Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit more about
the Lysander aircraft?
It was a unique airplane. It was a gold wing, high wing airplane
on a fixed under carriage. It had two positions; a pilot
and a gunner at the back. It had, as I said, two little ball
marks which were attached to the wheel, struts. I've forgotten
the engine that powered it, I think it was a Pegasus engine,
a fairly small engine but very reliable airplane. And very nice
to fly, the pilots could literally turn on a dime. So I had my
first flight on, in a Lysander, first ever time I was off the
ground. And it was rear facing backseat where the air gunners,
it was just a pilot and air gunner, that was the crew, and that
was my first flight. But they could come in and they would land,
very, very short take off and landing, very short, and that was
the big feature that they could work in rough terrain and they
could get in and out of very short fields.