Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria including the collection to Naval Artificers formed by JH Deacon

A fine Second World War Path Finder’s D.F.C. group of four awarded to Flight Lieutenant G. D. Linacre, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who survived two operational tours totalling 57 sorties, including the disastrous Nuremburg raid of March 1944, and served as Bomb Aimer to Bazalgette, V.C., on a number of occasions

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse dated 1944, in its Royal Mint case of issue;1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, in named card box of issue, extremely fine (4) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Men of Bomber Command 1939-45.

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D.F.C. London Gazette 15 August 1944. The recommendation states:

‘This Officer has acted as Air Bomber on 30 sorties over enemy territory, including some of the most heavily defended targets. Throughout his operational tour he has shown marked devotion to duty and keenness for action which has set an example to the rest of the Squadron and inspired his crew to the most accurate and conscientious marking of targets to which they were assigned. It is largely through his efforts that such a high standard of bombing exists throughout the Squadron, and his outstanding work fully merits the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’

Flight Lieutenant George Denis Linacre, D.F.C., who was from Sheffield, originally commenced pilot training in the U.K. in late 1941, but eventually opted to qualify as an Observer and Bomb Aimer. After attending pertinent courses in Canada and the U.S.A. throughout the following year, he gained operational experience with No. 10 O.T.U. at St. Eval (Coastal Command) in June 1943, when he flew Whitleys on a number of reconnaissance and A.S.R. sweeps. His Flying Log Book records two sightings of U-Boats and a 10 minute engagement with a J.U. 88 - ‘Tailplane hit’ - in the same month.

Afterwards converting to Halifaxes, Linacre joined No. 35 (Madras Presidency) Squadron, a Path Finder unit, in September 1943, and flew his first mission as a Bomb Aimer against Montlucon in the middle of the month. Thus ensued an eventful tour, his Flying Log Book revealing encounters with enemy night fighters on a number of occasions, including the night of 3 October: ‘Operations to Kassel - Attacked by F.W. 190. Shot up - Returned on 3 engines. Landed.’ So, too, the night of 18 November: ‘Operations to Ludwigshafen - Combat with M.E. 110 - Chased by three F.W. 190 over target - Blind Marker.’

On the night of 14-15 January 1944, Linacre joined the crew of Wing Commander Deacon for a one-off ‘Special Target’, but he flew most regularly with Squadron Leader J.R. Wood, D.F.C. His tour with No. 35 ended with an outing to Frankfurt in mid-March, more or less without further incident, although on a trip to Berlin on the night on 15-16 February, his Halifax was hit by flak.

Immediately joining the newly formed No. 635 Squadron at Downham Market, Linacre went on to complete another 25 sorties, his introduction to this truly frontline Path Finder unit being of the hair-raising kind: on his very first trip, to Frankfurt, on the night of 22-23 March, his Lancaster returned home on three engines; on his second, to Berlin, a couple of nights later, his Lancaster’s mainplane was damaged by flak; and on his third, the disastrous raid on Nuremburg, four nights later, his Lancaster was attacked by an enemy night fighter.

But his achievements as a Bomb Aimer were clearly making their mark, subsequent sorties often being flown with the crew of the Deputy Master Bomber or Master Bomber. On a raid on Duisburg on the night of 21 May, with Wing Commander S.C. Clark, D.F.C. as his pilot, his Lancaster was attacked three times, twice by enemy night fighters and once by another Lancaster’s Air Gunners. Clark and the Navigator were wounded and they were compelled to make a crash landing on return to base. Quite probably with this sortie in mind, Linacre later wrote:

‘People were afraid, but not of dying or anything so melodramatic. The fear was of showing yourself up in front of friends and colleagues ... After bombing the aircraft would turn for home and dive slightly to gain maximum speed. After getting below 10,000 feet we came off oxygen and you could move around again ... Then you got the smell of acrid smoke in the fuselage and of blood. You would sometimes wonder how anyone could bleed so much ...’

While Clark was recovering from his wounds, Linacre flew three successive missions to Cambrai, Lens and Le Grand Rossignol, the whole with the crew of Squadron Leader Bazalgette. The latter was shortly to win a posthumous V.C. for his bravery, skill and sacrifice in the raid on Trossy St. Maxim on 4 August, a raid in which Linacre also participated, but back in Clark’s crew. For his own part, Linacre was awarded the D.F.C. in the same month.

The Squadron’s brief had very much reverted to one of a French nature at this time, Linacre noting in his Flying Log Book assistance being given to the advancing “Pongos” on a number of occasions. Thus a daylight outing to Caen on 7 July, when his aircraft was hit by ‘very heavy flak’, similar damage being sustained in an attack on Nucourt just a week later. And on the penultimate sortie of his second tour with the Path Finder Force, to the marshalling yards at Lens, his aircraft once more returned to the U.K. on three engines.

Linacre ended his tour in mid-August 1944 and was posted to No. 1665 Mosquito Training Unit, where he served as a Navigator until May 1945 - ‘When I finished my tour, the feeling was one of complete and utter relief. I don’t think I have ever felt so good in all my life.’ His final wartime posting was to India and he was demobilised in July 1946.

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Log Books (2), the first covering his pilot training period from December 1941 to May 1942, and the second his career as a Bomb Aimer from July 1942 to April 1946; Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for his D.F.C.; his R.A.F. Service and Release Book; several wartime photographs and newspaper cuttings; and a copy of Claims to Fame - the Lancaster, by Norman Franks, in which is included the story of ‘ND 709’, one of just 34 Lancasters to complete 100 operations and in which the recipient flew on a number of missions.

Includes a monogrammed silver cigarette case, hallmarked Birmingham 1941, the inside lid inscribed ‘Presented to Flt Lt D Linacre by friends of Chatfield RD. To commemorate his being awarded the DFC 1944’