Three poignant gatherings to remember and honour are to be held at a windswept memorial to the Tarrant Rushton airfield - between Blandford and Wimborne - that played an important and secret role in the D-Day invasion of northern France in June, 1944.
Towed by Halifax four-engined bombers from Royal Air Force station Tarrant Rushton, airborne forces soldiers flying in six wooden Horsa gliders were the first troops to land in Normandy just minutes into the D-Day invasion on Tuesday, 6 June, 1944.
The vital Operation Coup de Main mission of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment, led by Major John Howard, was to capture the crucial Orne river and Caen canal bridges, near Ouistreham, north of Caen.
That important mission was to prevent German reinforcements from reaching defences on the Normandy beaches against the largest maritime invasion in history. The canal bridge was later named ‘Pegasus Bridge’ in tribute to, and in honour of, the liberators.
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In two further missions, the early morning and evening of D-Day, Tuesday, 6 June, 1944, saw Halifax bombers from Tarrant Rushton’s 298 Squadron and 644 Squadron also deliver a total of 86 Horsa and tank-carrying wooden Hamilcar gliders to Normandy.
Sitting on a piece of concrete from one of the old runways, and unveiled on 6 June 1982, the rugged stone memorial will be 40 years old next month and is located on the Tarrant valley to Witchampton road at Windy Corner near Hogstock.
On Saturday, 4 June, 2022, from 12 noon, members of the Blandford Armed Forces and Veterans’ Breakfast Club will be holding a gathering of commemoration and laying a wreath at the memorial.
On Sunday, 5 June, 2022, starting at the memorial from 4pm, Tarrant Rushton airfield historian Andrew Wright – who has been researching the history of the airfield for more than 30 years – will be giving a guided tour of the former airfield.
On Sunday, 5 June, 2022, from 9.30pm, members of the Glider Pilot Regiment Society will be gathering at the memorial to mark the 78th anniversary of the six gliders taking off from Normandy.
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That dusk gathering will also be marking the 80th anniversary of the formation of the Glider Pilot Regiment whose members were pilots in the air and soldiers on the ground.
The son of a Royal Air Force navigator who flew dangerous missions in Halifax bombers from Tarrant Rushton in 1944 – including the D-Day and Arnhem operations - Bob Seymour is one of the volunteers who maintain the stone memorial at the former airfield.
Bob Seymour said: "My father loved Tarrant Rushton because it played a large, and eventful, part in his life when he was a young man. Mostly aged in their 20s, the Halifax aircrews, the glider pilots and the soldiers who flew in the gliders were brave young men who were doing what they considered to be their duty in the defence of their country.
"The airfield was sealed off for several days leading up to D-Day with no-one being allowed in or out. Major John Howard's soldiers were kept in a secure and guarded compound in a field in the Tarrant valley during the week before they took off for Normandy.
"The men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment were taken by truck up to the airfield on the evening of Monday, 5 June, 1944, with their Horsa gliders and Halifax bomber tugs lined up on the main runway ready for take-off.
"Major Howard and his men sat by the main runway drinking tea, smoking and cracking jokes before they boarded their wooden Horsa gliders as dusk fell. The tension and nerves must have been unbelievable. Weighed down with ammunition and equipment, many of the soldiers believed they were going on a suicide mission.
“At 11pm on Monday, 5 June, 1944, the first of the six Horsa gliders took off from the main runway at Royal Air Force station Tarrant Rushton – towed by Halifax bombers - on the crucial 'Operation Coup de Main', meaning blow with the hand, bound for Normandy and their appointment with history,” explained Bob from Stubbington, Hampshire.
After the Royal Air Force moved out of Tarrant Rushton in 1946, the pioneering aviation research and manufacturing company Flight Refuelling moved in – remaining at the airfield for more than 30 years until 1980 when the 300-acre site was closed.
The airfield’s 300 buildings were demolished in 1981 with three concrete runways broken up for hardcore material used in the building of the Wimborne and Blandford bypasses.
While there is public access, the three gatherings on 4 and 5 June take place on private land and parking may be restricted to an area next to the road adjoining the memorial.
Donations to the Tarrant Rushton airfield memorial fund can be made at www.gofundme.com/f/tarrant-rushton-memorial-restoration. Anyone interested in volunteering to help maintain and improve the memorial should contact John Nicholson at jn7vmn@gmail.com or call 07905 346 643.
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