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Auction: 25002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 188

A Second World War D.F.M. awarded to Flight Sergeant L. Hope, Royal Air Force, who was decorated for a tour of operations as a Bomb Aimer in Lancasters of No. 619 Squadron

Among other notable sorties, he flew three strikes against the 'Big City' and emerged unscathed from the disastrous raid on Nuremburg on the night of 30-31 March 1944, when Bomber Command lost 95 aircraft and 537 aircrew

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (538013 F./Sgt. L. Hope, R.A.F.), good very fine

D.F.M. London Gazette 13 October 1944, the original recommendation states:

'This N.C.O. has completed 33 successful sorties against German and French targets. Included amongst the targets attacked are Berlin (3 times); Frankfurt (3 times); Stuttgart (3 times); Stettin; Leipzig and Augsburg.
Flight Sergeant Hope's skill as a bomb aimer has been consistently confirmed by excellent photographs which have been secured by this crew. His courage and cheerfulness have been very largely responsible for the high morale and fighting efficiency of his crew.
In addition, this N.C.O.'s keenness on the ground has been of the utmost value in raising the standards of bombing in the squadron.
I strongly recommend Flight Sergeant Hope for the non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.'

Leslie Hope commenced his operational career as a Bomb Aimer in No. 619 Squadron, a Lancaster unit based at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, in December 1943, when he flew his first operational sortie - against Frankfurt - on the 20th.

Having then moved to Coningsby in the new year, the squadron continued to attack German targets of the heavily defended kind, Hope and his crew being twice assigned to the 'Big City' at the height of the battle of Berlin in January-February 1944, in addition to strikes on Augsburg, Stettin, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart and Leipzig.

As it happened, March witnessed them undertake a return trip to Berlin, in addition to two trips to Stuttgart and Frankfurt apiece. So, too, as cited above, merciful survival from the raid on Nuremburg on the night of the 30th, Bomber Command's costliest sortie of the war.

But with the Normandy landings now looming up on the horizon, and having moved to Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire, No. 619 also began to turn its attention to France, Hope and his crew being assigned to attack such targets as Toulouse and Tours in April. Nonetheless, Aachen, Brunswick and Munich were likewise visited in the same month. Unusually, too, the squadron also attacked a target in Oslo on the 28th.

Duisburg aside, May presented three further French targets, whilst on the eve of the Normandy landings in June, Hope and his crew attacked La Perrelle. Having then flown a sortie against Caen on D-Day itself, they rounded off their operational tour with four further sorties to France, among them a return trip to Caen. Tour-expired - with 33 sorties to his name - Hope was recommended for the D.F.M.

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Sold for
£1,100

Starting price
£800