Procopius Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 On the night of June 16-early morning of June 17, Noor Inayat Khan, aka MADELEINE, was flown to landing ground B.20A in France on the mission that would ultimately earn her the George Cross and also cost her life. Is there any information available as to the serial and markings of the Lysander which ferried her in? She's a hero of mine (my hedgehog, in fact, is named for her) and I'd like to build the aircraft that carried her if possible. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 (edited) I`ll have a look to see if I can find anything out,......I`ve read about her myself,.....but what year was it as I cannot remember? Tony Edited May 18, 2015 by tonyot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 I`ll have a look to see if I can find anything out,......I`ve read about her myself,.....but what year was it as I cannot remember? Oh, omitted it by mistake! 1943. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 (edited) There is something not direct, just suggestion: http://ww2today.com/16th-june-1943-soe-agent-noor-inayat-khan-arrives-by-moonlight-in-france And look also here: http://humphrysfamilytree.com/ORahilly/vaughan.fowler.html I did not hear before about this story... Cheers J-W Edited May 18, 2015 by JWM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/anglais/pdf/infiltrations_into_france.pdf This link will provide some details, go to page 52 you will see Group Capt Hugh Verity was the pilot and I understand he flew one particular Lysander V9673 MA-J a profile can be found here http://militaria.forum-xl.com/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=737 Good luck Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaw Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 There is some info at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum about Noor, as well as SOE ops from Tangmere. I will see what I can find out for you. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I looked through every book I had on special duties and agent insertion and couldn't find a serial number. I thought the pilots on duty that night were Bunny Rymills and James McCairns and not Hugh Verity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 There's a file on her in the National Archives, though I doubt it'll go into such fine detail; it'll be a couple of weeks before I can have a look at it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhouse Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Pardon me for jumping in, but I've always liked the Lysander and enjoyed reading about operations in which it was involved. I've tried searching online to find a list of known Lysander landing sites in France but have drawn a blank so far. Does anyone know of a list of impromptu airfields, or a site dedicated to recording them? Thanks in advance, Brian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Perhaps the ORB for the special duties flight would give information re which pilots flew that night and the aircraft they piloted. That should be in the National Archives as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaw Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 There is some info at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum about Noor, as well as SOE ops from Tangmere. I will see what I can find out for you. John I have been to Tangmere today and had a look at the info they have. Unfortunately I cannot find any detail on the Lysander IIIA she was taken to France, other than it was from 161 Special Duties Squadron which had the squadron codes MA. According to the info at Tangmere the pilot for her flight on 16/17 June 1943 was Flying Officer F E (Bunny)Rymills. I will try to find out more from the resources there, but other alternatives are the Squadron ORB which may be at the National Archives in Kew as mentioned above. Hope that this helps a little bit! Cheers, John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Thank you very much for looking, John, and thank you also to everyone who's weighed in so far on this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaw Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 When I got home from Tangmere last evening, I was thinking about this and googled 161 SD Squadron. Sure enough there is a website complete with the ORB for the squadron. So I looked through that only to find out that there was nothing recorded after April 1943! However, there was a contact point on the website, so I e-mailed it ( [email protected]) to ask the question about the Lysander. He has just replied to say that it was V9353, code MA-G. He has also attached a photo of the plane, so if Procopius would like that, and can give me his e-mail address (by PM if necessary) I can forward the picture. John 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 This a most interesting thread and I've just re-read the link that I posted earlier and I was mistaken. Its wasn't Verity on that trip in fact there were 2 Lysanders serials unknown flown by F/O Rymill and F/O McCairns. The report also details the passengers and their fate at the hands of the Germans. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Well then, it would seem all that remains is to determine the best Lysander kit. Britmodeller really is an amazing resource. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Here's one I did a little while ago http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948172-another-eduard-lysander-148/ Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Well then, it would seem all that remains is to determine the best Lysander kit. Britmodeller really is an amazing resource. In 1/72 the Airfix and Matchbox kits are both reasonable moulds that make reasonable models but they are showing their respective ages, not sure about the Frog kit, I have never seen it... the Pavla kit probably looks really nice in the box; Special Hobby have had one in their 'Future Releases' list for at least two years... However I would say unless you need to build one immediately, wait and see if Airfix do a new tool version next year; if not you will be in no worse a position than you are now, and if so it would most likely justify your having waited for it Cheers, Stew 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Stew's probably right, Airfix must be considering this, surely? An iconic aircraft, restored examples to work from, and the anniversary of its key moments a year or two away? Having said that, the builds I've seen from the two old stager kits don't look bad. although I know you don't much like interior details, both could stand a lot of work in this regard. Of course, the various Airfix boxings include the ladder and an agent, although a little butch for your needs, but the (hard to come by) Airfix railway passenger set includes a young lady in a suitably 1940s costume? I think there may be one in the loft if needs be. (Nominally 1/76 but I think a point could be stretched.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 I have an ebay bid in on a Pavla one, despite having had a profoundly negative experience with the Pavla Seafire III, one of only a handful of kits I failed to complete even the basic assembly of. That sentence is a bit jangled grammatically, but that's just the memories, welling up. It looks like it might need the secret squirrel bits from the Airfix kit, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Keep in mind that Lysanders came in two persuasions, Mercury (Mks I & III) & Perseus (Mk II) engined. It was always my understanding the the covert ops ones were Perseus engined, the Perseus was reputed to be quieter than the Mercury. I see though from the info that Mike has provided in the build he links to that there were Mercury powered ones used for covert ops too. It should be possible to determine from the serial that John has posted above, which version is relevant in this case. The Pavla one, as are the Matchbox & Airfix ones are all Mk IIs, the Frog one was a Mk I/III, iirc. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Hannants have the Pavla MkII in stock, if eBay fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 What! Really this is too much, only Spitfires should be allowed to have variants. Can anyone shed any light on which Mark V9353 was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinK Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 According to Bruce Robertson's "British Military Aircraft Serials", V9353 was built as a Mk IIIA Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 According to Bruce Robertson's "British Military Aircraft Serials", V9353 was built as a Mk IIIA Kevin Thank you, Kevin. So I'd need the Frog kit? My word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Umm, but aren't the bumps on the cowlings the only visual difference? And if so, should be easy enough to get rid, no? Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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