SINGLE CAMPAIGN MEDALS
242
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1915-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (D/SKX 873772 P. R. Hughes, Sto. Mech., R.N.) minor edge
bruise, very fine £80-100
243
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1915-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R. (L/FX 903968 E. G. Williams, R.E.M. (Air).1, R.N.) some contact
marks, about very fine £90-110
244
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1915-62, 1 clasp, Near East (L/F.957552 T. K. Bibby, N.A.1, R.N.) edge bruising, good very fine
£100-140
245
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1915-62, 1 clasp, Brunei (R.M.11632 A. Kay, Mne. R.M.) nearly extremely fine £200-240
246
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1915-62, 2 clasps, Palestine 1945-48, Cyprus (CH/X.4391 G. J. Flynn, Mne. R.M.) good very fine
£160-200
247
GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (21188009 Tpr. A. C. Southall, 4 H.), extremely fine £50-70
248
The General Service Medal for Malaya awarded to Flight Lieutenant A. F. Burcher, D.F.M., Royal Air Force, late Royal
Australian Air Force, a “Dambuster” who miraculously survived the loss of “Hoppy” Hopgood’s Lancaster when it was
downed by flak over the Mohne Dam - baling out at 300 feet
GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (Flt. Lt. A. F. Burcher, R.A.F.), good very fine £400-500
Burcher’s original D.F.M. was sold as a single award in these Rooms on 22 September 2000 (Lot 817) and again on 17 September 2004
(Lot 1279), while an official replacement D.F.M and campaign awards were similarly sold on 25 September 2008 (Lot 1764). This is
believed to be the first occasion his original General Service Medal for Malaya has appeared at auction.
Anthony Fisher Burcher was born in Sydney in 1922 and joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940. After training in Canada, where
he qualified as an Air Gunner, he was advanced to Sergeant in September 1941 and proceeded to the U.K. Then in May 1942, he
joined No. 106 Squadron at Coningsby, a Manchester unit in the process of converting to Lancasters, and recently placed under the
command of Guy Gibson. As described in detail in Dix Noonan Webb’s catalogue, 25 September 2008 (Lot 1764), he went on to
complete an eventful tour of operations and was awarded the D.F.M. (London Gazette 20 April 1943 refers), Guy Gibson’s original
recommendation stating:‘Sergeant Burcher has completed a tour with 27 operational sorties, during which he has displayed the greatest
enthusiasm and keenness. He has taken part in raids on German and Italian targets and mining sorties off France and in the Baltic, and
flew as Rear-Gunner on the daylight raids on Danzig and Le Creusot. On 29 July 1942, his aircraft, returning from Saarbrucken, was
attacked by five separate enemy fighters. Sound commentaries assisted his pilot to evade two of them, and his well-directed fire drove
off another two and assisted in the certain destruction of the fifth. Sergeant Burcher, an Australian, has carried out his work with that
cool courage and cheerfulness which well merits recognition.’
Operation “Chastise”
Burcher, who had been commissioned as a Pilot Officer in November 1942, duly arrived at Scampton, and was appointed Rear-
Gunner in Flight Lieutenant J. V. “Hoppy” Hopgood’s crew - a close friend of Gibson and another ex-106 Squadron hand. And so to
events of the 16-17 May 1943 when Hopgood piloted Lancaster 111 ED.925G, “M-for-Mother”, on 617’s epic Dams Raid.
Together with Guy Gibson’s Lancaster and the third aircraft in the leading section of the first wave, Hopgood’s Lancaster was caught by
searchlights as it crossed the Dutch coast but evaded by violent action which took it under high tension cables. Hopgood, having
apologised for the unscheduled manoeuvre, climbed rapidly and ordered Burcher to keep his eyes peeled. Moments later there were
more searchlights and Burcher opened up firing tracer from his four guns. In the next instant the Lancaster was raked from nose to tail
by ground fire and Burcher was hit in the groin and stomach by shell splinters. His fire extinguished the searchlights but then a shell
burst alongside his turret. The aircraft swung wildly and the Flight Engineer announced that the port outer engine was on fire. Burcher
tried to rotate his turret but nothing happened. Hopgood, who had been wounded in the head, regained control, feathered the port
outer, and called up the crew to discover the Wireless Operator had been hit in the leg and that there was no answer from the front
turret. Amazingly, “M-for-Mother” nevertheless pressed on towards the Mohne Dam.
Once assembled over the target, Gibson made the first attack, his bomb being released at 00.28 a.m. A short while later, when the
water had subsided from the terrific explosion, he ordered Hopgood into the attack: ‘Burcher heard the shout from navigator Ken
Earnshaw to “Go lower, still lower!” He then heard “Bomb gone!” from Fraser. Just at that moment there was a terrific crash and
Burcher saw flames streaming past his turret on the port side’ (Alan Cooper’s The Men Who Breached The Dams refers).
With his port inner engine hit by flak and ablaze, Hopgood made a gallant attempt to gain height so that his crew might bale out.
Burcher, meanwhile, desperately hand-cranked his slowly turning turret to the fore and aft position in order to reach his parachute
stowed in the fuselage. He then plugged in his intercom and shouted to Hopgood, who, having managed some 300 feet, ordered him
to jump. “M-for-Mother’s” bomb meantime had bounced clean over the dam wall and completely destroyed the power house below.
Inside the blazing Lancaster, Burcher assisted the severely wounded Wireless Operator with his parachute and pushed him out into the
darkness, pulling the D-ring release as he did so. The Men Who Breached The Dams continues: ‘Burcher then pulled his own release
while still in the aircraft. He knew it was not in the text books, but at this height he felt it was his only chance. Bundling it under his
arm he plugged in the intercom for the last time. “Rear-Gunner abandoning aircraft,” he yelled ... At that moment there was a terrific
bang and a great rush of air. The flames had reached the main wing fuel tank. Burcher was blown out and smashed into the tailplane so
violently that he broke his back ... He landed with a terrific thud, which was only to be expected at such a low height. As he hit, the
parachute billowed and took him back up again and it was this, a German Medical Officer said later, that saved him.’
Originally posted missing along with the rest of Hopgood’s crew, Burcher’s survival was communicated to R.A.A.F. authorities by his
W.A.A.F. fiancée to whom he sent a Prisoner of War card from Stalag Luft 111 at Sagan: ‘I have quite recovered and am being well
treated. Unfortunately the rest of the crew were killed and so far it seems I am the only survivor ... Please write to the next-of-kin of the
other members of the crew telling them that the boys had a decent burial’.
In fact, as it later transpired, the Bomb-Aimer, Pilot Officer J. W. Fraser, also survived.
Burcher was liberated by the advancing Allies in May 1945 and returned to Australia in January 1946, where he remained employed in
the R.A.A.F. until transferring to the R.A.F. as a Flight Lieutenant in 1952, in which rank he witnessed further active service in Korea
and Malaya.
www.dnw.co.uk
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