Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Warrant Officer D. G. Saunders, Royal Air Force, who flew operationally in Tempests of No. 3 Squadron in April-May 1945, claiming a shared victory and a Ju. 87 destroyed on the ground

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (3) £300-350

Donald Saunders enlisted in the Royal Air Force in London in July 1941 and, having been selected for pilot training, was embarked for the U.S.A., via Canada, in April 1942. Having then qualified for his “Wings” after attending courses in Atlanta, Alabama and Florida, he returned to the U.K. in February 1943, and served in 1600, 1601 and 1608 Army Co-operation Flights at Weston Zoyland and Aberporth, Wales.

No. 1608 Flight became part of the newly formed No. 595 Squadron at the end of the same year, and Saunders remained similarly employed on anti-aircraft co-operation duties over central and northern Wales until November 1944, when he was posted to an Operational Training Unit at Rednal, where he gained experience in Spitfires.

Relocated to another O.T.U. in March 1945, he converted to Typhoons, and thence to Tempests, prior to being posted to No. 3 Squadron at an advanced airfield in Germany in the following month. And between then and the War’s end he flew around a dozen operational sorties - armed reconnaissances and sweeps - in the course of which he shared in the destruction of a Storch with Flight Lieutenant Longley, and destroyed a Ju. 87 on the ground (his flying log book entries for 3 May 1945, refer).

Post-war, Saunders served in Dakotas of No. 353 Squadron in India, prior to returning home and being demobilised in April 1946.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Books (2), covering the periods February 1942 to November 1944, and November 1944 to April 1946, bound in an old piece of khaki cloth, with ink inscription, ‘Don Saunders’, together with assorted newspaper cuttings and inserts, including a wartime photograph of No. 3 Squadron pilots, including the recipient, and articles reporting on his return to Alabama in the summer of 2005, aged 82, to visit the grave of an old R.A.F. pupil pilot who was killed in a flying accident.