 The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War . The division was formed in late 1941 during World War II , after the British Prime Minister , Winston Churchill , demanded an airborne force , and was initially under command of Major @-@ General Frederick Arthur Montague Browning . The division was one of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war , with the other being the 6th Airborne Division , created in May 1943 , using former units of the 1st Airborne Division . 
