CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS
756
Three: Sergeant W. Alley, Royal Air Force, who flew operationally as a Flight Engineer in Lancasters of No. 619
Squadron in 1944-45
1939-45 STAR; FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, good very fine and better (3) £200-250
Alley commenced training as a Flight Engineer in August 1944 and was posted to No. 619 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of
Strubby, Lincolnshire, in November 1944. Teaming-up as a member of Flight Lieutenant Willitts’ crew in the following month, he took
part in five operational sorties, his targets including the Heinbach Dam on the 8th and St. Vith on the 26th.
New Year 1945 witnessed Alley’s participation in five more sorties, including an attack on a target on the Gravenshorst Canal, while in
February he flew in strikes against Rositz and Bohlen. And in March, among five further operations, he attacked targets in Dortmund
and Harburg, the latter excursion on the night of the 8th-9th resulting in a return trip on two engines, both the port and starboard outer
engines having caught fire. His final sorties were flown in May, the last of them a “Boomerang” operation on the 17th. Having then
flown P.O.Ws home from France and Belgium, and made several bomb disposal trips, Alley’s squadron was disbanded in July 1945.
Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s, Air Gunner’s and Flight Engineer’s Flying Log Book, covering the
period August 1944 to June 1945, together with Alley’s completed Flight Engineer’s Log for a sortie carried out against Dortmund on 12
March 1945, a piece of “nickel” and an old wartime bomb label (’This pin must not be removed until this bomb is finally in position on
the carrier ... ’).
757
Four: Sergeant F. E. Rogers, Royal Air Force, who completed a tour of operations as a Wireless Operator in Lancasters
of No. 640 Squadron in 1944
1939-45 STAR; FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS 1939-45, extremely fine (4) £250-300
Rogers enlisted in the R.A.F. at Cardington in August 1941, attended a Wireless
Operator’s course at No. 4 Radio School in March-June 1942, and first gained air
experience in May 1943. Having then attended operational training and
conversion courses, he was posted to No. 640 Squadron, a Lancaster unit
operating out of Leconfield, Yorkshire, in March 1944, in which month he flew
his first sorties - strikes against Frankfurt on the nights of the 18th and 22nd.
April-May witnessed the Squadron carry out no less than ten attacks on railway
yards in France and Belgium, in preparation for the forthcoming Normandy
landings, in addition to operations against Dusseldorf and Karlsruhe, while on D-
Day itself Rogers and his crew were assigned to the enemy coastal batteries
located at Maisy. So, too, in the same month, to a further ten French targets, two
of them in daylight, including Laval airfield, assorted marshalling yards and V-
rocket sites, and ‘H.Q. Panzer Division’ at Avracy. Another four sorties were
flown against V-rocket sites in July, in addition to strikes against Bottrop and
Wanne Eickel, the latter outing resulting in flak damage, while in the final month
of his operational tour in July, Rogers took part in four more anti-V-rocket site
sorties, his Halifax being holed by flak during a visit to L’Hey on the 2nd. Shortly
afterwards, his skipper, Flying Officer J. S. Weaterton, was awarded for the D.F.C.
for ‘his fine offensive spirit’.
For his own part, tour expired with 38 sorties under his belt, Rogers was posted
to an operational training unit as an instructor in August 1944, and he remained
similarly employed until joining No. 635 Squadron, another Lancaster unit, in
June 1945, in which capacity he flew a brace of “Cook’s Tours” to Germany in
the same month. He would appear to have been demobilised at the end of the
same year, having latterly served at H.Q. No. 44 Group.
Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering the period May 1943 to
August 1945, together with a copy of Seventy-Five Percent Luck, a history of No. 640 Squadron by Fred J. Papple, in which the
recipient is mentioned.
www.dnw.co.uk
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