page_title: Operation Turkey Buzzard
section_title: Mission
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Turkey Buzzard / Mission
context_page_description: Operation Turkey Buzzard, also known as Operation Beggar, was a British supply mission to North Africa that took place between March and August 1943, during the Second World War. The mission was undertaken by No. 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment and No. 295 Squadron Royal Air Force, prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily. Unusually, the mission was known by different names in different branches of the British Armed Forces: the British Army called the operation "Turkey Buzzard", while in the Royal Air Force it was known as "Beggar".
  The mission involved Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax bombers towing Airspeed Horsa gliders 3,200 miles from England to Tunisia. The British Horsas were needed to complement the smaller American Waco gliders, which did not have the capacity required for the operations planned by the 1st Airborne Division.
  During the mission one Halifax-and-Horsa combination was shot down by German Focke Wulf Condor long-range patrol aircraft. Altogether five Horsas and three Halifaxes were lost, but twenty-seven Horsas arrived in Tunisia in time to participate in the invasion of Sicily.
context_section_description: The only Horsa gliders were in England at the time, and transporting them to North Africa would require a tow of 1,200 miles (1,900 km) over the Atlantic Ocean around the coast of Portugal and Spain, then a further 2,000 miles (3,200 km) across North Africa to reach Tunisia. No one had ever towed a glider that distance before, and it was not known if it was even possible. To test the concept and prove they had the necessary endurance, Handley Page Halifax bombers of No. 295 Squadron RAF towed Horsa gliders around the coastline of Britain.
  The mission was given the go-ahead; the Horsas were modified to jettison their landing gear after takeoff to reduce drag, while the Halifax bombers were modified with long-range fuel tanks fitted in the bomb bays. The pilots for the gliders came from No. 2 Wing, having been left in England when most of the wing departed for Tunisia earlier in the year. An eleven-week period of training followed, during which four crashes killed thirteen men. At a mission conference on 21 May 1943, hosted by No. 38 Wing RAF, the impossibility of training the bomber crews to tow the gliders and deliver forty gliders to North Africa was discussed. In the end it was decided that as a priority ten bomber crews would be fully trained to deliver around fifteen gliders to North Africa by 21 June.
  The Halifaxes and Horsas were moved to RAF Portreath in Cornwall, to shorten the distance they would have to travel. Even so, they were left with a ten-hour flight to Sale airport in Morocco. On arrival at Sale the gliders were released to land on a sand-patch alongside the runway. Once on the ground each Horsa was fitted with the spare landing gear it carried inside, and the flight immediately took off again on the next leg of the journey, to Mascara in Algeria. Their journey did not end here; they left for the final destination, Kairouan Airfield in Tunisia, as soon as possible. During the flight the gliders were provided with three pilots, who had to change around every hour to relieve fatigue.
  The flights were carried out between 3 June and 7 July; the first Horsas arrived at Kairouran on 28 June, only twelve days before they were to be used in Operation Ladbroke. During the flight from England, for its first three hours over the Bay of Biscay the Halifax–Horsa combination was escorted by RAF Bristol Beaufighters or Mosquito long-range fighter aircraft. They kept to an altitude of 500 ft (150 m) to avoid German radar so the escorting fighters could return safely when short of fuel. The mission was not without its dangers. Four hours into one flight, a Horsa snapped its tow-rope while trying to avoid low cloud and ditched in the sea. Another Horsa and Halifax were discovered by a pair of German Focke-Wulf Fw 200s and shot down. After surviving attacks from Luftwaffe fighter patrols and experiencing often-turbulent weather, a total of twenty-seven Horsas were delivered to North Africa in time for the invasion of Sicily. The total losses during the flights were three Halifaxes and five Horsas, with twenty-one RAF aircrew and seven glider pilots killed.
caption: The Handley Page Halifax used for towing the gliders to North Africa.
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