Westland Lysander (V9367) IIIA  [@ Shuttleworth Collection]

Originating in a 1934 requirement for a battlefield army cooperation and reconnaissance aircraft, the Westland Lysander prototype first flew in June 1936 and entered RAF service in June 1938. It was built to a specification calling for a rugged, short-take-off-and-landing (STOL) aircraft for low-level reconnaissance and observation issued in 1934. Westland designed and built a rugged high wing monoplane with fixed spatted undercarriage. It had an exceptional field of view for both pilot and observer and was armed with two forward firing machine guns and a machine gun fired from the rear cockpit.

Westland Lysander (V9367) IIIA  [@ Shuttleworth Collection]

The Mk I entered service with the RAF as an army co-operation aircraft, replacing Hawker Audaxes and Hectors during 1939. However during the Battle of France in 1940, the Lysander proved too vulnerable to survive modern warfare and suffered some terrible losses. After 1940 Lysanders were used by Coastal Command on search-and-rescue missions. Lysanders were also built under licence in Canada and these aircraft were often used as targets tugs at the overseas training bases. The role that the Lysander is best remembered for is as a 'spy taxi', picking up and dropping secret agents behind enemy lines. For these operations, the aircraft were painted black and fitted with a long-range fuel tank beneath the fuselage and a ladder fixed to the side of the aircraft to allow the agents to enter and exit quickly.

V9367 is the last airworthy example of this historic type. It was built in Canada, by the National Steel Car Corporation, and was used by the RCAF as a target tug during the war. The Strathallan Collection in Scotland eventually purchased it and it arrived in the UK in October 1971. Work commenced on restoring it but it was not until December 1979 that it flew again painted as V9441, a Lysander operated by No.309 (Polish) Squadron. It was grounded in 1986 and was purchased in 1998 by its present owners the Shuttleworth Collection. It has been fully restored, repainted and fitted with dummy long range fuel tank and ladder to represent V9367 / MA-B an aircraft of 161 Squadron, flown by Pilot Officer Peter Vaughan-Fowler on operation Apollo during the winter of 1942. 

Westland Lysander III (V9300)  [@ RAF Duxford]

The Lysander Mk II had a 905hp Bristol Perseus engine, while the Mk III was fitted with the Mercury XX. The type was in widespread use in the early years of WWII, particularly in France and North Africa, but was progressively replaced by the Curtiss Tomahawk from 1941. Seventy Mk IIIs were converted to MkIIIA standard for target towing and air-sea rescue, 100 new aircraft being built, and the type was used to infiltrate Allied agents [SOE] into enemy occupied territory and bring them out again. Total production was 1593 aircraft, comprising 131 Mk Is, 433 Mk IIs and 804 Mk IIIs built in Great Britain and 225 built in Canada.

V9300 is part of the Imperial War Museum Collection at Duxford. This particular aircraft flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force as 1558 with the serial number Y1351. Arriving in the UK in 1983 it was restored by the Aircraft Restoration Company and is currently painted as 'V9673' in 161 Squadron colours.