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Westland Lysander

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Westland Lysander III (SD). An example of the type used for special missions into occupied France during World War II. (Flying example in the Shuttleworth Collection, 2004.)
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Westland Lysander III (SD). An example of the type used for special missions into occupied France during World War II. (Flying example in the Shuttleworth Collection, 2004.)

The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft of World War II. It achieved fame through its ability to operate from short stretches of unprepared airstrip and its clandestine missions to plant or retrieve agents behind enemy lines, particularly in Nazi-occupied France.

Contents

Development

In 1934, the Air Ministry issued the Specification A.39/34 for an army co-operation aircraft to replace the Hawker Hector. Initially, Hawker, Avro, and Bristol were invited to submit designs, but after some debate within the Ministry, a submission from Westland was invited as well. The Westland design, internally designated P.8, was the work of Arthur Davenport under the direction of "Teddy" Petter. It was Petter's second aircraft design and he spent much time interviewing RAF pilots to find out what they wanted from such an aircraft, suggesting that field of view, low-speed handling characteristics, and STOL performance were the most important factors.

Davenport and Petter worked to design an aircraft around the requested features; the result was highly unconventional, and, in 1934, seemingly antiquated. The Lysander featured a Bristol Mercury radial engine, high gull wings and a fixed taildragger landing gear inside huge spats; the spats had mountings for small, removable stub wings that could be used to carry bombs or supply canisters. In appearance it was not dissimilar to the Polish PZL P.24.

It was equipped with automatic wing slats and flaps, novel features for the era. It also featured the largest Elektron alloy extrustion made at the time: a single piece inside the spats supporting the landing gear wheels. The Air Ministry requested two prototypes of the P.8 and the competing Bristol Type 148, and quickly selected the Westland aircraft for production, issuing a contract in September 1936.

Service

The first Lysanders entered service in June 1938 equipping squadrons for "Army Co-operation" and were initially used for message-dropping and artillery spotting. When war broke out in Europe, the earlier Mk Is had been largely replaced by the Mk IIs, the older machines heading for the Middle East. Four regular squadrons equipped with Lysanders accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France. These were put into action as spotters and light bombers, and despite occasional victories against German aircraft they made very easy pickings for the Luftwaffe unless well escorted. Almost half the Lysanders operating in and over France were lost, and with the fall of France the type was quickly withdrawn from its original role. Back in England some went to work operating air-sea rescue for RAF pilots in the English Channel. Fourteen squadrons and flights were formed for this work during 1940/1941, dropping dinghys to downed pilots. In August 1941, a new squadron, No. 138 (Special Duties), was formed to operate missions for the Special Operations Executive to maintain contact with the French Resistance. Among its aircraft were Lysander IIIs, which would fly over and land in France. While general supply drops could be left to the rest of No. 138's aircraft, the Lysander could smuggle agents on and off the continent, or bringing back members of downed aircrews that had been sheltered by the French. In this role, the Lysander was outstanding, and it continued in this capacity until the liberation of France. Flying on moonless nights and without navigation equipment other than a map and a compass, landing on short strips of land marked out by a couple of torches, the pilots of No. 138 and later No. 161 Squadron delivered 101 and recovered 128 agents from occupied Europe (Gunston 1995). The Lysanders were painted matt black and flew from secret airfields at Newmarket and Tempsford but used regular RAF stations to fuel up for the actual crossing.

The Lysander also joined the ranks of the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (FAFL) - the Free French air force - when Groupe Mixte de Combat (GMC) 1, formed at RAF Odiham on August 29, 1940, was sent to French North-West Africa in order both to persuade the authorities in countries like Gabon, Cameroon and Chad, which were still loyal to Vichy France, to join the Gaullist cause against the Axis powers, and to attack Italian ground forces in Libya. As with all FAFL aircraft, the Lysanders sported the Cross of Lorraine insignia on the fuselage and the wings, as opposed to the tricolor roundel first used in 1914, in order to distinguish their aircraft from those flying for the Vichy French air force. The Lysanders were mostly employed on reconnaissance missions but were also employed to carry out occasional attacks.

The type also filled other, less glamorous roles such as target-towing and communication aircraft. It was also licence-built in Canada to fill these roles. All British Lysanders were withdrawn from service in 1946.

Export customers of the type included Finland, Ireland, Turkey, Portugal, the United States, and Egypt. Egyptian Lysanders were the last to see active service, against Israel in the War of Independence in 1948.

A total of 1,786 were built, including 225 Canadian examples. A small number are preserved in museums in the UK and Canada.

Variants

Operators

The Lysander served with Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Indian Air Force units as both the primary aircraft and in a secondary liaison and communications role. It was also used by Australia, Canada, Eire (Ireland), Egypt, Finland, France, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom (Fleet Air Arms, Royal Air Force), and the United States.

Specifications (Lysander Mk III)

References

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