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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 584

(x) 'Right now I can't think of anything else to say except that I love you. So cheerio darling, all my love, Dan.'

The last letter written by Flying Officer W. S. 'Dan' Donovan, D.F.M., as sent to his wife less than a week before his death.

A superbly documented and deeply poignant Second World War D.F.M. group of five awarded to Flying Officer W. S. 'Dan' Donovan, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Decorated for his gallantry as a pilot in Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron - the antiquated aircraft type better known as 'The Flying Glass House' - he was a veteran of 34 bombing raids. Keen to get back on 'Ops', he was killed in a Mosquito training exercise in June 1944 and left a widow and one-year old son

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (741694 Sgt. W. S. Donovan, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star, clasp, Bomber Command, the latter in named box of issue to 'Flt. Off. W. S. Donovan, 126763'; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, together with his 'VR' collar badge, embroidered uniform insignia, his D.F.M. and 1939-45 Star ribands and 'Wings', generally very fine or better (Lot)

D.F.M. London Gazette 23 December 1941:

'This airman pilot has taken part in raids on Kiel, Cologne, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Brest, and has pressed home his attacks with great determination and courage. On several occasions he came down to low altitudes in bad weather to locate and bomb his target. Sergeant Donovan has set a fine example of keenness and devotion to duty.'

Walter Spruce Donovan was born at Menai Bridge in North Wales on 4 June 1918 and joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1938. Selected for pilot training - and having qualified for his 'Wings' and been appointed Sergeant - he attended an O.T.U. and was posted to No. 61 Squadron, a Hampden unit, in early 1941.

Initially flying as 2nd Pilot, he completed a brace of 'Gardening' trips in March, in addition to attacking Dusseldorf on the night of the 27th, when his Hampden was damaged by flak. Further sorties having ensued, he became 1st Pilot in May and had an eventful return trip to Dusseldorf on the night of 2-3 June: his aircraft was attacked and damaged by a Me. 110 and his Navigator wounded.

In fact German targets of the heavily-defended variety made up the remainder of his operational tour, including three trips to Cologne. And pilot and crew experienced further drama on a trip to Munchen Gladbach on the night of 8-9 July, when, about 10 miles south-west of Eindhoven, their Hampden was caught in 'a sea of searchlights' and damaged by a Me. 110; so, too, on the of 11-12 September, in a strike on Bostock, for such was the shortage of fuel on their return to the U.K. that both engines cut out as Donovan made his final approach to land.

Rested at the end of October 1941, he was awarded the D.F.M. and became an instructor at No. 16 O.T.U. Having then received his D.F.M. at Buckingham Palace in April 1942, he was commissioned Pilot Officer in July and continued to lend valuable services as an instructor in No. 16 O.T.U. He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 14 January 1944, refers).

In March 1942, he married Ada 'Bunty' Dixon and they had a son, Dan James, born in March 1943. From the accompanying archive it emerges that mother and child lived at The Old Rectory, Stoke Lyne, near Bicester.

Tiring of his duties as an instructor, Donovan applied for a posting to a Mosquito unit in October 1943, a wish that was finally granted in the summer of 1944, when he joined 1655 Mosquito Training Unit at R.A.F. Warboys in Cambridgeshire.

Journey's end

It proved to be a short-lived appointment, for he was killed in a flying accident on 27 June 1944, aged 26. His aircraft - conducting a cross-country exercise - had been airborne for three hours when it entered heavy storm clouds. It was seen to enter a steep dive from which it never recovered, crashing at 1740 hours at Chesterton Farm, near Benwick, a village six miles north of Warboys. Both Donovan - and his Navigator - were killed instantly.

His widow had recently relocated to Sheffield, where her husband was buried locally at Burngreave Cemetery; as per original correspondence from Donovan's ex-employer, G. & T. Earle of Wilmington, Hull, his name appears on a company memorial erected in December 1946.

Sold with a highly impressive - and poignant - archive of original documentation and photographs, including:

(i)
A congratulatory letter from No. 5 Group on the award of his D.F.M., dated 24 December 1941; a similar family telegram and another congratulatory letter from the recipient's ex-employer, G. & T. Earle Ltd. of Wilmington, Hull, together with the recipient's M.I.D. certificate, dated 14 January 1944.

(ii)
Wartime letters from the recipient to his wife (4), the first of them written after their initial meeting in December 1941 - 'Have decided that you're an evil influence on the Air Force, for after seeing you, I can't keep my mind on my work … '; three further letters, written at the Officer's Mess at R.A.F. Warboys in June 1944, all closing with special mention to his young boy, Danny, and the last of them dated on 21 June, less than a week before his death.

(iii)

A handwritten copy of the recipient's application to return to operations in a Mosquito unit, dated 5 October 1943.

(iv)
Wartime certified copies of the recipient's marriage certificate and of his son's birth certificate, together with the latter's National Registration card

(v)
A letter of condolence from the recipient's old C.O. at No. 16 O.T.U., dated 7 July 1944 - 'He was always anxious to get back to operations against the enemy … The Royal Air Force have lost a fine pilot and a good Officer.'

(vi)
Illuminated Buckingham Palace memorial scroll, together with related message of condolence, the latter addressed to the recipient's widow.

(vii)
Wartime portrait sketches of the recipient by fellow aircrew (2), one signed 'Donald R. O. Ford' and dated 12 May 1941.

(viii)
An impressive archive of wartime photographs (approximately 65 images), featuring many images of the recipient and his fellow aircrew, in addition to some deeply touching pictures of his wife and young son.

(ix)
A large quantity of wartime newspaper cuttings, some reporting on the recipient's award of the D.F.M., and others, poignantly, the deaths of old friends and R.A.F. colleagues.


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Estimate
£2,200 to £2,500