GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 950
A fine Second World War D.F.C., D.F.M. group of six awarded to Flight Lieutenant R. W. Kleeman, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a long-served Navigator who completed around 50 sorties in Lancasters of No. 83 Squadron, many of them as a Pathfinder, winning his immediate D.F.M. for gallantry in a protracted attack by enemy fighters during a low-level daylight strike against Essen
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS,
G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1943’; DISTINGUISHED FLYINGMEDAL,
G.VI.R. (963947 F./Sgt. R. W. Kleeman, R.A.F.); 1939-45 STAR;AIRCREW EUROPE STAR, clasp, France and Germany; DEFENCE ANDWARMEDALS 1939-45, mounted as worn, together with the recipient’s Path Finder Force membership badge, good very fine and better (7)
£4000-5000 D.F.C. London Gazette 14 May 1943. The original recommendation states:
‘This officer has now completed 47 operational sorties involving a total of 270 hours as a Navigator. He has done two daylight operations on Danzig and Essen and in the first instance his brilliant navigation in the most appalling weather conditions enabled the target to be attacked. He has now completed 25 operational sorties with the Path Finder Force and on all occasions his work has been most skilful.
In December the aircraft in which he was Navigator had to stop one engine on its way to Frankfurt, but although the speed was reduced by the loss of power, by brilliant navigation he enabled his pilot to attack at the proper time.
This officer has throughout his operational tour been an excellent example to his crew and colleagues and his keenness and determination to press home his attack, often in the face of heavy opposition and at low-level, has been outstanding.’
D.F.M. London Gazette 14 August 1942. The original recommendation for an immediate award states:
‘This N.C.O. has now completed 20 successful operational sorties as Observer, including many on the most heavily defended targets in Germany. Throughout his tour his standard of navigation has been of a most exceptionally high order and his determination to find and bomb his target has always been outstanding.
Flight Sergeant Kleeman has several successful photographs to his credit. Recently he was detailed to take part in a low-level daylight attack on Essen. Despite the dangers and hazards occasioned by no cloud cover on this attack he navigated with the utmost skill to the target where he carried out a successful bombing attack, the whole time being subjected to the most severe and accurate A.A. fire during which the aircraft was damaged and two engines put out of action.
On the return journey the aircraft was severely attacked by fighters and the Wireless Operator, who was performing the duties of fire controller, was wounded. Flight Sergeant Kleeman took over those duties with such effect that his Captain was able to evade two separate attacks, the first by two Me. 110s and the second, lasting some 30 minutes, by two Fw. 190s. His fire controlling was so effective that two of the fighters were most certainly damaged, one most probably being destroyed. The fighters having been successfully shaken off, Flight Sergeant Kleeman returned to his navigation duties and despite the most adverse weather conditions, consisting of heavy rain and low cloud at times at ground level, he brought the aircraft back to base.
www.dnw.co.uk
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