CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS
731
Five: Flight Lieutenant W. H. P. Leray, Royal Air Force, who served in Coastal Command as a Wireless Operator and
Air Gunner, prior to being commissioned and qualifying as a Typhoon pilot - his time in No. 269 Squadron witnessed
a brace of engagements with Ju. 88s off Norway and several attacks on U-Boats off Iceland, in addition to
participation in the hunt for the Bismarck
1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS 1939-45; GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R. (Flt. Lt. W.
H. P. Leray, R.A.F.), generally good very fine (5) £400-500
William Harry Philip Leray, who commenced his training as a Wireless Operator and Air Gunner in August 1940, joined No. 269
Squadron at Wick, a Hudson unit, in January 1941, in which month he completed his first operational patrol. From March of the same
year, the Squadron started to carry out sorties off Norway, Leray’s Flying Log Book recording run-ins with pairs of Ju. 88’s on the 3rd,
and again on 30 April, the latter engagement resulting in damage to his Hudson’s port engine, while in May 269 acted as escort to H.
M.S. Hood and participated in the search for the Bismarck on the 16th.
Then in July 1941, the Squadron moved to the Kaldadarnes, Iceland, where the runway was made from lava rock and the living
conditions primitive. And from here the Squadron’s Hudsons commenced convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols in the same month,
Leray’s Flying Log Book recording a U-Boat “kill” during the course of convoy HX. 136 on the 19th. In fact, the same operational
record confirms four further encounters with U-Boats, namely a “damaged” on 29 August (‘Bombed U-Boat, circled large oil patch,
most certainly damaged’), a “confirmed” on 11 September (’U-Boat hunt. Located and bombed with D.Cs - tail visible during attack.
Since confirmed’), an inconclusive attack carried out on the 27th of the same month, and what would appear to be another
“confirmed” during a sweep from Revkjavik to Wick on 18 December.
Having returned to the U.K. in early 1942, Leray was appointed an instructor at Silloth in April, in which capacity he served until
transferring in a similar role to Squires Gate that September, in which period he flew in Ansons, Bothas and Hudsons. Then in May
1943, he gained a posting as a pupil pilot to Brough Grading School, from whence he was embarked for Canada to complete his
training. Having then duly qualified for his “Wings” and been commissioned, he returned to the U.K. in early 1944, where he appears
to have served as a flying instructor until being posted to an O.T.U. in Acklington in March 1945, at which latter establishment he
gained experience in Typhoons before joining No. 189 Squadron shortly after the end of hostilities - and survived a forced-landing on
Goswick Sands.
Leray left the Royal Air Force shortly afterwards, but returned to the service in 1950 to resume his career, this time with appointments
in ground duties, and it was in this capacity that he served in Singapore during the course of the Malayan emergency. He retired in
1958.
Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s R.A.F. Observer’s & Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering
the period August 1940 to May 1943, and R.C.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Book, covering the period July 1943 to October 1950, together
with his commission warrant for the rank of Flight Lieutenant, dated 3 January 1950, and a good selection of 1939-45 vintage
photographs (approximately 25), including air-to-air images and several portraits with his aircraft.
www.dnw.co.uk
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