 The demise of <unk> was prevented by a decision made by the War Office in mid @-@ 1941 , as it was considering the equipment to be used by Britain 's fledgling airborne forces , formed in June 1940 under the orders of the Prime Minister , Winston Churchill . When selecting the equipment for the airborne forces , officials at the War Office concluded that gliders would be an integral component ; gliders would transport troops and heavy equipment , which , by 1941 , was to include artillery and some form of tank . Plans to transport a tank went through a number of revisions , but , by May 1941 , the feasibility of a 5 @.@ 5 metric tons ( 5 @.@ 4 long tons ) tank to be carried for 350 miles ( 560 km ) in a glider was accepted , although the aircraft would have to be specifically designed for the task . In a conference held on 16 January 1941 , it was decided that the General Aircraft <unk> , currently under development , would be used to transport a single <unk> tank or two Universal <unk> . The <unk> was chosen because it was an obsolete design , and was therefore available to be used by the airborne forces . 
