Westland Lysander

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Lysander

The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft
produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second
World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's
exceptional short-field performance enabled clandestine missions using small,
unprepared airstrips behind enemy lines to place or recover agents, particularly
in occupied France with the help of the French Resistance. British army air
co-operation aircraft were named after mythical or historical military leaders;
in this case the Spartan general Lysander was chosen.

Despite its appearance, the Lysander was aerodynamically advanced; it was
equipped with fully automatic wing slots and slotted flaps and a variable
incidence tailplane. These refinements gave the Lysander a stalling speed of
only 65 mph (104 km/h, 56.5 knots). It also featured the largest Elektron alloy
extrusion made at the time: a single piece inside the spats supporting the
wheels. This was a feature of British-built aircraft only – Canadian-built
machines had a conventionally fabricated assembly due to the difficulties
involved in manufacturing such a large extrusion. The Air Ministry requested two
prototypes of the P.8 and the competing Bristol Type 148, quickly selecting the
Westland aircraft for production and issuing a contract in September 1936.

Role
Army co-operation and liaison aircraft

Manufacturer
Westland Aircraft

Designer
Arthur Davenport, Teddy Petter

First flight
15 June 1936

Introduction
June 1938

Retired
1946 (UK)

Primary users
Royal Air Force
Indian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Egyptian Air Force
United States Army Air Forces

Number built
1,786

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. Some of
these aircraft, now designated type L.1, operated with the Chindits of the
British Indian Army in the Burma Campaign of the Second World War.

Lysanders flew dawn and dusk patrols off the coast and in the event of an
invasion of Britain, they were tasked with attacking the landing beaches with
light bombs and machine guns. They were replaced in the home-based army
co-operation role from 1941 by camera-equipped fighters such as the Curtiss
Tomahawk and North American Mustang carrying out reconnaissance operations,
while light aircraft such as the Taylorcraft Auster were used to direct
artillery. Some UK-based Lysanders went to work operating air-sea rescue,
dropping dinghies to downed RAF aircrew in the English Channel. Fourteen
squadrons and flights were formed for this role in 1940 and 1941.

Lysanders flew from secret airfields at Newmarket and later Tempsford, but used
regular RAF stations to fuel-up for the actual crossing, particularly RAF
Tangmere. Flying without any navigation equipment other than a map and compass,
Lysanders would land on short strips of land, such as fields, marked out by four
or five torches. Or to avoid having to land, the agent, wearing a special padded
suit, stepped off at very low altitude and rolled to a stop on the field. They
were originally designed to carry one passenger in the rear cockpit, but for SOE
use the rear cockpit was modified to carry two passengers in extreme discomfort
in case of urgent necessity. The pilots of No. 138 and from early 1942, No. 161
Squadron transported 101 agents to and recovered 128 agents from Nazi-occupied
Europe. The Germans knew little about the British aircraft and wished to study
one. Soldiers captured an intact Lysander in March 1942 when its pilot was
unable to destroy it after a crash, but a train hit the truck carrying the
Lysander, destroying the cargo.

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: 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Wing area: 260 ft² (24.2 m²)
Empty weight: 4,365 lb (1,984 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,330 lb (2,877 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Mercury XX radial engine, 870 hp (649 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 212 mph (184 knots, 341 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,520 m)
Range: 600 miles (522 nmi, 966 km)
Service ceiling: 21,500 ft (6,550 m)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 8 min
Take-off run to 50 ft (15 m): 305 yards (279 m)

Armament

Guns: Two forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in wheel
fairings and two more for the observer
Bombs: Four 20 lb (9 kg) bombs under rear fuselage and 500 lb (227 kg) of bombs
on stub wings if fitted


The Lysander’s failure to protect itself from the enemy in the Spring of 1940
led to the development of a prototype called the Delanne Tandem Wing or Lysander
P12. Westland designers worked with Frenchman Maurice Henri Delanne to develop
more lift at the back of the aircraft to allow for a heavy defensive machine gun
turret at the rear. Only one prototype was constructed—from test bed K6127. The
large yellow P in a circle roundel on K6127 denoted a prototype.


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