Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Sergeant (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner) K. Steels, 612 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Whitley crashed after returning from a 12 hour U-boat patrol, 6 May 1943

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure, in card box of issue addressed to ‘T. W. Steels, 11, Woodfield Tce., Trinity St., Batley, Yorkshire.’, nearly extremely fine (3) £100-£140

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Second World War Royal Air Force Casualties.

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Kenneth Steels served during the Second World War as a Wireless Operator / Air Gunner with 612 Squadron, based at R.A.F. Davidstow Moor, Cornwall, flying Whitley Bombers, and was killed in action when Whitley EB 328, piloted by Flying Officer C. H. Norton, crashed at St Kew Highway, approximately 21 miles north of Wadebridge at 02:20 on 6 May 1943. The aircraft was returning from a ‘Derange’ U boat recognisance mission with the port engine on fire- it lost power and went out of control, and five of the six crew were killed, the sole survivor being Sergeant Edge, who bailed out at 1,200 feet.

612 Squadron R.A.F. Coastal Command [County of Aberdeen Auxiliary Squadron], equipped with Whitley General Reconnaissance Mk VIIs, arrived at R.A.F. Davidstow Moor on 17 April 1943 at the start of Coastal Command's anti-submarine operations in the Bay of Biscay, the task for which Davidstow had been built.
The role of these squadrons was to hunt U-boats in the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic. 19 Group Coastal Command set up search areas over the sea. Aircraft patrolled constantly during daylight hours, searching for and attacking U-boats as they sailed from the safety of their pens in French ports and out into the Atlantic. They, in turn, hunted and sank allied merchant shipping bringing in vital supplies. 612, 304 and later 547 Squadron, all based at Davidstow, joined the hunt alongside squadrons from other airfields. For the period 21 April 1943 to 19 June 1943 the search area was known as Derange. The area was approximately between 45 to 50 degrees north and 10 to 15 degrees west and in the Bay of Biscay off the west coast of France.

The Squadron Log carried the following entry for 5-6 May 1943:
‘Fine to fair in morning becoming 7/10 – 10/10ths at 2-3000ft lowering in rain to 800ft. Intermittent light rain up to midnight. Light NE winds. Visibility good, dropping to 2 miles in rain.
F/Sgt Grinham in N started Derange 5 but returned early owing to ill health of captain. The second pilot landed the aircraft at base. Sgt Richards in J had nothing to report from his patrol.
F/O Norton in B carried out his patrol with nothing to report. Having been airborne for 12 hours he was diverted to Chivenor owing to weather at base. The aircraft crashed in flames near Wadebridge. Sgt Edge, second pilot, was the sole survivor having baled out at 1200ft. He was uninjured and contacted the controller immediately by telephone. F/O Norton, P/O Webb, Sgt Waterer, Sgt Steels and Sgt Frost lost their lives in this accident. The aircraft crashed 2 miles NE of Wadebridge, Cornwall. It completely disintegrated.’

The Batley Reporter of 8 May 1943 carried the following account:
‘We regret to announce the death of Sergeant Kenneth Steels, the only son of Mr & Mrs Steels of Woodfield Terrace, Trinity Street, Batley. The family are attached to the Upper Street ex-Primative Methodist Church, Batley Carr and Kenneth was the Secretary of the Sunday school at the time he volunteered. He was also in the Batley Corporation Medical Officers Department, Market Place. An old boy of the Batley Carr Council School and the Batley Grammar School, he has so many old friends in Batley Carr and Batley. He began his training in the RAF at home camps then went to the United States.’

Steels is buried under a C.W.G.C. headstone in Batley Cemetery, Yorkshire. His medals were sent to his father, Thomas William Steels.

Sold with copied research.