Lysander SPECIAL
Prix régulier 20,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| ISBN |
0 7110 0764 0 |
| Book cover finish | Offset varnish, Hardcover ( square back binding ) |
| Condition | Used, very good condition |
| Number of pages | 64 |
| Published date | 1977 |
| Language | English |
| Size | 20 x 30 cm |
| Author | Bruce Robertson |
| Editor | Ian Allan Ltd |
Description
The Lysander, designed as an Army Co-operation aircraft, failed in its allotted task. It was not the fault of the design; this “miracle of flappery and slottery” — as one pilot put it — met its Air Ministry specification for the task. The fault was rather that of the Air Staff, so imbued with strategic concepts in the use of air power that Army Co-operation was disregarded to such an extent that only four squadrons were allotted for the close support of the B.E.F. in France in 1939. Yet in 1918, when the R.A.F. had taken over the former work of the Royal Flying Corps, there had been twenty Army Co-operation squadrons for a similar frontage. Moreover, the Lysander was less able to look after itself than the biplanes of 1918 which, using the same calibre guns, had a far better field of defensive fire than the canopy of a Lysander allowed. Small wonder, therefore, that within days, not weeks, of the German attack in the West, the Lysanders were ordered home.
As an Army Co-operation aircraft, the Lysander had a brief operational career in France, the Western Desert, Greece and Burma. At home there was the paradox of the standard Army Co-operation aircraft being non-operational in Army Co-operation Command, but operational in both Bomber and Fighter Commands for special duty and rescue operations respectively. But by far the majority of Lysanders were used on training and communications duties, and the fact has to be faced that the Lysander was another of those Second World War operational aircraft whose losses were greater from accidents than from operations.
Bruce Robertson
London, 1977
