104 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017Archive
military force, it was vitally necessary
for ‘Redland’ to establish an air
base immediately...” This base was
Netheravon, then an RAF station.
That demonstration was
‘Longstop’s’ prime purpose was
evinced by the fact that elements of
the exercise were cancelled due to
strong winds. To begin with, the 4th
Parachute Battalion and a liaison
detachment from the 2nd Parachute
Brigade HQ should have been
dropped a mile south of Netheravon,
capturing and holding the airstrip
“until the arrival of reinforcements
the following
morning”.
However, with
the wind speed
reaching 25mph
as against a
peacetime limit
of 18mph, this
aspect was
canned. The
wartime limit
was cited as 26mph. Instead, the
47 Dakotas and three Handley
Page Halifaxes fl ew past with their
cargoes still on board. It gave the
BBC’s Charles Gardner something
to talk about during his broadcast
that evening, recorded during the
afternoon’s proceedings.Conditions had improved
somewhat the next day, though
the wind was only a little more
favourable. The fi rst drop wasscheduled for 10.30hrs, involving 48
Dakotas carrying members of the
6th Parachute Battalion and, again,
the 2nd Parachute Brigade HQ.
“Flying in ‘vics’ of three, they came
over in four waves of 12 aircraft each.
To those, like ourselves, who have
not seen a mass drop of this nature,
the concentration obtained was
quite incredible. Within 10 minutes
the contents of these No 46 Group
Dakotas had been disgorged. On
the average, there were 20 men in
each aircraft, plus one or two supply
containers. Amongst the latter,there were some failures. With the
exception of a few bruises due to
being dragged along the ground on
landing, there were no casualties
amongst the troops.”
That last line, with the benefi t
of other accounts, seems to have
been over-optimistic. At least one
paratrooper’s ’chute failed to open,
fortunately leading to nothing more
than heavy contact with terra fi rma.
Ten Halifaxes followed, containing
one troop each of the Royal
Artillery’s 9th Anti-Tank Battery and96th Airborne Light Battery. “Their
equipment included guns, jeeps and
gun teams”. Further Halifaxes and
Dakotas then appeared, towing the
assault gliders over from Fairford: 12
Airspeed Horsas and nine General
Aircraft Hamilcars. According to the
reporter, “the accuracy with which
they all fi nished up in a bunch at the
appointed place on the aerodrome
was quite remarkable. Without delay
they disgorged their equipment,
mainly made up of special rolls of
tracking for temporary runways, and
powerful bulldozers.”
A Waco
Hadrian had
landed as an
addendum to the
glider force, and
once an airfi eld
surface had been
prepared it was
snatched back
into the air by a
suitably equipped
Dakota. The idea here was that the
Hadrian was being “used for the
evacuation of VIP prisoners”. The
Aeroplane noted presciently how “the
use of helicopters (for short-range
work) would be more practicable”,
and indeed a trio of Sikorsky Hoverfl y
IIs were on hand “to demonstrate
their suitability for bringing staff
offi cers into battle”, fl own by “RAF-
trained Army pilots”. In its ‘Longstop’
report, Flight recounted that this
“took place in very close — almost too
close — proximity to the spectators.”TOP:
At Brize Norton, the
Yorks line up in front
of the assembled
dignitaries, ready
to offl oad their
cargoes.ABOVE:
Dakotas lined up at
Brize Norton as still
more make their
landing approaches
in the background.ABOVE RIGHT:
A small static
display of transport
was mounted at
Brize for the interest
of the VIPs: from
left to right are a
Vickers Viking from
its manufacturer,
a Douglas C-54
Skymaster from the
newly established
US Air Force’s All
Weather Flying
Center, and a Bristol
170 Freighter
demonstrator.One Avro York simulated an arrival with
one engine out, whereupon the recently
airborne ground crew pounced upon it and
started work on replacing the engine with one
fl own in previously
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