Medals from the Collection of the Late Eric Smith (Part II)

Three: Lieutenant B. R. Dimmock, South African Air Force, who was accidentally killed whilst flying in North Africa in June 1941

Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, all officially named ‘47412 B. R. Dimock’, good very fine or better

Pair: Captain T. G. Murphy, South African Air Force, who was killed over Europe whilst on a training flight in November 1943

War Medal 1939-45; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, both officially named ‘203124 T. G. Murphy’, nearly extremely fine (5) £80-100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of the late Eric Smith.

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Bert Ronald Dimmock, who was born in February 1917, enlisted into the S.A.A.F. on the outbreak of hostilities and was advanced to 2nd Lieutenant in December 1939. Joining with No. 1 Fighter Squadron, S.A.A.F., he was involved in a mid-air collision on 4 August 1940 but was lucky to escape unhurt, while during his next posting, with No. 2 Squadron, S.A.A.F. in East Africa his Gladiator was hit by small arms fire near Juba in the Sudan on 9 November and he was forced to land on an island in the middle of the Nile once again he escaped uninjured but his aircraft was a write-off. However, he was killed on 7 June 1941 when flying one of No. 2 Squadron’s Tomahawks from Takoradi in Ghana to the Nile Delta - his aircraft and another Squadron Tomahawk crashed some 30 miles south of Inaden. Dimmock, the son of John G. Dimmock and Octavia M. J. Dimmock of Westonaria, Transvaal, was 24 years of age and is buried in the Ibadan Roman Catholic Seminary Cemetery, Nigeria; sold with copied service record.

Terence Guillaume Murphy was killed whilst on a training flight over Europe on 24 November 1943. The son of James and Susannah Murphy, and husband of Wilhelmina A. Murphy of Pretoria, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial; sold with copied service record.