Operation Ladbroke

[Greg in OK]

On July 9th, 1943 Allied transports took off from Tunisia with 144 assault gliders in tow in the opening move of Operation Husky, the invasion Sicily.

The assault gliders, 136 Waco CG-4/Hadrians and 8 Horsas, were to deliver 2075 troops of the British 1st Airlanding Brigade in a daring night time assault to secure the Ponte Grande Bridge.

The story of the assault can be seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ladbroke but the 1st Airlanding Brigade would run afoul of bad weather, friendly fire, poor nighttime navigation and a lack of communication between the gliders and their tugs. Released at the wrong point, 65 of the assault gliders failed to make landfall and ditched in the nighttime sea. The remaining gliders were scattered, and only a dozen gliders hit the landing zone. Of the remaining gliders only 59 more reached Sicily but some missed the LZ by as much as 25 miles.

Regardless, the 1st Airlanding Brigade was able to take the bridge (with a force totaling only 87 men) and hold it until they ran out of ammunition. The Italian forces then retook the bridge but they where unable to demolish the bridge because the 1st Airlanding Brigade had removed the demolition charged the Italians had rigged on the bridge.

In a small tribute to the brave men of the 1st Airlanding Brigade I will build the 1/72 Revell Waco CG-4/Hadrian in the markings of the craft used in Operation Ladbroke. (Which, oddly, are USAAF markings as the Waco gliders were "loaned" to the British for this operation)

The kit it self is an older Revell offering (does anyone know the release date?), very basic interior but some nice "fabric" work covering the wings and fuselage.

The first step is to glue in some flat stock along some of the edges of the fuselage halves to avoid the thin butt joints that the kit has.

I hope that you will enjoy the build.

Greg in OK

Edited September 13, 2016 by Greg in OK

[tonyot]

I`m so glad that you have decided to build this kit as a tribute to the men of 1st Airlanding Bde from 1st Airborne Division,...... good luck and I`ll be following closely. The Airfix Airborne Jeep includes a 75mm Howitzer as used by 1st Airlanding Light Regt RA and either this or the Jeep would look great as a load,.....just an idea.

Keep up the good work and cheers for representing the Airborne Forces,

Tony.

[Greg in OK]

Been doing some research on the CG-4As in general and those used specifically in Operation Ladbroke.

 

It turns out that the interior of the CG4A can have a lot of variations.  About a dozen different companies produced the design, and interior details could vary considerably.   This started out as my search for the proper interior  color but the fabric, which gives the main color to the interior, could be white, an very off white "linen" color, uneven pinkish on white, or UV resistant silver dope.  Most of what I saw was white to off white so I am going with that.  Pilots seats and the interior benches were non-standard, exposed framing was green primer and the wood was varnished most the time but some times it appears to be painted.

 

Specifically to make a CG4A in Operation Ladbroke markings I hit the net looking for contemporary photos (none are in color, of course) and found photos of only 5 Waco gliders that were identifiable as being involved in Ladbroke.  Pictures were available for glider numbers 13, 20, 29, 90 and 126.  However ONLY Number 29 had 1) and prelaunch photo in Africa and a post landing shot on Sicily and 2) identifiable tail numbers.  So it looks like I am building #29.

 

I would like to ask everyone that if they know of any source of good CG-4A photos that are from the Ladbroke operation I would be thrilled to see them!

 

So back to work....time to whitewash that interior, Huck.

 

Greg in OK

[tonyot]

Here are some;

 

 

A colour image of the famous `Voodoo which flew the Atlantic under tow, you can see the interior

and for interest here is another pic of Voodoo;

 

Good luck with your model,

 

Tony

[tonyot]

Here are some;

Note the RAF roundel cut out on the bonnet of the Jeep,....just in cae you decide to add one to your model,....also the Airborne version as seen here had the ends of the bumpers cut off as well as other mods.

Here is your 29,.....it landed members of the 2nd South Staffords;

 

 

A colour image of the famous `Voodoo which flew the Atlantic under tow, you can see the interior

and for interest here is another pic of Voodoo;

 

Good luck with your model,

 

Tony

Here are some;

Here is your 29,.....it landed members of the 2nd South Staffords;

 

 

A colour image of the famous `Voodoo which flew the Atlantic under tow, you can see the interior

and for interest here is another pic of Voodoo;

 

Good luck with your model,

 

Tony

Edited September 16, 2016 by tonyot
forgot to add someting!

[tonyot]

Have you seen this one?

