An exceptional Second World War Hurricane ace’s D.F.M. group of five awarded to Warrant Officer D. R. “Don” Beard, who destroyed at least five enemy aircraft over North Africa at night

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (940897 F./Sgt. D. R. Beard, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Defence and War Medals, good very fine (5) £4000-5000

D.F.M. London Gazette 23 February 1943. The following information was taken from a contemporary Air Ministry press release:

‘Flight Sergeant Beard in the last campaign has put up impressive records in hours and offensive sorties. He has at night destroyed two Ju. 88s confirmed and one probable. This latter probable shows his high degree of determination to press home his attacks as after a chase of many miles over the sea he finally opened fire and hit the sea himself [with his propeller tips!] simultaneously. He was dazed by the impact and flew for four hours and 40 minutes in his aircraft before a forced landing having lost the coast in the mist and having experienced R.T. failure due to the impact with the sea. On this occasion he deliberately landed near a beacon rather than on a nearby but crowded aerodrome which would not put out a flare path. In this campaign he has destroyed 25 vehicles actually on fire and many others have been strafed. A searchlight and two gun positions have also been destroyed. Ninety percent of his hours and sorties at night have been over enemy territory and frequently low-level attacks in the moonlight against severe light flak.’

Donald Roland “Don” Beard, who was from Sandbach, Cheshire, enlisted in the Royal Air Force in November 1939. Among fellow pupils who attended his course at No. 57 Operational Training Unit was George “Screwball” Beurling.

On gaining his “Wings” in late 1941, he was posted to No. 74 Squadron at Gravesend, which unit moved to Llandbedr for the defence of Liverpool, and thence to Northern Ireland. In the summer of 1942, however, he was posted to the Middle East, and joined No. 73 Squadron in the Western Desert as a Sergeant Pilot towards the end of the year.

Operating in Hurricanes, he quickly claimed his first victory on the night of 27-28 October, when he downed a Ju. 88 some 25 miles west of El Alamein - it crashed in front of a cheering crowd of soldiers. Another similar followed on the night of 16-17 December, near Benghazi:

‘I was returning from patrol when I saw Bofor fire and heavy ack-ack bursting over Benghazi; I returned to target area to investigate and called Zig-Zag and told him where I was. By this time the barrage over Benghazi was intense. I was at 3,000 feet, approximately on the edge of the barrage N. E. of target, when a Ju. 88 was sighted turning out to sea 20 yards in front of me. I fired immediately and hit the aircraft in the fuselage and port engine. He dived towards the barrage and I followed him as he neared the sea. I followed him through the barrage but was not hit, at 1,000 feet. His engine began to glow and the fuselage caught fire. The aircraft hit the sea west of Benghazi and burnt on the water for about five minutes. I claim this aircraft as destroyed.’

But his busiest sortie was on the night of 15-16 April 1943, when he claimed a Ju. 52 destroyed, another as a “probable” and a third as damaged, the whole over the Hammamet-Rass Mamoura sector. Then on the night of the 9th-10th of the following month, he claimed two more confirmed Ju. 52s, one at Menzel Temime and the other over Kelibia.

Additional claims appear in the updated edition to Aces High by Shores and Williams for the sorties he flew on the nights of 27 October and 16 December 1942.

Beard was discharged as a Warrant Officer in March 1946, and went to live in South Africa. Later he moved to Rhodesia but returned to Johannesburg where he worked for the Sunday Express and Star newspapers.