OK! Let’s Go! - Allied Airborne in England 1944

Regional departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then travel to Salisbury for a four-night stay. Alternatively, you can choose to join at the hotel.

Today we look at the story of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne and their training in England before the drops they made for D-Day and Operation Market Garden. At Littlecote House we see where 506th PIR had their base, and where the commander Colonel Robert Sink had his headquarters, also seeing the memorial and an original stable block relocated from Aldbourne which housed men from Easy Company.

In nearby Ramsbury we look at the area where 101st Airborne trained, seeing the village and Ramsbury Airfield. In Aldbourne we see where Easy Company did their training, including the infamous episode when Major Sobel took the wrong route! After lunch, here we take a short walk around the village to see where they did their training. We will see where Lt Dick Winters who became the OC of Easy Company was billeted and the Church where Lt Ronald Spiers married a local girl.

We travel to the former RAF Dunkeswell airfield and visit the Heritage Centre as well as getting a full guided tour of the site. After lunch in the Aviator Cafe, we visit Uppottery, used by the American Airborne as the assembly area for their D-Day drop and the men from Easy Company flew from here into Normandy in 1944.

We get a full tour of the site, see the Museum in the Nissen Huts, and see the memorials.

At former RAF Tarrant Rushton we look at the role of 6th Airborne Division in the lead-up to D-Day. It was from here that the gliders taking Major John Howard and D Company 2nd Oxs and Bucks to Pegasus Bridge, took off from.

It was also used by other units from the Division for that Operation. We also see memorials to 8th Parachute Battalion and the Glider Pilot Regiment, and at Tidworth Military Cemetery visit the graves of Airborne men who died in training. At Middle Wallop we visit Museum of Army Flying, seeing the extensive Airborne and Glider displays including examples of aircraft used in 1944.

Later we stop at Binstead Church to visit the grave of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, who commanded 21st Army Group including all Airborne forces, from D-Day to the end of the war.

Key Visits

Inside 2 Tidworth Military Cemetery Monty's Grave at Binsted Church RAF Tarrant Rushton

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