Peter Vaughan-Fowler, CVO, DSO, DFC & Bar, AFC (18 January 1923 – 24 April 1994) was an officer who served in the Royal Air Force.

He is best known for his work as a "special duties" pilot, supporting the SOE and the SIS, carrying agents to and from occupied France.

[1] His father, Guy Vaughan-Fowler, had been a naval aviator during The Great War, attaining the rank of Group Captain.

[3] A year later he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve at Cranwell, where he earned the rating of Leading Aircraftman.

The posting was quite unusual, for the squadron was a secret unit that flew insertion missions at night into occupied France.

[10] This flying of aircraft at night to small fields in France with no navigational aid was a new undertaking, fraught with danger.

The operators would lay out a flare path and the pilots would bring their Lysander down to land, change passengers and take off in the dark.

Among Vaughan-Fowler's passengers on these flights included Jean Moulin and the general Charles Delestraint, head of the Armée Secrète.

He was shot down over northern France in a circus op, made it back to England and took up with 161 Squadron to do pick-up flights.

A bit nervous about making the grade, he had committed himself to the "Bridger method" of night navigational flying when a young pilot joined their small team.

Said McCairns: "I found myself becoming firm friends with another pilot, a young, impetuous flyer named Peter Vaughan-Fowler.

[18] He had been an officer in the French army, and in England met secretly with Charles de Gaulle in London, where he was asked to lead the Armée Secrète.

On the night of 17/18 March 1943 Vaughan-Fowler completed a successful double operation near Poitiers with Bunny Rymills.

[21] Vaughan-Fowler's trips were largely uneventful, due to his careful preparation and nighttime navigational skills.

Once when flying a double Lysander operation with 'Bunny' Rymills on 17 March 1943, Vaughan-Fowler landed at the target field and was alarmed to see flames belching out of his engine's exhaust.

If your aircraft became bogged in mud or had a mechanical problem, it meant a long walk back at night, and staying low in a safe house to avoid the Gestapo during the day.

[23] On another operation Vaughan-Fowler had checked out a new Lysander with a test flight during the day and had discovered no problems, but over France that night found six foot flames were belching out from the exhaust pipes.

Vaughan-Fowler carried British SOE agent 'Tommy' Yeo-Thomas, known under the alias of the 'White Rabbit', as an outgoing passenger back to France on this operation.

Flying out of RAF Tangmere between October 1942 and the end of his tour in September 1943, Vaughan-Fowler completed twenty-one successful operations out of twenty-seven attempts.

[22] At the time Vaughan-Fowler's transfer 21 Squadron had converted to the de Havilland Mosquito and was flying intruder missions.

Vaughan-Fowler arrived at Maison Blanche airfield near Algiers to set up a Lysander pick up flight for operations at bases in the Mediterranean area.

The squadron was largely equipped with Halifaxes, and prior to Vaughan-Fowler's arrival had been primarily responsible for parachuting men and supplies to partisans in Yugoslavia and Greece.

Jimmy McCairns was soon sent to join Vaughan-Fowler at Brindisi in the heel of Italy as Air Ministry representative and training instructor.

Both he and Vaughan-Fowler expected to be flying to southern France, but were tasked with carrying out operations in Greece and Yugoslavia.

Following the Normandy landings the Lysanders were moved forward to Borgo Bastia and switched to operations in southern France.

On 4 June Vaughan-Fowler and Attenborough flew a double pick-up from Calvi to a field near Lyons, where they picked up 7, including Michel Pichard.

The agent was an important leader of the resistance, who awaited pick up at a field in Pont de Vaux on the river Saône.

[17] In December 1944 Vaughan-Fowler was made commanding officer of 213 Squadron, operating the P-51 Mustang fighter in a ground-attack role.

[3] Vaughan-Fowler decided to remain in the Royal Air Force, and was awarded a permanent commission in September 1945.

[17] He had met a friend of Quinn's during the war when he flew out an English painter who had become trapped in Paris at the time of the German occupation.