This Westland Lysander Mk 1 (516J) of No. 3 Squadron, was re-assigned to the REAF Tactical Air Force, in al-Arish as of June and July 1948, and is known to have flown at least seven reconnaissance and armed reconnaissance sorties during the Palestine War. In one case, it sought for a downed aircraft. The addition of the letter J – for Jass (Arabic for reconnaissance) – reflected the fact that it was one of few, precious photo-reconnaissance machines. Painted in overall high-speed silver, it had a tarnished front of the engine cowling, lacked wheel-covering plates on the undercarriage, and the message-retrieval hook and the observer’s machine gun have been removed. However, the stub-wings retained bomb-racks, because Lysanders from al-Arish sometimes flew offensive operations. (Artwork by Peter Penev)