The Horsa was first used in the airborne assault on Sicily. For the invasion of France Horsas went into action wearing both British and American colours and they played a notable part in the Normandy landings where over 20% of the total material delivered to the beach-heads by air was done by gliders. Horsas also took park in the invasion of Southern France.

Designed and test flown in less than ten months, the glider was put into quantity production starting in 1940. Built virtually entirely of wood, the aircraft featured fairly complete cockpit instrumentation for flying at night or in cloud. The fuselage was built in three pieces and the main fuselage and tail sections featured quick disconnect bolts to allow the aft section to be removed for rapid unloading of the payload. The main gear of the tricycle undercarriage was also jettisonable and a nose wheel in combination with a central shock absorbing skid could be used for rough ground landings.

The RCAF acquired a small number of Horsa's for use in post-war evaluations.