The RAF Museum London is honoured to open a new display that shares the story of Noor Inayat Khan GC, who served under cover in Paris during the Second World War with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and ultimately gave her life for the Allied cause.<\/p>\n
Born to an Indian father and an American mother, Noor was living in Paris when Germany invaded France in 1940. She escaped to Britain where she joined the Women\u2019s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and trained as a wireless operator. As a follower of Sufism, Noor was a pacifist. However, she believed that it was her duty to support the fight against Nazism.
\nNoor\u2019s technical skills and fluency in French led to her recruitment by the SOE and her deployment to Paris as a special agent in 1943. After Noor\u2019s SOE colleagues were identified and arrested, she was given the option to return from enemy territory. However, she chose to remain at her post as the only SOE wireless operator in Paris. Noor was later betrayed and arrested. She endured a long period of interrogation before being executed by the Nazis at Dachau Concentration camp on 13 September 1944. Her last word was \u2018Libert\u00e9!\u2019<\/p>\n
The Museum is displaying the George Cross that was posthumously awarded to Noor for her bravery while operating in German occupied France. It has been generously loaned to the Museum by Noor\u2019s family. The George Cross is the highest award bestowed on civilian or military personnel who have carried out an act of bravery while not under enemy fire. Noor was one of only three women to receive the George Cross.<\/p>\n
The citation for Noor\u2019s George Cross reads: Assistant Section Officer Inayat Khan displayed the most conspicuous courage, both moral and physical over a period of more than 12 months.
\nThe new display is integrated within the Museum\u2019s \u2018Strike Hard, Strike Sure: Bomber Command, 1939-1945\u2019 exhibition. The exhibition explores the story of the incredible bravery of those in Bomber Command during the Second World War, sharing the stories of the people, aircraft and technology that enabled Allied victory.<\/p>\n
The Westland Lysander Mk III, presented within this exhibition, is integral to Noor\u2019s story, and the new display is located beside it. On 16 June 1943, Noor, codenamed Madeleine, was flown into France by Squadron Leader Frank \u2018Bunny\u2019 Rymills in a Westland Lysander. A record of this flight was recorded in his logbook, which is the RAF Museum\u2019s archive collection and on display beside Noor\u2019s George Cross.<\/p>\n
Maggie Appleton, CEO of the RAF Museum said<\/strong>: www.rafmuseum.org\/london<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The RAF Museum London is honoured to open a new display that shares the story of Noor Inayat Khan GC, who served under cover in Paris during the Second World War with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and ultimately gave her life for the Allied cause. Born to an Indian father and an American mother, … Continue reading RAF Museum London displays Noor Inayat Khan\u2019s George Cross<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[336,10,55,231],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation-museum-news","tag-336","tag-news","tag-november","tag-raf-museum-loondon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2969,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions\/2969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cWe are privileged and humbled to share Noor\u2019s George Cross with our visitors. Her story of bravery and determination sings to us across the decades and we know will inspire people of all ages and from all backgrounds. The generous loan of the medal by her family, alongside the logbook that records her flight into occupied France and our Special Duties Lysander are a powerful representation of her service and sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n