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Westland Lysander in Action

The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft used in the Second World War. It achieved fame through its ability to operate from short stretches of unprepared airstrip and its clandestine missions to plant or retrieve agents from behind enemy lines, particularly in Nazi-occupied France. Like other British army air co-operation aeroplanes, it was given the name of a military leader, in this case, the Spartan Lysander. In 1934, the Air Ministry issued the Specification A.39/34 for an army co-operation aircraft to replace the Hawker Hector. Initially, Hawker Aircraft, 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 considerable 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 looked, by its 15 June 1936 maiden flight, rather 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 LWS-3 Mewa. It was equipped with automatic wing slats and slotted flaps, which were novel features for the era. The combination of these wing enhancements gave the Lysander a stalling speed of 65 mph. It also featured the largest Elektron alloy extrusion 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, quickly selecting the Westland aircraft for production, issuing a contract in September 1936. 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 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. In spite of occasional victories against German aircraft, they made very easy targets for the Luftwaffe unless escorted by Hurricanes. Almost half the Lysanders operating in and over France were lost and, with the fall of France, the type was quickly withdrawn from its army co-operation 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 dinghies to downed pilots. Specifications (Lysander Mk III) General characteristics Crew: One, pilot Capacity: 1 passenger (or observer) Length: 30 ft 6 in (9.29 m) Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m) Height: 11 ft 6 in (3.50 m) Wing area: 260 ft² (24.2 m²) Empty weight: 4,044 lb (1,834 kg) Loaded weight: 5,833 lb (2,645 kg) Max takeoff weight: 6,305 lb (2,866 kg) Powerplant: 1× Bristol Mercury XX radial engine, 870 hp (649 kW) Performance Maximum speed: 212 mph (341 km/h) Range: 600 miles (966 km) Service ceiling: 21,500 ft (6,550 m) Rate of climb: 1,410 ft/min (7.2 m/s) Wing loading: 22 lb/ft² (109 kg/m²) Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (250 W/kg)