The picture depicts Operation Mallard on the evening of 6 June 1944 which delivered the British 6th Airborne Division into German-occupied Normandy aboard Airspeed Horsa gliders towed by a variety of heavy aircraft, including these Short Stirlings of Nos 196 and 299 Squadrons. They were escorted by (among others) Supermarine Spitfires from No 345 Squadron.

The AS.51 Horsa was the main glider used by the British Army in WWII. It could carry up to 30 paratroops and their equipment. The Short Stirling was the RAF's first four-engined heavy bomber. By 1944 it had been superseded by newer Lancaster and Halifax bombers but these Mk IV versions were equipped specifically for paratroop dropping and, as here, for glider towing, with a yoke under the tail and the mid-upper and front gun turrets removed.