The Moon Squadron
When France fell in the summer of 1940, the newly appointed British Prime Minister. Winston Churchill, ordered the formation of an underground army to wage a secret war in enemy-occupied Europe. So, Special Operations Executive (SOE) was formed. Its’s charter included sabotage, espionage, assistance to resistance movements, and other clandestine activities.
Brigadier Colin Gubbins, a commando officer with experience of unconventional war in the Irish War of Independence was chosen to lead. Gubbins, whose previous role had been to plan a secret sabotage force for deployment should The Nazis reach British soil, was a masterly choice. His approach to warfare included blowing up trains, bridges and factories, as well as fostering revolt and guerrilla warfare. Anything to disrupt the enemy. His instructions was to’ set Europe ablaze’.
The vital need for secrecy was obvious, so Churchill ordered that SOE remain completely separate from all other Secret Intelligence Service entities. It remained a secret for the duration of World War II and its existence was not revealed to the public until its disbandment in 1946.
But if SOE were to deliver secret agents to occupied Europe, they required suitable secret transport. Initial approaches to the Air Ministry seeking a means of parachuting agents into France and the Low Countries fell on deaf ears and Churchill had to intervene before SOE got what it needed.
They Landed by Moonlight -painting by Robert Taylor
Over the next five years, RAF’s delivery service would deliver, thousands of SOE agents in continental Europe and retrieve those who survived.
Two special duty squadrons were formed at RAF Tempsford, in northern Bedfordshire. Initially, both of squadrons flew single-engine Westland Lysanders, 138 Squadron switched to modified Halifax bombers and specialized in parachute drops while 161 Squadron took over the Lysanders and the specialised role of quick-turnaround missions to Europe and were soon designate The Moon Squadron.
They flew when the moon was full, landed behind enemy lines without lights on improvised grass airstrips as short as 150 yards, much shorter than the aircraft’s designers envisaged. As arriving agents climbed down the fixed ladder, departing passengers ran onto the field, scrambled aboard, and minutes later were on their way
Group Capt. Hugh Verity made 30 Lysander landings in occupied territory and was decorated for gallantry on 5 occasions.
Group Capt. Hugh Verity
At the outset of war, the slow Lysander proved that in a scrap, it would be likely to come off second best. It found its true calling with the moon squadron. Nor was it a pretty aircraft, with its odd gull wings and wheel spats but it was light and rugged.. Verity considered the Lysander a most suitable aircraft for the clandestine tasks required of it..
West;and Lysander
‘The wings were equipped with automatic slats which lifted away from the leading edge as the speed decreased toward stalling speed,’ Verity said, describing his aircraft. ‘These slats controlled automatic flaps. Slow speed flight was therefore greatly simplified and it was possible to bring a Lysander down to land, if not like a lift, at least like an escalator.”
The Lysander, an ugly duck that found its calling.
The three-bladed propeller was driven by big, reliable Bristol Mercury radial engine, generating a top speed of 230 mph. More significantly, it could fly as slow as 55 mph without stalling.
The Lysander featured a strong undercarriage formed by an alloy beam in the shape of an inverted V, enabling it to easily handle rough landing fields.
The fixed landing gear had streamlined fairings, called ‘spats’, over the wheels to reduce turbulence. The high wing, gave the pilot a good view downward on both sides. Nonessential equipment was stripped out to maximise the Lysander’s range.
The moon squadron flew without lights or navigation equipment Pilots navigated solely by dead reckoning using a pre-prepares strip map fastened to the pilot’s knee. The Lysander course was plotted ahead of time and position was calculated from the compass heading, time flown, and airspeed and verified by features on the ground. Water was the best landmark,” Verity said. ‘Coast, rivers, or lakes, and after that, forests and railways.’
Initially Moon Squadron planes were painted matt black, but the upper surfaces were later camouflaged in dark green and pale gray to make them less visible from above.
The Moon Squadron pilots called all of the SOE agents “Joes,” whatever their gender. Agents arrived at the appointed airfield at the last moment with as much secrecy as possible. The BBC broadcast sent coded messages to let agents and Resistance leaders know when their missions were scheduled to arrive. The Lysanders expected to be on the ground in Europe for no more than three minutes.
A chapter called ‘The English Stranger’ in my new book Souvenirs pays tribute to the pilots of the Moon Squadron and their brave passengers, for whom the flight with the moonlighters was often a one-way trip.