The Wings of Pegasus by George Chatterton

Chapter 6, preparations for D-Day

The last exercise of any size had taken place in September 1943, since when the men had

had little or no opportunities of flying.

The situation at the time of reorganisation was therefore to say the least, dismaying.

What I had was two wings, neither of which had had much experience of flying.

Number one wing, operating with 38 group, had only the training the RAF training schools

had given the glider pilots.

Number two wing, which had been following the first airborne division in Italy, was

in an even worse state.

One third of this wing had been on the Sicilian operation, but it had no flying for many

months.

Luckily, a number of glider pilots had been engaged in towing gliders across the Bay

of Biscuit in North Africa, and had gathered useful experiences as a result.

However, the majority had not been on an airfield for six to nine months.

It was an astonishing fact that the glider pilot regiment in January 1944 had had little

or no training, yet here we were facing one of the major operations of our time, and

this only six months ahead.

Six months may seem to some a long while, but when one considers that in that space of

time, 1,500 glider pilots had to be trained, exercised and fitted into a most complicated

operation, it was far too short.

Apart from anything else, only Ian Murray, who commanded number one wing and myself, had

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