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Auction: 6007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 400

A Good 1944 Bomber Command Pathfinders D.F.M. to Lancaster Air Gunner, Flight Sergeant H.D. Lewis, No. 83 Squadron, Who´s Skilled and Accurate Gunnery was Evident Throughout His 42 Sorties; During a Trip to Berlin, His Aircraft was Attacked Three Times During Which an Me 109 was Destroyed and an F.W. 190 Badly Damaged; Lewis´s Aircraft Escaped Damage due to His Unnerving Aim and His Skilful Control of the Combats Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R., 1st ´Ind: Imp:´ type (655765 F/Sgt. H.D. Lewis. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, extremely fine (6) Estimate £ 1,600-1,800 D.F.M. London Gazette 15.9.1944 655765 Flight Sergeant Hedley Douglas Kenward Lewis No. 83 Squadron The Recommendation, dated 13.6.1944, states ´Flight Sergeant Lewis is an extremely skilful Air Gunner who has taken part in 42 sorties against the enemy including 9 on Berlin. All but 3 of his sorties have been with the Pathfinder Force. His courage and resolution in defending his aircraft have won him the admiration and complete confidence of his fellow crew members as well as materially assisting his crew in the gaining of their many successes. One night over Berlin, his aircraft was attacked on three separate occasions. By his cool and accurate directions to his pilot and his own unerring aim, the Me. 109 involved in the first attack was destroyed and the F.W. 190 in the second was badly damaged. In all three attacks, Flight Sergeant Lewis´s aircraft escaped damage, undoubtedly due to his skilful control of the combats. For his unstinted devotion to duty at all times, Flight Sergeant Lewis is strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.´ Flight Sergeant Hedley Douglas Kenward Lewis, D.F.M., born Skewan, Glamorgan, 1918; enlisted Royal Air Force 1941; flew with 83 Squadron, Wyton, Huntingdonshire and from Coningsby, Lincolnshire with their subsequent move (Lancasters); took part in forty-two operational sorties including: Hamburg (2); Berlin (9), including 28.11.1943, when thirty-eight war industry factories were destroyed, and 15.2.1944, ´891 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 314 Halifaxes, 16 Mosquitoes-were dispatched. This was the largest force sent to Berlin and the largest non-1000 bomber force sent to any target.......The quantity of bombs dropped, 2,642 tonnes, was also a record´ (The Bomber Command War Diaries, refer); Mannheim (2); Hanover (3); Munich (2); Kassel, 3.10.1943, when the Henschel and Fiesler aircraft factories were hit and a large ammunition dump at Ihringshausen was destroyed; Frankfurt (3); Brunswick (2); Stuttgart (2), including 20.2.1944 when the Bosch Factory was badly damaged; Schweinfurt; Paris; Brest, 8.5.1944, attacked the airfield and seaplane base at Labveoc-Poulmic; Bourg-Leopold; Tours, 20.5.1944, railway installations in the centre of Tours; Antwerp; Nantes; St. Martin-de-Varreville and La Pernelle, 5.6.1944 bombed gun emplacements on the Normandy Coast, on the eve of the Allied invasion of the Continent.

Sold for
£2,600