In July 1940, the AOC of 11 Group, Air Vice Marshal Park secured 12 Lysanders which were pressed into service as part of a make shift air sea rescue service. They were a high wing light plane with a single engine and a fixed under carriage. They had been designed for army cooperation and had operated in France where they suffered heavy losses. They were not particularly effective in the air sea rescue business. They only came into their own when used for ferrying Special Operations Executive agents, often at night, into occupied France. This made better use of their capacity to land in very restricted space.