Glider Pilot Regiment – Battle Dress

Original WW2 Glider Pilot Regiment battle dress tunic to a Staff Sergeant. The battledress has all insignia original wartime applied. The insignia compromises printed Glider Pilot Regiment shoulder titles and Airborne ‘Pegasus’ division patches and embroidered Sergeant ranking chevrons with brass crown for Staff Sergeant with Pilot Wing on the left breast. The pattern 1940 BD jacket appears in good used condition, fitted with its makers label what is washed out unfortunately but still a part visible and we can see it’s an early label, must be a 1941 or 1942 dated tunic. Stamped with AV 1942 and War Department. The tunic is showing quite some moth damage, the former owner has washed the tunic. See photos for details.

Original Glider Pilot Regiment battle-dress, perfect for a D-day or Market Garden collection!

In September 1941 it was decided that all glider pilots would conform to RAF selection procedures and undertake standard RAF elementary flying training in powered aircraft before converting to gliders. When the Army Air Corps was formed on  21 December, the Glider Pilot Regiment was included within it.

The initial 40 volunteers completed training in March 1942, beginning a number of small scale glider exercises with troops providing valuable experience in evolving basic techniques.

The War Office decided the glider pilots were to train and fight as soldiers once they were on the ground. They were trained to fight with any weapon used by airborne troops. All were either officers or NCOs. An extremely high degree of intelligence, initiative and discipline was required. Once qualified pilots wore the Army Flying Badge, their numbers reached a peak of 2,500 pilots in 1945.

Personnel of The Glider Pilot Regiment performed distinguished service in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, Southern France, Holland, Rhine Crossing and in the Far East during the Second World War.