rare view of what I assume is (possibly) a special ops SOE Lysander III (maybe) of 161 or 138 Sqd captured by the Germans - taken from an album featuring shots of the Luftwaffe airfield at Cambrai, northern France (Niergnies)
on offer here
Fuselage 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 19 May 1940, after which it flew supply, bombing and reconnaissance missions.
The stripes on the fin were introduced from April 1940, probably a Mk.I. Importantly there is 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?
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..note however that some of the serial numbers are just visible on the lower surfaces of the port wing..
More suggestions on the ID via BM forum
