При высадке в Нормандии бомбардировщики Halifax и Stiring буксировали более 70 планеров Hamilcar Mk I, еще 28 планеров использовались в десанте на Арнхем в сентябре 7 944 года. Hamilcar - самый большой планер, использовавшийся союзниками во время войны, мог нести легкий танк.

Prototype GAL Hamilcar DP206 photographed in March 1942. The first production batch of ten Hamilcar Is was delivered during November and December 1942.

View of GAL 49 Hamilcar DR853/G taken in March 1943. This aircraft was one of a batch of ten experimental prototypes.

The General Aircraft Hamilcar Tank or Vehicle-carrying Glider.

Britain'a largest transport glider, the GAL Hamilcar could carry a tank or two Bren-gun carriers. A powered version was developed too late for operational use during the war.

View of GAL 49 Hamilcar DR853/G taken in March 1943. This aircraft was one of a batch of ten experimental prototypes. The nose transparencies are well portrayed in the picture.

Масса с полезной нагрузкой самого большого планера Второй мировой войны Hamilcar Mk I была на 3175 кг меньше в сравнении с Me 321.

One of the first pictures to be released for publication in December 1944, when the wraps came off the Hamilcar.

The prototype Hamilcar undertow. The towline was bifurcated to pick up on quick-release hooks on the centre-section spar.

A Halifax tows a Hamilcar out over Blandford Camp heading west out of Tarrant Rushton, with Duncliffe Hill in the distance.

This photograph of a Hamilcar being towed by a Halifax was taken from General Aircraft’s ST-25 Monospar G-AGDN in June 1944.

A Hamilcar and its Halifax tug.

In its day the Hamilcar was the largest production wooden aircraft in the world. The unlaiden eight-ton glider weighed 16 tons fully loaded and had a towing speed of 150 m.p.h.

A Hamilcar disgorges a T-19 Locust tank. Note the way the glider’s undercarriage “crouches” to bring the nose down almost to ground level.

A General Aircraft Hamilcar disgorging a Locust tank through the side-hinging nose section.

A Hamilcar with typical load, in this case a T-19 Locust tank.

A seven-ton Tetrarch light tank being reversed very carefully into the all-wood Hamilcar.

A T-9 light tank secured inside a Hamilcar.

Десантные планеры Airspeed Horsa и General Aircraft Hamilcar перед вторжением на континент были сосредоточены на британской авиабазе Тарант-Раштон, графство Дорсет. Также видны самолеты Halifax Mk V из 298-й и 644-й эскадрилий - буксировщики данных планеров.
A well-used but memorable aerial view of Tarrant Rushton on the evening of June 6, 1944. More than 30 Halifaxes are positioned to tow out a similar number of Hamilcars, plus a couple of Horsas, for the D-Day landings. The Germans expected the Hamilcars to be carrying troops until they saw the first arrivals land and unload!

Hamilcars and Halifaxes lined up on March 24, 1945, about to take part in the Rhine crossings.

Just like the M25 motorway: Hamilcars nose-to-tail awaiting take-off.

The General Aircraft X.27/40 half-scale model of the Hamilcar.

Built to Specification 27/40, the GAL 50 was a half-scale prototype of the Hamilcar. This photograph, dated September 1941, shows it bearing Class B markings T-0227.
Two views of the half-scale Hamilcar test model. The GAL 50 T-0227 is pictured in September 1941. Later it became DP226. The lower photograph gives a better indication of the glider’s small size.

R. E. Poulton's cutaway drawing of the Hamilcar was originally published in Flight on December 14, 1944.

A typical wooden structure of a large transport glider is illustrated by this drawing of the fuselage of the Hamilcar.

The G.A.L. Hamilcar Heavy Transport Glider.

General Aircraft G.A.L.49 Hamilcar I