Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine D.F.C., D.F.M. group of nine awarded to Flight Lieutenant Leonard Fish, Royal Air Force, who won his D.F.C. with 138 (Special Duties) Squadron, flying missions in support of the S.O.E. in Europe

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated '1944'; DISTINGUISHED FLYING MEDAL, G.VI.R. (940472 Sgt. R.A.F.); 1939-45 STAR; AIR CREW EUROPE STAR; AFRICA STAR, clasp, N. Africa 1942-43; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS; GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R. (Flt. Lt.); CAMPAIGN SERVICE 1962, 1 clasp, Arabian Peninsula (Flt. Lt.) mounted as worn, some contact marks, otherwise very fine and better (9)

D.F.C., London Gazette, 11th February, 1944. Acting Flight Lieutenant Leonard Fish, D.F.M., R.A.F.V.R., No. 138 Squadron. The following details were extracted from official records. 'Flight Lieutenant Fish has now completed a very large number of operational sorties as a Wireless Operator. Since he was awarded the D.F.M., Flight Lieutenant Fish has completed a further 29 operations and throughout he has displayed courage and devotion to duty of a high order. In his capacity as Signals Leader, Flight Lieutenant Fish sets a magnificent example to other Wireless Operators of the Squadron and his unbounded enthusiasm for operations against the enemy at every opportunity has an extremely good effect on the morale of all who work with him.'

D.F.M., London Gazette, 21st November, 1941. Sergeant Leonard Fish, No. 77 Squadron. The following details were extracted from official records: 'This N.C.O., who has completed his thirty trips, was consistently good, and never had a W.T. failure. His exceptionally cheerful disposition and his keenness and reliability was a very good influence on the crews of which he was a member, and upon the Squadron as a whole. I strongly recommend that the high example of efficiency that he maintained throughout the whole of his operational trips, often in very difficult weather conditions, be recognised by the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.'

Flight Lieutenant Leonard Fish, D.F.C., D.F.M., commenced training at Yatesbury in December 1939 and was posted to No. 77 Squadron as a Rear Gunner is October 1940, later becoming a Wireless Operator. Operating with Whitley aircraft, the Squadron carried out raids on such targets as Bremen, Hanover, Kiel, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Berlin. During a raid on the latter city on 9th April, 1941, the recipient's Whitley encountered 'intense searchlight and flak' and he was wounded in the leg. Only a few days earlier he had participated in an attack on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, although on this occasion his aircraft was compelled to land at Tangmere with its bomb load. After completing 32 operations he was posted to No. 10 O.T.U. and awarded the D.F.M. I

n January 1942, Fish commenced his second tour of duty with No. 138 (Special Duties) Squadron. Formed in August, 1941, the Squadron's main duties were to support S.O.E. agents in Europe, and for more than three and a half years the Squadron ranged Europe from Norway in the north to Yugoslavia in the south and at times far into Poland. First with Whitleys and then with Halifaxes it flew out with agents, arms, explosives, radio sets and all the other equipment of the saboteur, parachuting them down at rendezvous points where reception committees of local underground members waited.

Fish's first such sortie was to Belgium on 28th January and thereafter his Log Book contains only the briefest of detail. However it can be ascertained that he flew on six trips to Belgium, twelve to France, four to Norway and one to Holland. There were also several excursions to Gibraltar and Malta, the former in aid of delivering agents who were to be landed in the South of France by felucca. On one of these trips three engines failed and two crew members baled out, the remainder surviving a crash landing in Algeria.

It is likely he would have met and assisted quite a few famous agents on their journeys to occupied territory but for secrecy's sake such personnel remained anonymous to their admiring R.A.F. despatchers, ultimately receiving the affectionate sobriquet of 'Joes'. Fish remained with No. 138 Squadron until January 1944, latterly becoming the unit's Signals Officer. In all he had flown on over 30 clandestine operations and in February he received a much deserved D.F.C. He remained in the R.A.F. after the War but returned to ground duties in 1954. Flight Lieutenant Fish retired in 1970. This lot is sold with the recipient's Observer's and Air Gunner's Flying Log Book covering the period 10th July 1940 until 26th June 1954, together with various enclosures and a group photograph taken in May 1941. (A set of replacement awards is known to exist).