Operation Ladbroke - Aftermath

Aftermath

After an enquiry into the problems with the airborne missions in Sicily, the British Army and Royal Air Force submitted recommendations in the aftermath of Operation Ladbroke. Aircrew were to be trained in parachute and glider operations, and pathfinders were to be landed before the main force, to set out their beacons. The landing plan was simplified with complete brigades landing on a drop zone, instead of the smaller battalion landing areas used on Sicily. Gliders were no longer released at night while still over water, and their landing zones would be large enough to accommodate the aircraft with room to spare. Following a friendly fire incident over an Allied convoy, more training was given to ships crews in aircraft recognition and Allied aircraft were painted with three large white stripes. Training for pilots belonging to the Glider Pilot Regiment was increased, and improvements to the gliders were implemented, including better inter-aircraft communication. To provide another method of delivering jeeps and artillery guns by air, the Royal Air Force started experimenting with how to use parachutes to drop them into combat, the jeeps and guns being carried in the large bomb bays of bombers. A second Royal Air Force transport group, Group No. 46, was formed and equipped solely with C-47 Dakotas, instead of the mixture of aircraft in Group No. 38. Together, the Royal Air Force groups were capable of supplying eighty-eight Albermarles, eighty-eight Stirlings, thirty-six Halifaxes and 150 Dakotas, a total of 362 planes which did not include aircraft held as reserves.