No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron was a highly secretive unit of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, performing missions as part of the

Royal Air Force Special Duties Service The Royal Air Force Special Duties (SD) Service was a secret air service created to provide air transport to support the resistance movement in Axis controlled territories. The service helped develop and support the resistance by bringing in agen ...

. It was tasked with missions of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) and the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

(SIS) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Their primary role was to drop and collect secret agents and equipment into and from Nazi-occupied Europe. The squadron had a secondary role in acting as the

King's Flight Air transport of the British royal family and government is provided, depending on the circumstances and availability, by a variety of military and civilian operators. This includes an Airbus Voyager of the Royal Air Force, No. 10 Squadron an ...

History

Groupe 161 de Tangmere 1943 Lysander 5594

The squadron was formed at

RAF Newmarket RAF Newmarket was a Royal Air Force station located near Newmarket, Suffolk, England, near the border with Cambridgeshire. It was opened in 1939 and closed in 1945. History The RAF station was actually a grass-strip on Newmarket's Rowley Mil ...

on 15 February 1942 from 138 Squadron’s Lysander flight and a flight of Whitleys and Wellingtons. These were combined with pilots and aircraft from the King’s Flight to create the second SD squadron. The unit was commanded by Edward Fielden, an experienced pilot who had been the CO of the King’s Flight. He inherited two very experienced officers in Guy Lockhart and “Sticky” Murphy from 138. 161's A Flight was made up of six Lysanders, with Guy Lockhart as its commanding officer. A Flight undertook the pick-up operations. The squadron's B Flight flew two-engine Whitleys and Wellingtons, and did agent parachute drops and supply drop missions. In April 1942 the squadron joined 138 Squadron at

RAF Tempsford RAF Tempsford is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Sandy, Bedfordshire, England and south of St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. As part of the Royal Air Force Special Duty Service, the airfield was perhaps the most ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. It remained there for the duration of its service. In November 1942 the B Flight's Whitleys were replaced with the four-engine Halifax. Following the end of the war in Europe, the squadron was disbanded 2 June 1945.http://www.setbook.us/books/955644.html

Aircraft

Several types of aircraft were used by the squadron in the course of their duties. *

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...

February 1942 - November 1944 * Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V February 1942 - December 1942 * Havoc I February 1942 - December 1943 * Handley Page Halifax B.Mk II September 1942 - December 1942 *

Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle was a twin-engine military transport aircraft, transport aircraft developed by the United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth and primarily produced by A.W. Hawksley Ltd, a subsid ...

October 1942 to April 1943 * Handley Page Halifax B.Mk V November 1942 to November 1944 * Lockheed Hudson III / V October 1943-June 1945 * Short Stirling III and IV September 1943 - June 1945 The Lysanders were used for the landing and collection of agents, while the other types were used for parachuting agents and supplies.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * *

External links

Squadron history page on official RAF website

Information on the Tempsford Squadrons

Final flight, and recovery of, Hudson FK790. This aircraft and the remains of the pilot were discovered 53 years, to the day, after it went missing on an operation. Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons, 161 Squadron Special Operations Executive {{RAF-stub