This came from the AAC web site, and sent to me by Anglo, so I hope they dont mind me putting it on our site. The purpose being purely to pay respect to an Airborne Hero

Author Tim C,
I was lucky enough to meet Peter many years ago at Pegasus Bridge and had a few beers and a few stories from him, a great bloke and a true legend. He will be sorely missed. RIP.

Peter Boyle: glider pilot who helped capture Pegasus bridge on D-Day
When it was suggested in December 1940 that army NCOs should be trained to fly gliders, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff declared: “The idea that semi-skilled personnel be entrusted with piloting these troop carriers is fantastic. Their operation is equivalent to force-landing the largest-sized aircraft without engine aid. There is no higher test of piloting skill.”

Troop and equipment carrying gliders were urgently required to deliver infantry and supporting arms in a more concentrated manner than could be achieved by parachute. The first large-scale glider-borne operation was undertaken during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Mistakes were made and many lives lost. Better preparations were essential for the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Peter Boyle was one of the 12 glider pilots selected to fly the six Horsa gliders, towed towards their landing point by four-engined Halifax bombers, for the coup-de-main capture of the “Pegasus” bridge over the Caen canal and the Ranville bridge over the River Orne in the first hour of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The difficulties of this operation and intensive training of the pilots led the Commander of Allied Air Forces for the invasion of Normandy, Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, to describe it as “the airmanship feat of the war”.

Only eight of the 12 pilots and co-pilots involved in this hazardous operation received a British or French decoration. In Boyle’s case, this omission was corrected over half a century later when the French Government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur.

Two bridges spanned the Caen canal and River Orne on the eastern flank of the Allied Normandy beachhead. It was judged essential for them to be captured before the beach landings began, to prevent German armoured units, known to be based east of the waterways, crossing and attacking the sea-landing formations in the flank. Subsequently, the bridges would be needed for the resupply of the 6th Airborne Division, dropped or air-landed beyond them.

It seemed virtually certain that the German troops responsible for holding the bridges would have prepared them for demolition. To avoid them being blown before the glider-borne troops could take them, it was decided the gliders must make rapid descents from high altitude (6,000 feet) to achieve surprise. This required the three gliders assigned to the Caen canal bridge to make two tight, right-angled turns in the space of three minutes from cast-off from their towing Halifaxes in order to slip quietly down by the bridge.

Boyle was co-pilot and navigator to his friend Geoff Barkway (obituary June 20, 2006) with whom he had trained intensively for this operation for six weeks, including ten night landings under equally exacting conditions. Just as their Number 3 glider for the canal bridge struck light cloud two minutes and 15 seconds after cast off, Boyle identified the bridge below and to the right. The right-angled turns made, the glider approached the bridge at between 90 and 100 mph, instead of the usual 65mph for landing, due to the extra weight of a folding boat for crossing the canal if the bridge was found to be blown. Possibly due to a sideslip, the glider landed at an angle, ripped across the ground and came to a shuddering halt in the gap between the first two gliders and at the edge of a pond, into which Barkway was thrown through the smashed cockpit.

 Boyle was slightly concussed by the final shock but Barkway, having crawled out of the pond, freed him from his harness and pulled him clear of the cockpit. Then, as Major John Howard’s company of 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry streamed out of the gliders to take the bridge, the two pilots adopted their “total soldier” role for which they were trained, preparing to fight as infantrymen. Barkway was shot in the right arm and evacuated shortly afterwards.

 Boyle returned to the glider to collect some equipment and took part in the operation to clear the enemy from the far bank. He spent that night with the small force garrisoning the bridge and, in accordance with the policy of returning glider pilots to England at the first opportunity, sailed from the beach in a tank landing craft on D+1. This was his first active service of the war.

The next three months were spent in practice flying from Brize Norton before moving to Manston airfield in preparation for Operation “Market Garden”, the airborne assault to take the bridges culminating with the rail and road bridges over the Rhine at Arnhem, in September. The aim was to open a route for Montgomery’s 21st Army Group round the north of the German Ruhr and end the war by Christmas 1944. Strategically, this was not a “bridge too far”, as the whole operation would have been pointless without inclusion of the Arnhem bridges, but the enemy was there in greater strength than expected and neither bridge was captured.

Boyle flew as first pilot of a Horsa glider for Market Garden but, in company with other glider pilots who fought at Arnhem as infantry after landing, he was taken prisoner when the remnants of the 1st Airborne Division were forced to withdraw across the Rhine. He spent seven months in Stalag IVB at Mühlberg on the upper Elbe, from where he was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.

On demobilisation, he joined ICI Pharmaceuticals as a publicity assistant but left to join the RAF in 1951. He served as a pilot until 1954 when he joined Glaxo’s New Zealand company. He remained in New Zealand after transfer to WD & HO Wills as advertising manager, returning to England to join the board of Lindsey & Kesteven Fertilisers in 1965.

He married Aileen Mitchell in 1945. She survives him with a daughter.

Peter Boyle, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, wartime glider pilot, was born on September 9,1923. He died on February 5, 2010, aged 86

R.I.P.

Many may have heard about the Cyprus emergency and the Eoka trouble but do we all know the toll in lives. Not all died in combat and not all were service personell but never the less they died in the service of our country. Not long ago a number of Ex Para's visted Waynes Keep where a new monument to the dead was unveiled in their homour and if you ever take a trip there it is worth a visit. Below is an article sent in by Jim Pidgeon and hopefully will be of interest to us all.

This research was carried out by Jim Pidgeon ex 1 Para and a Reunion Club memberwho served in Cyprus during the emergency. All military casualties are buried in the Military Cemetery, Wayne's Keep Nicosia. Civilian casualties are buried in the British Cemetery Kyriacos Matsis St Nicosia. 3 servicemen's bodies were repatriated to UK.  2 MMs & 1 MinD were awarded. In the "Causes not known" section I was unable to trace records. It is believed most casualties were from road mines.
On 17 June 1956 a forrest fire on the Troodos mountains trapped troops engaged in terrorist search and anti ambush patrols, over 20 casualties are recorded.

Fatal Casualties The death toll during the emergency was 461 British soldiers and civilians. The civilian casualties included, service wives, civilian employees, school teachers and service children from Road Mines, gun shot, Grenade attacks, Friendly Fire, and of course the Troodos Fire Accident 17 June 1956, Cause  Not Known

Totals. Approximate Numbers

  Copyright of Jim Pidgeon 10.12.2009

Thanks for the input Jim and I hope this will inspire others to share their input whatever it is to be included on the site. Click on the link to send it to the webmaster.

Talking of Villians as we all know there are lots of wannabe's and they are becoming more and more prevelant during our current international commitments. Those who buy, steal or otherwise abuse the uniforms and medals of our Armed Forces some for their own gains, financial or prestigeous.

 The link to try and put a stop to this flagrant misuse of  our Heroes Valourhas now been withdrawn by the International Bodyguards Association for misuse of copyright?

 Please click on the link below and to put an and this heneous crime by bringing in the change needed.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Stolen-honour/