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Moonlight Crusaders: Special Duties Pilots over Occupied Europe
This engrossing history explores the creation, development and actions of the Special Duties squadrons, which carried spies, political figures and documents in and out of Occupied Europe.
In 1940, Winston Churchill famously set in motion the Special Operations Executive. However, the creation of secret agent networks required a clandestine transport infrastructure to support nascent resistance movements in Occupied Europe. With only the moon to guide their way, the daring pilots of 161 Squadron constantly faced danger: their locations could be discovered, German night-fighters and flak had to be contended with and, of course, they dealt with the worst of European weather. Despite these extra risks, these Special Duties pilots were remarkably successful.
Packed with first-hand accounts and expert research, this book dives into the history of the men who flew these dangerous missions and the main aircraft they used - unarmed Lysanders. Author Paul Smiddy, an RAF-trained pilot, explores the origins of the Lysander, the dangers it posed to its pilots and how operational techniques were developed. Facing political interference and limited resources from the RAF, these brave and under-recognised pilots provided a critical role in the war - bringing back agents with important information to help Britain and the Allies defeat the Germans.
In 1940, Winston Churchill famously set in motion the Special Operations Executive. However, the creation of secret agent networks required a clandestine transport infrastructure to support nascent resistance movements in Occupied Europe. With only the moon to guide their way, the daring pilots of 161 Squadron constantly faced danger: their locations could be discovered, German night-fighters and flak had to be contended with and, of course, they dealt with the worst of European weather. Despite these extra risks, these Special Duties pilots were remarkably successful.
Packed with first-hand accounts and expert research, this book dives into the history of the men who flew these dangerous missions and the main aircraft they used - unarmed Lysanders. Author Paul Smiddy, an RAF-trained pilot, explores the origins of the Lysander, the dangers it posed to its pilots and how operational techniques were developed. Facing political interference and limited resources from the RAF, these brave and under-recognised pilots provided a critical role in the war - bringing back agents with important information to help Britain and the Allies defeat the Germans.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2026
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October 13, 2026
For those of us interested in both military aviation history and the secret war in occupied France between June 1940 and August 1944, this book is the perfect synthesis. It brings together disparate elements into a seamless whole: the stories and personalities of Lysander pilots and agents from the French Resistance, the SOE and the SIS; the technical development of the Lysander aircraft, which during the war was to fly in and out of enemy territory, dropping off and picking up agents; the development of the Special Duties squadrons, especially the 161, the backbone of the secret war air support, which flew both Lysanders and Hudsons; the daily life of those gifted, unorthodox pilots, and their missions into and out of France; the captures, escapes, deaths, injuries and recoveries; the marriages, joys and heartbreaks of all these characters; the petty infighting between SOE and SIS and the obstructionism of Bomber Command, especially MRAF Portal and ACM Harris. both of whom hated and disapproved of Special Duties and Special Operations; the demands of De Gaulle (head of the Free French), Buckmaster (head of F Section SOE) and Menzies (head of SIS); and the challenge of having to ferry around at night in uncertain weather the most wanted men and women in occupied Europe with only a handful of unmarked aircraft (there were only 13 Lysanders at Tangmere by 1944, and 6 Hudsons!), landing in barely lit fields that were all too often inadequate for takeoff.
Due to the particular secrecy of the Lysander activities, some aspects of them, for example the history of Henri Déricourt, the French civil pilot and double or triple agent, remain obscure. Paul Smiddy does his best with his material, but I assume that firm conclusions about this obscure character - otherwise excellently drawn by Smiddy - remain impossible. He was outed after the war, after continuing his illegal activities and even expanding into drug smuggling, but Maurice Buckmaster never disowned him.
Most of the book, as noted above, concentrates on the secret war in France, a choice justified by the fact that the majority of the Lysander and Hudson flights of 161 Squadron and its earlier incarnations concerned that country. At one point, during 1943-Spring 1944, the history of 161 reads like a risky taxi service between England and France! The histories of 148 Squadron in the Mediterranean and 357 Squadron in Asia, are mentioned but not developed, and I regret that, though I understand the rationale of focussing on France. Another book maybe?
Moonlight Crusaders tells a story that needed to be told with historical distance, but with the love and admiration that Paul Smiddy has brought to his subject, to the agents who risked and too often lost their lives in the secret war, and to the young pilots who flew these dangerous missions. The whole of Europe, Britain included, owes them much, and writing from France in 2026, I'm more than ever aware of how much this country is indebted to these unjustly unknown pilots.
Due to the particular secrecy of the Lysander activities, some aspects of them, for example the history of Henri Déricourt, the French civil pilot and double or triple agent, remain obscure. Paul Smiddy does his best with his material, but I assume that firm conclusions about this obscure character - otherwise excellently drawn by Smiddy - remain impossible. He was outed after the war, after continuing his illegal activities and even expanding into drug smuggling, but Maurice Buckmaster never disowned him.
Most of the book, as noted above, concentrates on the secret war in France, a choice justified by the fact that the majority of the Lysander and Hudson flights of 161 Squadron and its earlier incarnations concerned that country. At one point, during 1943-Spring 1944, the history of 161 reads like a risky taxi service between England and France! The histories of 148 Squadron in the Mediterranean and 357 Squadron in Asia, are mentioned but not developed, and I regret that, though I understand the rationale of focussing on France. Another book maybe?
Moonlight Crusaders tells a story that needed to be told with historical distance, but with the love and admiration that Paul Smiddy has brought to his subject, to the agents who risked and too often lost their lives in the secret war, and to the young pilots who flew these dangerous missions. The whole of Europe, Britain included, owes them much, and writing from France in 2026, I'm more than ever aware of how much this country is indebted to these unjustly unknown pilots.
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