Tetrarch, Locust, Hamilcar and the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance
Regiment, 1938-1950 * An original account of the story of the British airborne
force’s ‘forgotten regiment’
Despite all the works on airborne forces published since 1945, the full
story of Britain's 'airborne armour' has remained untold until now. The story is
in two parts - the project to fly tanks onto the battlefield to support airborne
forces, and the history of the unit that operated those tanks - the 6th Airborne
Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment.
The book is the result of considerable original research and contact with
surviving members of 6th AARR. It contains the full development background of
airborne tanks, the British Tetrarch and American Locust, and also that of the
Hamilcar glider. It examines rival or complimentary projects, and analyses the
extent to which the British airborne armour project was a success.
The history of 6th AARR is traced back to the Special Service Squadrons
of the RAC which pioneered armoured amphibious assault and saw action in 1942’s
invasion of Madagascar. One
of these became the Airborne Light Tank Squadron, which grew into the Airborne
Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment. This unit flew 20 Tetrarch tanks into battle
on the evening of D-Day in the first ever assault landing of tanks from the air,
and did the same 10 months later when 8 Locust tanks were landed as part of the
Rhine crossing operation.
6th AARR also had a proud history in ground combat in Normandy, the Ardennes, and Germany, often
forming the spearhead for the advance of 6th Airborne Division. The unit has a
fair claim to be the 'forgotten regiment' of British airborne forces, a fate
that this book aims to put right.
