Hairyplane:”The RAF museum have a Hawk Trainer in their reserve collection that they have no plans for but wont swap for cash to support current projects ( I can be drawn into a long conversation about that one…).”

I was told around ten years ago that the RAFM’s Hawk trainer was in fact owned by the Museum of Army Flying, is this no longer the case?

I have to say I’m also glad to see you back, if indeed you’ve ever truly been away!

I’ve just been delving into various books, including James Kightly’s excellent Lysander book for a bit more detail on the cannon, and it seems that at least one squadron was supplied with cannon before the Battle of France, although they were never supplied with any 20mm ammo! A number of Lizzies were also fitted with 20mm during the Battle of Britain period as an anti-tank/anti-invasion barge measure, and this time they presumably had some ammo?!

The fitting of 20mm seems to have been rather sporadic, although the installation is mentioned in the type’s pilots notes. It seems many Lysanders had provision for the fitting of cannon, even if they weren’t actually fitted.

Hi Graham,

The Lysander was designed as an army co-op aircraft, so anything that could add to it’s punch would come in handy for strafing. This was well before other canon armed types, eg. Typhoon Ib, Hurri IIc etc, were available.

The ability to operate from short, rough strips was so that it could operate close to the front lines, and it just so happenned that it came in handy for ‘spy dropping’.

Impressive and interesting figures CD, but have you factored in engine thrust for the airborne figures? My suggestion would be that a flying Lysander would lose somewhat less than 20mph given that the prop is pulling the aircraft against the recoil.

Also interesting how the Henneberg combat report states that he used his ‘cannon’- in September 1940, 303sqn were flying Hurri Mk.I’s with eight Brownings only…

Thanks for the info. The triumvirate of Ebay, Amazon and Abebooks have failed me but will keep looking. The Stuka volume was particularly useful, having the only illustration of a two seat JU87H available anywhere that I’ve seen.

I picked up my copy of the Lysander book at Waterstones not so long ago, you might find they still have some available. A very good book, well worth the modest price.

As far as I’m aware, the gas patch on the nose was applied exclusively to aircraft in No 1 Group, if that helps. They were only applied for a certain short period, which might help to date the picture roughly. Unfortunately I don’t know exactly what those dates were, but perhaps someone else does.