Glider Pilot Regiment

Glider Pilot Regiment
Cap Badge of the Glider Pilot Regiment
Active	21 December 1941- 1 September 1957
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Army Aviation
Role	Air transport and airborne infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	Army Air Corps 1942-1949 Glider Pilot and Parachute Corps (1949-1957)
Motto(s)	Nihil est Impossibilis "Nothing is Impossible"
Engagements	Operation Freshman Operation Turkey Buzzard Operation Ladbroke Operation Fustian Operation Deadstick Operation Tonga Operation Market Garden Operation Varsity Operation Dragoon
Commanders
Colonel Commandant	The Rt Hon Alan Francis (Brooke), 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG (1942-)
Insignia
Emblem of the British Airborne Forces

The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War, which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European theatre in support of Allied airborne operations. Established in 1942, the regiment was disbanded in 1957.

The German military was one of the pioneers of the use of airborne formations, conducting several successful airborne operations during the Battle of France in 1940, including the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael. Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, the Allied governments decided to form their own airborne formations. This decision would eventually lead to the creation of two British airborne divisions, as well as a number of smaller units. The British airborne establishment began development on 22 June 1940, when the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office in a memorandum to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.

On 21 June 1941, the Central Landing Establishment was formed at Ringway airfield near Manchester; although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the possibilities of using gliders to transport troops into battle. It had been decided that the Royal Air Force and the Army would cooperate in forming the airborne establishment, and as such Squadron Leader Louis Strange and Major J.F. Rock were tasked with gathering together potential glider pilots and forming a glider unit; this was achieved by searching for members of the armed forces who had pre-war experience of flying gliders, or were interested in learning to do so.