"Walking beats gliders" was a bitter joke with truth in it. Glider infantry rode into battle in the CG-4A Waco — a frame of steel tube and doped fabric, towed behind a C-47 and cut loose to crash-land in a field, often under fire, with no engine and no way to go around again. Casualties on a glider landing could run worse than a parachute drop, and the men had every reason to prefer their own two feet. At Bastogne the 327th's glider riders fought as straight infantry: in late December 1944, Companies F and G were shoved back as much as 1,000 yards by Panzer Lehr and Volksgrenadier attacks — and held the line anyway.

The set marches two glider troopers forward under full field packs and bedrolls, M1 Garands slung and a .30 cal ammo can in hand, in netted helmets bearing the Screaming Eagle. On separate groundwork bases, they slot straight into a Bastogne perimeter diorama: group them with "Welcome to Bastogne", put the guns beside them with the "Suppressing Fire" M1919 Team, and set the defense under Capt. Dick Winters.

W. Britain model 25283. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Two-figure set on separate sculpted groundwork bases. Boxed.