20230917 (351)_V9552_Westland_Lysander_IIISD
The Shuttleworth Trust's Westland Lysander short take off and landing Army Co-operation aircraft taxiing out after the Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow to head home to Old Warden in lovely evening sunshine. This Lysander is painted and equipped as an agent-dropping and pick-up Special Duties aircraft of mid to late WWII. In their original role many were lost in France in 1940 but the Lysander went on to success in its cloak and dagger SOE service, and although the role is generally presented as fraught with danger the record shows that it was one of the safest ways to spend operational time in the RAF, with a tremendous record of successful missions and - perhaps due to the role - an equally grand record of recovering crews and agents who did suffer landing mishaps on the continent, often by the next mission.
20230917 (351)_V9552_Westland_Lysander_IIISD
The Shuttleworth Trust's Westland Lysander short take off and landing Army Co-operation aircraft taxiing out after the Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow to head home to Old Warden in lovely evening sunshine. This Lysander is painted and equipped as an agent-dropping and pick-up Special Duties aircraft of mid to late WWII. In their original role many were lost in France in 1940 but the Lysander went on to success in its cloak and dagger SOE service, and although the role is generally presented as fraught with danger the record shows that it was one of the safest ways to spend operational time in the RAF, with a tremendous record of successful missions and - perhaps due to the role - an equally grand record of recovering crews and agents who did suffer landing mishaps on the continent, often by the next mission.