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Auction: 1006 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 17

Family Group: A Good, Well Documented Second War 1944 ´Pathfinder´s´ D.F.C. Group of Five to Blenheim and Mosquito Navigator, Flight Lieutenant E. Shipley, 139 (Jamaica) Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Who Flew in 31 Operational Sorties With the Squadron, Mostly Over Heavily Defended German Targets, Including 8 Times to Berlin and Back; Shot Down Over North Africa and Taken Prisoner of War By the Vichy French, 29.11.1940, He Took Part in At Least Two Attempts to Escape By Tunnelling, Using ´Table Knives and Bare Hands´ Digging at ´The Rate Of an Inch and a Half an Hour´ a) Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ´1944´ b) 1939-1945 Star c) Air Crew Europe Star, with France and Germany bar d) Africa Star e) War Medal, good very fine, mounted as originally worn, with the following related items &c.: - The recipient´s miniature awards and riband bar - D.F.C. Royal Mint case of issue; Bomber Command Commemorative Medal, in case of issue - Officer´s Cap and Flying Helmet - Flying Goggles named to ´Flt. E. Shipley´; a belt; and two R.A.F. ties - Three R.A.F. Observer´s and Air Gunner´s Flying Log Books (4.1.1940-18.9.1945), Log Book No.1 was handed in prior to going overseas and being taken P.O.W., Shipley was not reunited with it until March 1945 and as a consequence Log Book No.3 gives his attempt at starting to re-record his early flying career; named enclosure slip for D.F.C. - Commission appointing E. Shipley as Pilot Officer, R.A.F.V.R., dated 2.11.1945, this framed - Red Cross correspondence addressed to Shipley whilst he was a P.O.W. at Laghouat Camp, Algeria - A number of photographs of recipient from his time as a P.O.W., some included in a small album called ´Snaps, North Africa´, and of his time with 139 Squadron - Newspaper cuttings; hand-written account of being shot down, subsequent escape attempts and other ephemera Three: Private T. Shipley, West Riding Regiment 1914 Star (7845 Pte. T. Shipley, 2/W.Rid:R.); British War and Victory Medals (7845 Pte. T. Shipley. W.Rid.R.), good very fine (lot) Estimate £ 3,000-3,500 D.F.C. London Gazette 19.5.1944 Flying Officer Eric Shipley (157822) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 139 Sqn. Flight Lieutenant Eric Shipley, D.F.C. (1920-1996), born Middleton, Leeds; educated at Leeds Technical College; employed with local engineering firm Thos. C. Fawcett before service in the R.A.F.V.R. during the Second World War; after initial training with No. 9 A.O.N.S. Blackpool, No.10 B & G.S. Warmwell and No. 17 O.T.U. Upwood he was posted as Sergeant (Navigator) for operational flying to 107 Squadron (Blenheims), Wattisham, 3.9.1940; he flew in 12 operational sorties with the squadron including: Ostend 8.9.1940 (Shipley´s first operation, undertaken at night, despite only having a total of 5 night flying hours to his name); Calais (5); Boulogne; Flushing; Le Havre; Dortmund; at the end of November 1940, Shipley volunteered to be posted to Greece - having been informed that a senior crew from each Blenheim Squadron in No.2 Group was to be withdrawn from operations and trained for a special mission to establish a squadron in Greece to counter the anticipated German invasion; the trip was to be undertaken via France and the Mediterranean, stopping off at Malta to deliver cannon shells for the beleaguered fighter squadron posted there; this meant that Shipley´s aircraft was heavily laden with munitions; having made it as far as the coast of North Africa, ´we set a course for Malta when all hell broke loose - we were attacked by a squadron of fighters and within a few minutes despite all efforts and evasive action we were hit several times.... Both engines were on fire and the flames were fast creeping up the fuselage and we were losing height fast, so the two of us left [the Wireless Operator had been killed] decided we had to go and after moving and cursing the boxes we were carrying I got the escape hatch open and baled out with the pilot following... and he was late out... suffered a serious head injury... when he hit the ground. We were not very high at the time of the attack and we had to get out quickly to survive - as it was I landed on the cliff edge - my parachute went over the top..... I spent two days walking West trying to make for somewhere without any real idea of which was the best way - the country was mountainous, scrub covered and vile for walking in flying boots so it was no surprise when I was ultimately picked up after a couple of hairy experiences with the mountain tribesmen who I later learned would kill you as soon as look at you but "ignorance is bliss"..... I don´t know how long it was before a small party of gendarmes picked me up.... the reason I came across them was simple - the pilot who shot us down reported two parachutes and they were alerted to pick us up.... they took me to the wreckage of the plane where, to my horror, I saw Joey´s body [Wireless Operator] in the burned out remains and I prayed he had been killed instantly in the early stages.... I was interrogated - Smith joined us in the Camp some weeks later following treatment for head injuries.... In the early stages we (some ten R.A.F. aircrew) were kept at Le Kef in Tunisia, then moved to Aumale in Algeria, and finally to Laghoaut in the Department Saharienne´ (Recipient´s account refers). Prisoner of War Shipley was allowed to attend the funeral of his Wireless Operator before being taken to a Vichy French P.O.W. camp, ´he was subsequently transferred to a rat-infested desert camp from which, with 30 others, he escaped by burrowing a tunnel 100 yards long by means of table knives and bare hands. The men burrowed at the rate of an inch and a half an hour. "It was the finest engineering feat I´ve ever seen," Flying Officer Shipley wrote to his mother afterwards. Two days after their escape all the men were re-captured´ (Newspaper cutting refers); Shipley made another attempt to tunnel out, however, once again this was foiled and he was re-captured; over the course of the two years that he was P.O.W. he also edited the camp magazine and won the annual boxing tournament at Welterweight; he was finally liberated after the Allied advance into North Africa, and ´after just 6 days recovery leave Eric returned to active service´; after refresher courses February-May 1943, Shipley was posted for operational flying as a Navigator with 139 (Jamaica) Pathfinder Squadron (Mosquitos), Marham, 26.5.1943; he flew in 31 operational sorties with squadron, including: Berlin (8); Hamburg (2); Cologne (8); Duisberg (3); Oldenburg; Gelsenkirchen; Hannover; Aachen (2); Essen; Ludwigshafen; Frankfurt; Magdeburg; Dortmund; at the end of this operational tour, 21.1.1944, all of which had been flown with Squadron Leader D.C. Skene, both he and his pilot were awarded the D.F.C., ´the award of the D.F.C. is for his [Shipley´s] courage and skill as a navigator. The citation says that his skill and courage resulted in much of the outstanding successes gained by his crew. He has taken part in attacks on most of the major German targets and when the aircraft which he was navigating in an attack on Berlin had been caught in searchlights and subjected to intense flak for 15 minutes, he brought the machine safely back to base over some of the most heavily defended areas in Germany´ (Newspaper cutting refers); he and Skene continued in their partnership when posted to 142 Pathfinder Squadron (Mosquitos), Gransden Lodge, 10.4.1945; he flew in 5 operational sorties with the squadron, including two to Berlin and one to Kiel, 2.5.1945, which was the last Bomber Command Raid over Europe during the War; posted to 128 Squadron, Warboys, July 1945, and after the War Shipley returned to Thos. C. Fawcett where some years later he was appointed Chairman and Managing Director. He also wrote a squadron history for 139 Squadron.

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£3,200