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Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 397

'We were attacked by a Ju. 88 which knocked out one engine. We managed to lose him but we were losing height and the Navigator informed the skipper that we could never make it, so we jettisoned our bomb load near Rostock. After this we decided to go back the way we had come, the Navigator quite confident he could make it.

Our lone aircraft was harried by flak, and another twin-engined fighter appeared ahead of us slightly above. Our Navigator claims he could see the enemy Observer's head looking around everywhere except below him. He must have been guided on to us by radar and it seemed a long, long time before the enemy crew must have told their ground control that they had boobed, and they broke away. We got home O.K.'

Flight Sergeant Maurice Ransome described events on a trip to Berlin on the night of 28-29 January 1944; as quoted in The Berlin Raids - The Bomber Battle, Winter 1943-1944, by Martin Middlebrook.

A Second World War Mid-Upper Gunner's D.F.M. awarded to Flight Sergeant M. Ransome, Royal Air Force, who completed a tour of operations in Halifaxes of No. 76 Squadron, including three trips to the 'Big City'

Yet his most memorable sortie was likely Bomber Command's strike on Nuremburg on the night of 30-31 March 1944, when, under a full moon and in clear skies, enemy flak and fighters accounted for 96 of our aircraft: over 500 aircrew died as a consequence and for those at the helm it wasn't just a case of dodging the flak and searchlights - for the sky was awash with parachutes

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (1593164 F./Sgt. M. Ransome, R.A.F.), scratches over name but perfectly legible, very fine

D.F.M. London Gazette 17 November 1944. The original recommendation states:

'Sergeant Ransome has completed 35 sorties as Air Gunner against the enemy, and flown a total of 178 operational hours.

He has carried out attacks against many of the heaviest defended of targets, including Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Aachen and Kiel.

This Non-Commissioned Officer has recently completed a highly successful tour of operations. He is a man who possesses courage, skill and initiative and a remarkable devotion to duty, both in the air and on the ground. His work as an Air Gunner has always been of the highest order and has gained for him the complete confidence of his crew.

His meritorious service is considered worthy of the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.'

Maurice Ransome commenced his operational tour as an Air Gunner in Halifaxes of No. 76 Squadron in December 1943, when he participated in a strike on Berlin; he returned to the 'Big City' on two further occasions, in January and March 1944.

A member of Norwegian Pilot Officer Karl Larson's crew, he visited a number of other heavily defended German targets, most notably Nuremburg on the night of 30-31 March 1944; his name appears as a contributor to Martin Middlebrook's The Nuremburg Raid 30-31 March 1944, in addition to his input to the same author's The Berlin Raids - The Bomber Battle, Winter 1943-1944.

Ransome was otherwise employed against targets of a French nature, participating in 20 or so such sorties, including strikes on the batteries located at Montfleury and St. Lo on the eve of D-Day in June 1944. He ended his operational tour in late July.

Reference sources:

Middlebrook, Martin, The Berlin Raids - The Bomber Battle, Winter 1943-1944 (Pen & Sword Aviation, Barnsley, 2010).
Middlebrook, Martin, The Nuremburg Raid 30-31 March 1944 (Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2009).


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