the coast. Light surface ships come in. Ways, railheads, the isolation of a battlefield. And the battlefield is isolated. No German reserves come through to the coast in any strength. The beachhead holds and grows as the Air Force piles up a record number of sorties. Sorties are flown by the fighters on D-Day. Glider serials are being marshaled for the takeoff. 47s are doing double duty. Ready to take off with gliders. Dual tow had been practiced in the States. But it was not used in this operation due to the extra time necessary for air assembly. And to the additional marshalling space which it would require on the air drums. Art-pressed paratroopers who went into action in darkness earlier today are depending on reinforcements and heavier equipment which will be delivered by these glider serials. Three groups of fighter cover are in takeoff position at air drums to the south. Shefford was made simultaneously by the British 6th Airborne Division. Transported by RAF 38 Group on objectives around camp. Particularly interesting was the delivery of 8 1.5 ton tanks of a recce regiment in 30 huge hammer car gliders. 29 of the 30 tanks were in action within 10 minutes after they were landed. Air superiority makes possible this daylight operation. Mission for this friendly airplane. Previous serials. The traps consisted of poles 12 to 15 feet long. 33 and 24 days respectively. The 82nd, having captured Salmary Glees and secured the bridgehead across the Merderay River destroyed other river crossings, protected the flank of the 7th Army Corps and drove west to the Dove River. The 101st seized the areas assigned it, destroyed bridges and drove on to Carrantan to establish a defense area there. And sent this commendation. Visions including landing list of the splendid job, effective service providing local protection for the division command post vision was under heavy attack from three sides. Please express to all elements of your command who brought the division in by glider or parachute or who performed resupply missions for us our admiration for their coolness under fire their determination to overcome all obstacles and for their magnificent spirit of cooperation. This is part of the price paid for 6 and 7 June 1944. 162 troop carrier airplanes were dispatched in the first 24 hours of the assault. 43 were lost and 311 damaged by small arms fire happened here that cameras could never get. But a corporal with a path finders remembers. We were covering the landing of the first bunch of gliders. We were pinned down by German fire across the field. As the men came running out they stepped right into it and started to drop all around us. The German cannon blew one glider right apart. A veteran glider pilot. A night glider operation means more landing casualties and extreme difficulty in unloading. It is certainly not desirable if a dawn or dusk landing is at all practicable. Power pilot. I flew in a parachute serial the first night and the navigation age really worked. But I couldn't see the light T which was supposed to be on my drop zone. A department observer who entered combat with one of the airborne divisions. Troops were dropped generally in the vicinity of the DZs but were badly scattered. It appears that prearranged supply systems are not flexible enough for airborne combat. Supplies should be dropped as called for by local commanders rather than dropped in mass. Large scale parachute resupply drops are wasteful and should be restricted to emergencies. More attention should be paid to switching over to ground supply as soon as possible. A troop carrier liaison officer. Our pathfinder teams in two cases I know of suffered heavy casualties. The light T's which we expected so much help from were only 10% operational due to enemy fire. 50% of the resupply drop landed in enemy hands. Communications didn't exist to advise later serials of changes in the enemy situation. Troop carrier operations and communications personnel should move with the first parachute or glider units. 89% of the horses and 50% of the wackos crashed in landing. But 75% of personnel and equipment were ready for combat. What a face for the tests. How much they had learned will be history. History made by an airborne army.