A Collection of Medals to Second World War Royal Air Force Casualties 729


Three: Pilot Officer (Wireless Operator) F. S. Ralph, 460 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Lancaster was shot down by the night fighter ace Hauptmann Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weissenfeld, whilst on the Firestorm raid to Hamburg, Operation Gomorrah, on 29-30 July 1943


1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. J. M. Ralph, 4 Charles Crescent, Harrow, Middlesex.’, extremely fine (3)


£400-£500


Frederick Sydney Ralph was commissioned Pilot Officer and served during the Second World War as a Wireless Operator with 460 Squadron from February 1943. He flew his first operational sortie in a raid on Hamburg on 3 February 1943. During his tour with 460 Squadron he took part in 20 operations between February to July 1943, mostly flying with Squadron Leader Speare D.F.C. These included Hamburg three times, Lorient U Boat Pens, an all incendiary attack, and Bremen, flying in ‘G’ for George (one of the few Lancasters to complete over 100 sorties and which is now part of the Australian War Memorial). Other targets included Nuremberg, Munich, Stettin, and Duisberg. On 29 April, after a failed attack on Berlin, the Gestapo investigated a report that signals were sent from a house near to a secret Luftwaffe depot in woods at Teltow, 11 miles south of Berlin, which had been completely destroyed and with it a large quantity of radar, radio and technical stores (in fact it turned out to have been hit by total luck).


Ralph was killed in action when Lancaster ED535, piloted by Flying Officer A. J. Johnson, was shot down by the night fighter ace Hauptmann Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weissenfeld whilst on Operation Gomorrah, the Firestorm raid against Hamburg, on 29-30 July. All the crew were killed.


This was Hauptmann Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weissenfeld’s 43rd vvictory of the War, and he was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross a few days later on completion of his 45th victory. His observer later described the fate of Ralph’s Lancaster thus: ‘After a further long zigzag flight, with the ground-control officer giving details of the bomber-stream and being told of bombers here and there, the pilot suddenly spotted a four-engine aircraft against the northerly twilight at a height of 6,800 metres and about 150 metres in front and above us to the right. It was a visual sighting with no radar. The eight exhaust flames were, in comparison to the ones I had seen earlier, so small and weak in intensity as to be like 3-mm wireless sparks. The pilot flew after it straight away, positioned himself about eighty metres underneath and matched his speed to that of the bomber. The dark shape of the four-engine aircraft was clearly visible against the sky above us. It was a Lancaster. The pilot hit its left wing with his first attack and burning pieces of it flew off. The pilot was a little disappointed that the bomber wasn't shot down by this first attack; he had wanted to show me how to hit it between the two engines and finish it off quickly. The Lancaster kept straight and level all the time, without any evasive action. On his second attack, Prinz zur Lippe used his special method. He slid under the bomber, pulled up the nose suddenly, fired a burst and dropped away quickly in case the bomber blew up. It didn't, although pieces were still falling off it. We attacked again. The bomber still didn't explode; its pilot was trying to reach some low-lying clouds. I didn't see any return fire but we found four bullet holes in one rudder after we landed. I wasn't used to all these manoeuvres. I wasn't strapped in and I kept being pushed down into the floor and then coming up to hit the cockpit roof. We made one more attack and, this time, his wing started burning after only half a second. We saw the Lancaster go down into a wood near a railway. We started to circle the crash position in the normal manner, so that ground control could fix the position of the success but the radar operator warned the pilot that our petrol was low and we had to leave and land quickly at Stade, actually cutting in front of another fighter that was landing. About fifty metres before we reached the dispersal, the engines cut.’ (The Battle of Hamburg by Martin Middlebrook refers).


Prinz zur Lippe-Weissenfeld‘s was killed on 12 March 1944 when 'hedge-hopping' in the Ardennes, being credited with fifty-one successes at the time of his death.


Ralph is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. His medals were sent to his mother, Mrs. Joan Mary Ralph. Sold with copied research.


730


Three: Warrant Officer (Air Gunner) A. W. H. Page, 103 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Lancaster was shot down whilst on the Firestorm raid to Hamburg, Operation Gomorrah, on 2-3 August 1943


1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure, in damaged card box of issue, with torn address label addressed to ‘...on Road, ...edon, ...19’, extremely fine (3)


£280-£320


Arthur William Horace Page was born in 1910 and served during the Second World War as an Air Gunner with 103 Squadron from June 1943, presumably, given the information contained in his obituary, on his second tour. He flew in raids against Cologne three time, the synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen, Turin, and three times to Hamburg on Operation Gomorrah.


Page was killed in action when Lancaster ED645, piloted by Warrant Officer J. S. Stoneman, was shot down by flak whilst on Operation Gomorrah, the Firestorm raid against Hamburg, on 2-3 August. All the crew were killed.


The Bath Evening Chronicle of 14 August 1943 carried the following obituary: ‘Warrant Officer Arthur William Horace Page, Air Gunner, R.A.F., son of Major and Mrs. A. Page of the Salvation Army of 31 Ringwood Road, Bath is reported missing on a sortie over Hamburg. He was educated at Lawrence’s College Birmingham. Before going to London, he played in the local Salvation Army band and was a bandsman and organist of the Morden Corps. In September 1940 he joined the R.A.F. and he took part in a great number of bombing operations and it was from his 42nd that he failed to return.’


Ralph is buried in Hamburg Cemetery, Germany. His medals were sent to his widow, Elsie Page, of Wimbledon, London SW19. Sold with copied research.


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