Operation Turkey Buzzard

Operation Turkey Buzzard / Beggar
Area of the operation
Date 3 June – 7 July 1943 Location Atlantic Ocean Bay of Biscay North Africa 34°03′05″N 006°45′05″W / 34.05139°N 6.75139°W / 34.05139; -6.75139 Result British success
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Units involved
No. 2 Wing, GPR No. 295 Squadron RAF	Focke-Wulf Fw 200
Casualties and losses
3 Handley Page Halifax with 21 aircrew 5 Airspeed Horsa with 7 aircrew	None
13 RAF aircrew were killed training for the mission

Operation Turkey Buzzard, also known as Operation Beggar, was a British supply mission to North Africa that took place between March and August 1943, during the Second World War. The mission was undertaken by No. 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment and No. 295 Squadron Royal Air Force, prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily. Unusually, the mission was known by different names in different branches of the British Armed Forces: the British Army called the operation "Turkey Buzzard", while in the Royal Air Force it was known as "Beggar".^[1]

The mission involved Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax bombers towing Airspeed Horsa gliders 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from England to Tunisia. The British Horsas were needed to complement the smaller American Waco gliders, which did not have the capacity required for the operations planned by the 1st Airborne Division.

During the mission one Halifax-and-Horsa combination was shot down by German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor long-range patrol aircraft. Altogether five Horsas and three Halifaxes were lost, but twenty-seven Horsas arrived in Tunisia in time to participate in the invasion of Sicily. Although this supply operation was a success, few of the gliders made it to their landing zones in Sicily during the two British airborne operations that followed, many becoming casualties of the weather conditions or anti-aircraft gunfire.