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Ebay photo ID help plse - special ops Lysander ?


FalkeEins

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..not been on sale long, but price creeping up. Taken from a (presumably) German album featuring shots of Niergnies Feldflugplatz (Cambrai), northern France. Having trouble ID-ing the codes for starters...cheers

 

lysanderRM.jpg

 

on offer here

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Codes appear to be RM which would make it 26 Squadron. The squadron moved to France in Oct '39 and served in an army co-operation role, finally withdrawing to Lympne on the 19th May 1940, after which it flew supply, bombing and reconnaissance missions.

 

The broad tail flash points to '39 or '40 date so I'd guess the example in the picture was abandoned in the withdrawal from France.

 

Pete

Edited by Potato Pete
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The stripes on the fin were introduced from April 1940

It looks like a mark I or III, most likely a Mk.I

No access ladder on the side so it wasn't used for SOE drops

Possibly a u/s aircraft left in France after the AAEF withdrawal in June 1940

Or.. is that an RAF man being led away?

Emergency landing in France after June '40

Black undersides it looks like. Maybe light bombing or supply dropping?

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RM*B is associated with L4773, which was forced to land while conducting a recce on 20 May 1940. I am not altogether convinced that this is the aircraft in the photo, since it was meant to be conducting a recce around Calais and force-landed on a beach. Is that a beach beneath it? Not at all sure, although I suppose the apparently deep wheel tracks may point to a softer surface.

 

Speculative info offered for what it's worth.... 

 

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..thanks guys.. there's some interesting info to mull over there. Definitely looks like an RAF man being led away doesn't it ( tbh I hadn't even seen that..)  and the 'block-shaped' objects all along the horizon could well be (Channel) shipping, if that piece of land was close to a beach. Cheers for those hints and suggestions!

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20 hours ago, XV107 said:

RM*B is associated with L4773, which was forced to land while conducting a recce on 20 May 1940. I am not altogether convinced that this is the aircraft in the photo, since it was meant to be conducting a recce around Calais and force-landed on a beach. Is that a beach beneath it? Not at all sure, although I suppose the apparently deep wheel tracks may point to a softer surface.

 

Speculative info offered for what it's worth.... 

 

Not speculative at all. Having looked at the linked image , the last 3 of the underwing serial can be read as 773 quite clearly against the light coloured underside of the port wing. It also shows another bloke lying on the ground in front of the Germans. Looks to me like it is possibly on mud or marshland, maybe river estuary or similar low lying ground near a beach?

 

Mark.

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On 15/07/2018 at 12:03, Black Knight said:

...

It looks like a mark I or III, most likely a Mk.I

...

Very stoopid me. I got my Lizzie Marks mixed up.

Smooth cowling as on this one = Mark II.

Bumps on the cowling are on Marks I & III

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On 7/16/2018 at 3:20 PM, Harry Lime said:

Not speculative at all. Having looked at the linked image , the last 3 of the underwing serial can be read as 773 quite clearly against the light coloured underside of the port wing. It also shows another bloke lying on the ground in front of the Germans. Looks to me like it is possibly on mud or marshland, maybe river estuary or similar low lying ground near a beach?

 

Mark.

 

Sigh. I spent several minutes staring at the rear fuselage attempting to make out the serial, without pausing for one moment to consider having a look under the wing. In my defence, it's not as though my explanation to younger RAF officers what a Lysander was has used the photo below for the last goodness-knows-how-long. No, no, that's someone else entirely....🤔 

default.jpg

 

When fulfilling my Directing Staff duties and explaining to young officers what a Lysander was. No, I've not been using it for the last 5 years

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  • 4 years later...

A rather desperate plea.

The aircrew being taken prisoner are my partners father, the pilot, and his WOP/AG.

I appreciate that this old thread concerned a/c identification and not the purchase of the original photograph, but does anyone know the fate of the advertised photo?

Any help will be appreciated.

Kind regards,

Patrick Coulter 

 

 

 

 

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