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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
