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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Squadrons UK and Commonwealth No.151 Sqn to No.222 Sqn  No.161 Sqn |
[UP] - No.151 Sqn - No.152 Sqn - No.154 Sqn - No.156 Sqn - No.157 Sqn - No.158 Sqn - No.161 Sqn - No.166 Sqn - No.174 Sqn - No.175 Sqn - No.1770 Sqn FAA - No.181 Sqn - No.182 Sqn - No.185 Sqn - No.193 Sqn - No.197 Sqn - No.198 Sqn - No.199 Sqn - No.201 Sqn - No.207 Sqn - No.210 Sqn - No.213 Sqn - No.217 Sqn - No.218 Sqn - No.222 Sqn |
Liberate
| No.161 Sqn Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings Aviation Prints |
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| Text for the above items : |
They Landed by Moonlight by Robert Taylor. To fly a small aircraft at the dead of night, without radio communication or navigational assistance, deep into enemy-occupied territory, was an extremely perilous task. To then land on an unlit remote field, deliver secret agents, collect Resistance leaders, or downed airmen and fly them home without attracting the attentions of enemy night fighters, was appallingly risky work. Yet throughout World War II the prime function of the pilots of the RAFs Special Duties Squadrons was to fly time and again into occupied France, in utmost secrecy, under the cover of darkness. It was acutely dangerous work requiring inordinate flying and navigational skills, and supreme courage. Most suited to these clandestine operations was the rugged Westland Lysander, operations being conducted, weather permitting, during the moons fullest phase. Guided only by torch light, the pilot made a hazardous night landing into an isolated field at a pre-arranged time, trusting that agents on the ground had checked the field for cart tracks and loitering Gestapo. Every mission required ice cool bravery and nerves of steel. |
Lysander Pick Up by Graeme Lothian. A Lysander of 161 Squadron from RAF Tempsford banks to port as it circles a field somewhere in France 1943. These missions only took place on or around the full moon period to pick up or drop off SOE agents with the help of the Resistance. 161 Squadron, the most secret of all RAF squadrons, had in its flight, Lysanders, Hudsons, and Halifaxes which carried out parachute operations. Two of 161s top pilots Hugh Verity and Lewis Hodges both received the DSO & bar and DFC & bar, and from France the Legion dHonneur and the Croix de Guerre. |
Black Lizzie by Ivan Berryman. Entering service with the RAF in June 1938, the Westland Lysander was to prove invaluable in its role of transporting SOE agents on clandestine missions during World War II. 1,652 Lysanders were built and they were the first British aircraft to be based in France at the outbreak of the war and the last to see action there during the evacuation of Dunkirk. The example shown is of 161 Sqn based at Tempsford. |
| No.161 Sqn RAF Aircraft details |
Albemarle | Albemarle No profile available |
 Halifax Manufacturer : Handley Page Built : 6177 | Halifax Royal Air Force heavy Bomber with a crew of six to eight. Maximum speed of 280mph (with MK.VI top speed of 312mph) service ceiling of 22,800feet maximum range of 3,000 miles. The Halifax carried four .303 browning machine guns in the tail turret, two .303 browning machines in the nose turret in the MK III there were four .303 brownings in the dorsal turret. The Handley Page Halifax, first joined the Royal Air Force in March 1941 with 35 squadron. The Halifax saw service in Europe and the Middle east with a variety of variants for use with Coastal Command, in anti Submarine warfare, special duties, glider-tugs, and troop transportation roles. A total of 6177 Halifax's were built and stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1952 |
 Havoc Manufacturer : Douglas | Havoc A-20 |
 Hudson Manufacturer : Lockheed Built : 2584 | Hudson In 1938, the British Purchasing Commission sought an American maritime patrol aircraft and light bomber for the United Kingdom to support the Royal Air Force's Avro Anson. On 10th December 1938, Lockheed produced a modified version of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra which was a commercial airliner and the Hudson Mk I went into production. The Hudson was the first significant aircraft construction contract for the Lockhead Aircraft Corporation with the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received. By February 1939, Hudsons began to be delivered. A total of 350 Mk I and 20 Mk II Hudsons were supplied in total. These had two fixed Browning machine guns in the nose and two more in a Boulton Paul dorsal turret. Initially the first batch of Hudsons were supplied to No.224 Squadron RAF based at RAF Leuchers in May 1939. By the start of the war in September 78 Hudsons were in service. Not only did the RAF use the Hudson but the Hudson also served throughout the war with Coastal Command and was also used in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Force wiht their anti-submarine squadrons. They were operated by RAF Special Duties squadrons for clandestine operations, with No.161 Squadron in Europe and No.357 Squadron operating in Burma. During the war, they were used as maritime patrol aircraft in the Pacific by the US Navy, the RAAF and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. A total of 2,584 Hudsons were built. They began to be withdrawn from front line service in 1944. The Hudson provided the basis for the development of the Lockhead Ventura. |
