Lysander agent dropping 1943-44

RAF log book flight time is usually logged as ‘actual’ flight time (ie wheels off to wheels on).
Civvy practice is more like ‘chock to chock’ time,which often meant that service pilots accrued less ‘Hours’ than a civvy pilot doing similar tasks (such as transport command etc).

That’s interesting. Currently (I have no idea of wartime practice) flights are logged from the moment the engines are started “with the intention of flight”.

However the very short ‘flight’ you describe would certainly not have counted as an operation (mission/sortie), which may be why there is no mention of it?

Moggy

Father Christmas came up trumps (aided and abetted by Mrs.C) and I now have a copy of Agents by Moonlight.
Interesting, more of a reference book than a narrative, so a valuable source of information. As noted earlier my father appears as “Cusson” in the index, but correctly in the text as “Cussen”. The usual problem of having a slightly unusual spelling of a surname.
Next job is to correlate the book with Dad’s logbooks.
I also noted that in the aircraft lost section is the Halifax crash that Dad had on take-off. It doesn’t appear in his logbook as he never left the ground. Despite being reticent about his wartime exploits I seem to remember he said the prop came off and was found in a nearby wood.

Have a look here, you might get lucky.

http://bernardoconnor.org.uk/tempsford.html

Taken from the Bernard O’Connor website but not sure if this is still live as some of the links are dead.

The memorial in Tempsford village. Standing next to it is Tanya Szabo, daughter of Violette Szabo (George Cross)
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Detail of the mosaic
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And part of the dedication
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Stupid computer has rotated the pictures……Sorry

There was also a small book about the history Tempsford Airfield, written by a local author. I doubt it’s still available unfortunately.

A few Photos of ‘The Barn’ at Gibraltar Farm on RAF Tempsford, where the Agents were kitted out before climbing aboard the aircraft. Taken by myself a number of years ago.

Bill,
No I haven’t read or got Agents by Moonlight. Now on my xmas list
Bob Body (Robert Body) has written two books, Taking the Wings of the Morning, about his search for his uncle’s story, and Runways to Freedom, which details a few ops from Tempsford.
Chris
PS Sorry to hijack this thread.

Mentioned a few times in. ‘Agents by Moonlight’ by Freddie Clark (‘Cusson’ in the index)… excellent book, helped me with research into a 138 log book many, many years ago.
I have no doubt you have, or have seen this book!
Not checked ‘Flights of the forgotten’ by Ken Merrick yet, I have it, somewhere!

Hi Bill,
Poking around on the internet reveals that he was dropping Joes. Bob Body, who runs the Tempsford Vetrans and Relatives Association managed to get the operations reports for most of his 161 ops. Bob has written a couple of books about 161.
There are two memorials, one on Gibratar farm where there is a small museum, and the barn where the Joes were taken before take-off, and another near the church in Tempsford Village

you ought to do some research on this log, chances are there were Agents being dropped, or ‘Joes’ as they were called….not shown in log for security reasons. I see they were dropping, or attempting to drop to more than one site on the same night.
Another interesting name I noticed, LT Hysing Dahl!! Fascinating Log Book….

Yes, Suc means successful
Dad flew a total of 64 ops altogether – Whitleys early on, then 161 and Lancs at the end. He stopped flying in 1957 after flying Shacks out of Gib.
Yes Broadley was his navigator, who was also with him when he crashed into Portugal.
Dad always blamed Pickard for Broadley’s death, as he thought that they went back to inspect the damage before being shot down. One of the few occasions he ever spoke about ops he said, look at a good line of approach, get in, do it and get out.

There’s an extensive web document on infiltrations and exfiltrations into/from France that might help: http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/anglais/pdf/infiltrations_into_france.pdf

Also noting Pickard’s counter – signature on the page where the Dutch DFC was awarded…

This doesn’t surprise me, Marwell was used by Supermarine I believe? On a similar subject the in-laws live in the village of Wickham, a few miles from Marwell. There is a area that locally is called ‘Lysander field’ after the operations that were supposedly carried out there.

Amazing stuff, thank you.

To see F/L Broadley (Navigator rather than co-pilot surely?) and W/C Pickard noted on just the first page astonished me.

And them machine gunning a train from a four-engined bomber – what a crew!

Am I right in assuming that “SUC” means a successful drop?

Moggy

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First real in 161 trip, bit of a disaster, both engines failed off the Portuguese coast
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First proper operation
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First use od Rebecca, a navigation aid
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Awarded Dutch DFC for April 21 Op
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Attacked a train, from a Halifax. Was described by the Station Commander as “Unfortunate”
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A bit of a tricky flight 20th June
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Note the co-pilot, F/L Broadley. Later killed with Pickard on operation Jerico
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Medals. Found them in a washing bag in a suitcase when clearing out his garage. He never spoke much about any of his wartime experiences.

I am certain we would ALL love to see a few scans of the more interesting pages.

Moggy

My father flew Halifaxes in 1943 from Tempsford in 161 squadron completing 25 Ops. I have his log books if anyone wants to see any entries.

You might find these pages helpful: http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/anglais/pdf/infiltrations_into_france.pdf