And here is its story from Ladbroke;

http://www.operation-ladbroke.com/story-waco-glider-126-operation-ladbroke/

It carried men of the Mortar Platoon of 1st Bn. The Border Regt;

Manifest

1 sgt
1 ord?
10 mortar men
1 A tk man
8 men R coy
5 trolleys
2 mortars
132 Bombs

Seems like a lot for a Hadrian to me?

 

Cheers

          Tony

[Greg in OK]

I had seen the manifest on the 126 and, yes, if you count up the "men" (1+1+10+1+8) you get a lot more troops than the Waco glider can carry....that got me wondering if that "8 men R coy" isn't 8 men but an abbreviation for some piece of equipment.  Any thoughts?

 

I was also wondering if those 132 "bombs" are the shells for the 2 mortars.

 

Greg

[tonyot]

4 minutes ago, Greg in OK said:

I had seen the manifest on the 126 and, yes, if you count up the "men" (1+1+10+1+8) you get a lot more troops than the Waco glider can carry....that got me wondering if that "8 men R coy" isn't 8 men but an abbreviation for some piece of equipment.  Any thoughts?

 

I was also wondering if those 132 "bombs" are the shells for the 2 mortars.

 

Greg

Having looked into this further there were two manifests combined!

Have you seen this one?

And here is its story from Ladbroke;

http://www.operation-ladbroke.com/story-waco-glider-126-operation-ladbroke/

It carried men of the Mortar Platoon of 1st Bn. The Border Regt;

Manifest

1 sgt
1 ord?
10 mortar men
1 A tk man
8 men R coy
5 trolleys
2 mortars
132 Bombs

Seems like a lot for a Hadrian to me?

 

Cheers

          Tony

4 minutes ago, Greg in OK said:

I had seen the manifest on the 126 and, yes, if you count up the "men" (1+1+10+1+8) you get a lot more troops than the Waco glider can carry....that got me wondering if that "8 men R coy" isn't 8 men but an abbreviation for some piece of equipment.  Any thoughts?

 

I was also wondering if those 132 "bombs" are the shells for the 2 mortars.

 

Greg

Having looked into this further there were two manifests combined!

Have you seen this one?

And here is its story from Ladbroke;

http://www.operation-ladbroke.com/story-waco-glider-126-operation-ladbroke/

It carried men of the Mortar Platoon of 1st Bn. The Border Regt;

Manifest

1 sgt
1 ord?
10 mortar men
1 A tk man
8 men R coy
5 trolleys
2 mortars
132 Bombs

Seems like a lot for a Hadrian to me?

 

Cheers

          Tony

[tonyot]

Sorry it looks like a dogs dinner,......adding posts is taking forever and they have become all jumbled up! Basically,.....it says that the manifest was combined with another Hadrian,....... obviously added at the last minute and given an A suffix as 126A,.....with the manifest of 126 receiving both loads.  The term bombs does mean mortar bombs. 8 men R Company will be 8 men from R Company of the same unit. 

 

Cheers

            Tony 

[Greg in OK]

Thanks!  That makes sense.

 

By the way I found a great walk around on the CG-4 here:  http://www.retroplane.net/soaring_museum/waco_cg4/accueil.htm

 

Greg

[Giorgio N]

Interesting subject !

This kit is actually from the Italeri mould, originally released in 1975. Your box is the result of an agreement that Revell and Italeri had back then to market the Italian kits on the German and other markets under the Revell label. Your box should date from 1976 or so, very old. Notice how the box has a label with the spelling "Italaerei".. this was Italeri's original name and was later changed to make the name easier to read and pronouce outside Italy. This kit is today still in Italeri's catalogue and I believe remains the only CG-4 available in this scale.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Giorgio N
correct spelling

[Romeo Delta]

What a great topic for a build!

 

Following along with interest. I've bookmarked that Wiki page to have a read when I get home. 

[Greg in OK]

Finished a simple cabin interior for the glider.  Benches on one side, crates on the other, just generic stuff, I have no idea of what this particular glider carried into battle.

 

 

now I can close up the fuselage.

 

Greg in OK

[CliffB]

Really nice to see this one Greg. 

I visited the UK's Museum of Army Flying a few days ago (for the first time in over 10 years) - several gliders to see, including a Hadrian .

[Greg in OK]

I had a wee disaster on the CG-4.

 

When I mated the wings last night the butt joint in the fuselage top split wide open back to the light panel.

 

 

I knew this was a bad joint going in but I didn't want to reinforce it like I did in the (unable to be seen) tail because it would look out of place.

