19. Secret Air Operations

Aircraft were first used to drop agents behind enemy lines during World War I. The skills of the first pioneers were rediscovered twenty years later when Britain had to find ways of supporting Resistance throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. Agents were flown in or picked up, supplies and sabotage teams parachuted. The British Special Operations flights were joined by US 'Carpetbagger' squadrons, and their methods continued to be employed during the Cold War.