"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...


"The concept of a turret night-fighter version of the Lysander
culminated in the curious "Experimental Aeroplane No. 136". Late
in 1940, a further attempt was made to fit a turret, this time
according to the French Delanne formula. This meant fitting a
second wing in tandem to the main one - effectively a much
enlarged tailplane - with end-plate fins and rudders. The aircraft
became a kind of hybrid, an army-co-operation aircraft with a
"generic" heavy bomber tail unit.

The aircraft underwent trials in the winter of 1940-41. Lysander
K6127 was by now fitted with a Bristol Perseus XII engine. Radical
changes to the rear fuselage enabled a mock-up of a four-gun Nash
& Thompson turret to be installed, made of plywood and perspex and
having a very light framework. The overall length of the aircraft
became 25 feet 7 inches. It was hoped the design would develop into
an effective night-fighter, or at least a gunnery trainer. However,
the Lysander turret night-fighter, despite successful flight trials,
remained a one-off experiment."

http://www.unrealaircraft.com/hybrid.../lysan_mod.php

The first Lysander oddball that you posted is in the book
The Narrow Margin by Wood and Dempster
and the caption underneathstates:

" Many emergency conversions were made to cope with
the dangers of 1940. To provide an aircraft for ground
strafing beach landing areas Westland devised a tande
wing version of the ubiquitous Lysander army-co-op
aircraft with provision in the rear fuselage for s four-
gun Boulton Paul turret. The prototype was flown
successfully but developement was not proceeded with."

When I read the above statement the first time I
didn't find it unbelievable, because at the same time
Tiger Moths were being fitted with bomb carrying
hardware. It rather suggests grasping at straws. I would
rather have the four gun turret at the front to strafe
the beaches.

Your explanation has a greater IMHO probability
of being the more reasonable, but it is always
fun to set the "cat among the pigeons.

Thanks for the second picture of that oddball.
I don't remember having seen that one before.

Robert