LysanderLanding - a photo on Flickriver

LysanderLanding

               While out there airside at Old Warden Airfield taking part in the Spitfire Photo Workshop this Lysander was being used as a prop for a film being made . This included it being filmed in flight as well and here it is coming in to land , after landing it taxied past us quite close , the sound of it was amazing !!

When the Germans invaded France and the low countries in May, 1940, the RAF’s fleet of Westland Lysander aircraft were put into action as spotters and light bombers. In spite of occasional victories against German aircraft, they made very easy targets for the Luftwaffe and were withdrawn from France during the Dunkirk evacuation.
Lysanders continued to fly supply-drop missions to Allied Forces from bases in England; on one mission to drop supplies for troops trapped at Calais, 14 of 16 Lysanders and Hawker Hectors that set out were lost.
Heavy Losses
A total of 118 Lysanders were lost in or over France and Belgium in May and June, 1940 – of a total of 175 deployed. With the fall of France, Air Marshall Arthur Barratt, commander-in-chief of the British Air Forces in France, declared that a “less vulnerable aircraft was required.”
It was replaced in 1941 by camera-equipped fighters such as the Curtiss Tomahawk and North American Mustang, carrying out reconnaissance operations, while light planes such as the Taylorcraft Auster were used to direct artillery. Some UK-based Lysanders went to work operating air-sea rescue, dropping dinghies to downed RAF aircrew in the English Channel. Fourteen squadrons and flights were formed for this role in 1940 and 1941.
A New Role
Special Operations Executive (SOE) – set up in London to link up with resistance movements in occupied Europe – chose the Westland Lysander to support clandestine groups working against the Nazis in Europe because of its high-lift, short take-off, and landing capabilities. The Lysander could land on crude and short fields to drop off or pick up agents.
To give it the long range it needed, the aircraft had to be lightened by removing all unnecessary equipment such as guns, armour protection and excess radio equipment, retaining only the radio/telephone for communication with the ground. The pilot would find his way by map, reading light, and the glow of a full moon. Landing strips were marked out by four or five torches, hastily lit and doused as needed. In order to slip in unobtrusively, the Lysanders were painted matte black.
These Lysanders were fitted with a fixed ladder over the port side to provide quick access to the rear cockpit and a large drop tank under the belly. They were designed to carry one passenger in the rear cockpit, but in case of urgent necessity, three could be carried in extreme discomfort. The Lysanders flew from secret airfields at Newmarket and later Tempsford, but used regular RAF stations to fuel up for the actual crossing.
SOE Squadron 138 and 161
The pilots of No. 138 and No. 161 Squadron transported 101 agents to, and recovered 128 agents from, Nazi-occupied Europe.

   

Taken in: UK / England / Old Warden (show map)

Taken on: September 9, 2021

Tags:

Old-Warden

shuttleworth-collection

westland-lysander

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Camera: Canon EOS 77D, f/8.0, 1/200 sec, 135mm, ISO 160 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 77D
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	135mm
ISO:	160
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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