Seven: Flight Lieutenant T. H. Fynn, Royal Air Force, later Rhodesian Police Reserve, who was taken Prisoner of War when his Lancaster, of which he was the pilot and sole survivor, was shot down over Stuttgart on 15 March 1944

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Rhodesia, General Service Medal (10835B F/R T. H. Fynn); Rhodesian Police Reserve Long Service Medal (10835B F/R Fynn, T. H.); Zimbabwe, Independence Medal 1980 (060935) nearly extremely fine (7) £400-£500

Terence Hugh Fynn was born in King William’s Town, South Africa, on 27 February 1916, a direct descendent of Henry Francis Fynn of Northern Ireland, who settled in the Eastern Cape in the 1820s and gave his name to the suburb of Fynnlands in Natal. A farmer by profession and member of the British South Africa Police Reserve, Fynn attested for the Royal Air Force in October 1940, and was trained as a Pilot aboard Tiger Moth, Avro Anson, Oxford and Fairey Battle aircraft. Sent to Leuchars, Babbacombe, Newquay and Padgate, he converted to bombers at R.A.F. Swinderby from 29 August 1943 to 13 October 1943, before posted to Dunholme Lodge in Lincolnshire with 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal Air Force.

Operating the Avro Lancaster bomber, 44 Squadron was heavily engaged at this time with attacks on the Biscay Ports, the Ruhr, Berlin, and the major industrial heartland cities of occupied Europe. According to the Operations Record Book, Fynn bombed Dusseldorf on the night of 3/4 November 1943, as part of a 15-aircraft sortie likely targeting the Rhenania Ossag oil refinery. A few days later, he carpet-bombed Berlin, a mission repeated on 23 December 1943 and again on 1 January 1944. This was followed by an attack on Stettin on 5 January 1944, the O.R.B. entry for Fynn’s aircraft noting: ‘attack was seen to be very good, with good fires taking hold of blocks of buildings. Rear gunner could see fires from 90 miles away and altogether a very good trip.’

Fynn is recorded on a further ten operational sorties to Berlin, Leipzig and Stuttgart, the entry of 15 March 1944 noting: ‘F/Lt. Fynn failed to return from this operation but no signals were received from him. All the other aircraft reached and bombed the target and returned to base successfully’. Initially posted missing in action, it later emerged that he was the sole survivor of his Lancaster’s crew, spending the remainder of the conflict as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I in western Pomerania. Liberated by Russian forces on 30 April 1945, Fynn returned to Rhodesia, joined the Police Reserve in 1961 and served until Independence.

Sold with the original slip for Campaign Stars, Clasps and Medals, with named envelope to recipient, c/o. O.H.M.S. Southern Rhodesia, and extensive copied research, including an annotated photographic image of the recipient with this Lancaster crew.