Bernard O'Connor

'Mike' Andrews Bernard O'Connor

Harold James Andrews, known as Mike, was born in 1897. Fascinated by planes, he joined the Royal Naval Air Force during the First World War and later the Royal Flying Corps flying bombers. After working as a test pilot, in the early 1920s he moved to Barcelona to train the Spanish Air Force in anti-submarine warfare. Returning to Britain in 1930 he was Blackburn's foreign representative, and t e photographs he took of airports and airfields across Europe were passed to the Secret Intelligence Service. He designed and later managed Liverpool airport and designed Kallang in Singapore. During the Second World War he was posted to Lisbon as Air Attaché but this was just a cover. His mission was to help a secret organisation operating in France, Spain and Portugal to get escaped prisoners-of-war, downed pilots, aircrew and other evaders back to Britain. Based on his grandson Simon's stories, autobiographies of other intelligence officers, contemporary documents, this book tells his story.