 Lysander Manufacturer : Westland Aircraft Built : 1786 | Lysander 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. Four regular squadrons equipped with Lysanders accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France in October 1939, and were joined by a further squadron early in 1940. Following the German invasion of France and the low countries on 10 May 1940, the Lysanders 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 even when escorted by Hurricanes. Withdrawn from France during the Dunkirk evacuation, they continued to fly supply-dropping missions to Allied forces from bases in England; on one mission to drop supplies to troops trapped at Calais, 14 of 16 Lysanders and Hawker Hectors that set out were lost. 118 Lysanders were lost in or over France and Belgium in May and June 1940, of a total of 175 deployed. With the fall of France, it was clear that the type was unsuitable for the coastal patrol and army co-operation role, being described by Air Marshal Arthur Barratt, commander-in-chief of the British Air Forces in France as "quite unsuited to the task; a faster, less vulnerable aircraft was required." Nevertheless, throughout the remainder of 1940, 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.[9] 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. In August 1941 a new squadron, No. 138 (Special Duties), was formed to undertake missions for the Special Operations Executive to maintain clandestine contact with the French Resistance. Among its aircraft were Lysander Mk IIIs, which flew over and landed in occupied France. While general supply drops could be left to the rest of No. 138's aircraft, the Lysander could insert and remove agents from the continent or retrieve Allied aircrew who had been shot down over occupied territory and had evaded capture. For this role the Mk IIIs were fitted with a fixed ladder over the port side to hasten access to the rear cockpit and a large drop tank under the belly. In order to slip in unobtrusively the Lysanders were painted matte black; operations almost always took place within a week of a full moon, as moonlight was essential for navigation. The aircraft undertook such duties until the liberation of France in 1944. The 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. 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 |
| No.161 Sqn RAF Pilot and aircrew signature details |
Captain Murray Anderson DFC* Our estimated value of this signature : £20 Died : 2016 | Captain Murray Anderson DFC* Commissioned in the Royal Tank Regiment from RMA Woolwich in 1939, Murray Anderson was seconded to the Royal Air Force in 1940. He flew Spitfires with No.1 Photo Reconnaissance Unit at RAF Benson until 1943. He then joined 161 (Special Duties) Squadron flying Lysanders, and was the most successful pick up pilot for the whole of that year even though in May 1944 he was posted to 65 Squadron 2nd Tactical Air Force, flying Mustangs. After a rest period he was posted to 52 Sqn at Dum Dum in May 1945. Murray Anderson died in April 2016. |
Flight Lieutenant Peter Arkell Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2010 | Flight Lieutenant Peter Arkell For his first tour Peter flew Mustangs and Spitfires with 26 Squadron on intruder and low lever photographic sorties over France, before joining 161 Squadron as Tempsford in 1944, flying Lysanders into occupied Europe. He then accompanied the Lysanders to Burma where he flew 35 successful but hazardous missions supplying Force 136 behind the Japanese lines. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1997 for his work as chairman of the Anglo-American community relations committee at RAF Fairford. Peter Arkell passed away on 27th August 2010. |
Donald Dunstan Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | Donald Dunstan Trained as Flight Mechanic working on Fairy Battles then transferred to 103 Squadron, Bomber Command on Wellingtons. After a Fitter 2E course he joined 161 Squadron at Tempsford with their Lysanders. During the 'Moon Period' often working at Tangmere. He serviced the aircraft of Wing Commanders Pickard and Hodges. |
  Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Hodges KCB CBE DSO DFC* Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2007 | Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Hodges KCB CBE DSO DFC* Lewis Hodges flew with 49 Sqn from June 1940 until he was shot down over occupied France in Sept 1940 and taken prisoner by the Vichy French. He managed to escape and made his way back to England, rejoining 49 Sqn. He took part in the attacks against the German Channel dash operation in Feb 1942. In Nov of that year he joined 161 (Special Duties) Sqn, flying Halifaxes, Lysanders and Hudsons landing and parachuting agents into German occupied territory. Among the people he brought out of France were two future Presidents - Vincent Auriol and Francois Mitterand. He died 4th January 2007. |
Wing Commander Len Ratcliff DSO DFC Our estimated value of this signature : £25 Died : 2016 | Wing Commander Len Ratcliff DSO DFC Len Ratcliff joined the RAFVR in early 1939 to train as a pilot. In 1941 he completed a full tour of 30 operations in Bomber Command with 49 Squadron. After a rest period he was posted to 161 (Special Duties ) Sqn as Flight Commander flying agents and supplies in and out of France, Belgium, Holland, Norway and Denmark. He then spent a period in charge of A.I.2.C at the very centre of clandestine activities in the whole of occupied Europe. He returned to 161 Squadron in 1943 as Flight Commander and later Squadron commander. Len Ratcliff died on 1st April 2016. |
Flying Officer J A Tommy Thomas Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | Flying Officer J A Tommy Thomas Trained in 1941/2 as a winch operator on Fairy Battles and Lysanders, target towing for Spitfire OUT. In 1942 Tommy remustered as Air Gunner and in 1943 he joined 161Special Duties Squadron at Tempsford on Halifaxes B flight, He later detached to A flight on Hudsons and Lysanders for mail pick-up duties. His training and quick thinking saved him and Bob Large when on one memorable flight Tommy reacted instantly to a tow wire fouling the elevators of their Lysander. Between July 43 and July 45 he completed 33 Ops. out of Tempsford and Tangmere. |
  Group Captain Hugh Verity DSO* DFC Our estimated value of this signature : £35 Died : 2001 | Group Captain Hugh Verity DSO* DFC Learning to fly in the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1938, Hugh Verity flew Beaufighters in Coastal Command and night fighter squadrons before volunteering to join 161 (Special Duties) Sqn. In 1943 he commanded this squadrons Lysander flight and became the Squadron Commander. On his 29 successful pick ups, of which 24 were in Lysanders, he brought back to England a total of 93 people from the meadows of occupied France, lit only by pocket torches. He died in 2001. |
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