On Saturday 4 April, WO Howells took the squadron to an important WW2 RAF Base now a museum.  Tangmere was important both as a fighter base, but also as the place the Lysanders flew from.  These small single-engine planes took the spies of the Special Operations Executive to France on their profoundly dangerous missions.  Many men and women never returned from these missions.  They were captured by the Gestapo, tortured and shot.  We were met by one of the museum staff who showed us round.  Many of the staff there are former service-men.  Our guide had been evacuated from London during the war and had many personal stories to tell us.  The museum is small, but it’s exhibits are focused on some of the personal stories of the war – the lives and service of individuals is picked-out and told.  The result is a rather intimate and moving picture of pilots and spies who fought and often died at the front line of Britain’s struggle to stay free of conquest. (Ed.)