 

Now having no choice I removed the wings and cut a strip of plastic to length to fit in the roof.

 

 

After stripping the paint from the cabin roof and slightly bending the strip to better fit the slight rounded shape I clamped it into place as best as I could.

 

 

Lesson learned, having the kit stay together is more important than having "proper" looking interior.

 

Greg in OK

[JOCKNEY]

Another bit of history I knew nothing about, the number of gliders and men lost to the sea is horrific.

 

Reading the attached, is this down to towing pilot error, or one of the towing pilots getting cold feet and the others releasing gliders assuming the other guy must know what he's doing ?

 

Looking forward to following this build

 

regards Pat

[tonyot]

11 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Another bit of history I knew nothing about, the number of gliders and men lost to the sea is horrific.

 

Reading the attached, is this down to towing pilot error, or one of the towing pilots getting cold feet and the others releasing gliders assuming the other guy must know what he's doing ?

 

Looking forward to following this build

 

regards Pat

Hiya Pat,.......the problem with the glider assault was that the ships of the invasion fleet opened fire on the glider armada and many of the inexperienced tug pilots let their gliders go too soon, due to a mixture of poor navigation and confusion due to the `friendly' flak. I think that the weather was poor too which did not help matters.

 

The Waco is coming along beautifully Greg,

 

Cheers

            Tony

[JOCKNEY]

Thanks Tony

 

Really enjoying following the build Greg, it's a shame all that detail won't be as visible with the fuselage closed, or are you planning to leave the front open?

 

cheers Pat

[Greg in OK]

Right now the plan is to close the front, in part to add some strength to that butt joint.

 

Greg in OK

[Tomoshenko]

Enjoyable and interesting build. Liking the interior detail.

[Greg in OK]

Warning Will Robinson!  Warning!

 

OK, this build has turned into a knock down, drag out fight.  The problem revolves around the wing / fuselage joint which is REALLY poorly designed.  No photos, because it is not easy to see the problem now that the fuselage is assembled but it is basically an undersized tapered tab into an slot.  NO real way to insure the proper dihedral, and the design works best with at angles other than the proper setting.  VERY frustrating, I glued some sheet stock to the tabs and will try again (which I think is Round 4),

 

Greg in not so OK mood. 

[Greg in OK]

Oh this IS a knock down, drag out fight!

 

The landing gear makes the issue with the wings look like child's play. 

 

All you need to do the landing gear is four hands, infinite patience and a holy man's ability top perform minor miracles on demand.

 

Three days for each side......

 

 

I AM making slow progress.

 

Greg in OK

Edited December 5, 2016 by Greg in OK

[Greg in OK]

 

As time runs short on this build I have been trying to keep up the pace on this build....

 

Landing gear was a absolute bear to put on but once it place it looks OK.  I like the way the did the wheels, it paints up well.

 

 

The canopy was not to hard to frame with masking tape.  Only problem is all that glass shows off the totally fake cockpit interior rather well.  If you want to do a proper cockpit for this kit you are going to have to scratch it, the parts that come with the kit aren't just wrong, they are totally imaginary! 

 

 

Only decals and some detail painting left to finish.  The biggest mistake I made in this build was NOT noticing the twist in the rear fuselage until it was to late.  The tail will always be twisted a bit in relation to the wing, had I seen it earlier I might have been able to fix it.

 

Greg in OK

[Greg in OK]

Finally finished.  It didn't come out the way I wanted, due jointly to my modeling whoops and an issue or two with the kit.

 

In retrospect I should NOT have glued the floor to the one side of the fuselage.  It allowed my to do the interior easily but stopped the fuselage bottom from joining together properly.

 

The wings are next to impossible to set the right angle on (and the butt joint makes the problem worse) next time I insert a partial spar to set the wings properly.

 

The landing gear!  OMG!  Doing the landing gear requires skill, liquor, patience,  liquor, luck and liquor.  The liquor was the only one of those that came in good supply as I found myself critically short of skill, patience and luck.

 

The cockpit interior is TOTALLY MADE UP!!  If you want to do it right, gut the cockpit interior, look at the photos and start scratching. 

 

Finally make sure you find and correct any twist in the rear fuselage early on and correct it.  I didn't see it in time.....

 

Regardless, I did finish, which is more than I can say for the MC200 I started....

 

Airfix P-40 for size comparison only.

 

 

 

Greg in OK

Edited December 21, 2016 by Greg in OK

[Tomoshenko]

Nice work and useful commentary on its shortcomings. Given the kit issues and sparsity of kit supplied detail in the pit, Its come out well.