Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Flying Officer (Wireless Operator) E. J. Currie, 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, Pathfinder Force, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Lancaster was shot down by a night fighter and crashed over Coburg whilst on a bombing raid to Nuremberg, on 30-31 March 1944, on the night that the Royal Air Force suffered their heaviest losses of the whole War, with 96 aircraft lost

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. C. M. Currie, 99 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15’, extremely fine (3) £400-£500

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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Edgar James Currie was born in London in 1912 and served during the Second World War initially with 78 Squadron. He had joined the squadron as a new crew in October 1942, and between November 1942 and May 1943 took part in 24 operational sorties, including raids on Lorient (three times), Genoa, Turin (four times), Hamburg (where the aircraft was severely damaged by Flak), Wilhelmshaven, Cologne, Dortmund, and Nuremberg.

Currie was sent to 15 O.T.U. at the end of this tour and then on Pathfinder Force training on P.F.F. course 78 on 8 March 1944. Posted to 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, Pathfinder Force on 11 March 1944, he was part of an experienced crew, which included Flight Lieutenant R. D. Trevor Roper, D.F.C., D.F.M., who had previously served with 617 Squadron, and had been awarded his D.F.C. for the famous Dams’ Raid. They flew their first operational sortie on 15 March 1944, a bombing raid on Stuttgart, where they encountered fierce night fighter combat over the target area.

Currie was killed in action when Lancaster ND390, piloted by Flight Lieutenant D. H. Rowlands, D.F.C., was detailed to attack Nuremberg, as part of the main force of 795 aircraft, and was shot down by an Me.110 flown by Major Martin Drewes, III./NJG1, and crashed in the south west suburbs of Coburg, on 30-31 March 1944. All the crew were killed.

Nuremberg, the Blackest Night in R.A.F. History, by Martin Bowman gives the following account:
‘At 01:20 a.m. Drewes and his crew singled out their third victim of the night. It was Lancaster III ND390 NF-S of 97 Squadron which was being flown by 23 year old Flight Lieutenant Desmond Harold Rowlands D.F.C., of Kenton Middlesex. “At 700 metres” said Handke “we could see it was another Lancaster. We were about to attack from the rear again when Petz announced that he had cleared the stoppage in our cannon. With the oblique cannon now working we could attack from below and to the side of the bomber with less risk of being seen. Drewes edged the night fighter closer and for a few seconds we were almost on a parallel course. Unaware the Lancaster flew on. Then Drewes raked it with a long burst aimed into the wing. Flames fanned from the engines to acknowledge the accuracy of his shooting.”
Rowlands and his crew were mostly second tourists who were on their third operation with the Pathfinders. The bodies of 19 year old Sergeant Robert Myall Lane, the flight engineer of Richmond Surrey; Arthur Robert Cadman D.F.M., the 24 year old navigator of Kingswinford Staffordshire (whose award had been granted in 49 Squadron in 1940); Albert Stanley McFadden the 28 year old bomb aimer of Walton, Liverpool and Flying Officers Edgar James Currie the 32 year old wireless operator whose wife Coralie Currie lived in Dulwich, London and Fred Coleville the mid upper gunner of Chester-Le-Street, County Durham were found near the main fuselage on the edge of a wood at Ahorn in the South West suburbs of Coburg. The tail came down some distance away and the body of 28 year old Flight Lieutenant Richard Algernon Dacre Trevor Roper D.F.C., D.F.M. was found still in the rear turret.’

Currie is buried along with his crew in Dürnbach War Cemetery, Germany. His medals were sent to his widow, Coraliw Mabel Currie.

Sold with a damaged R.A.F. cap badge and Pathfinder Force badge; a copy of Pathfinder Force, a History of 8 Group, by Gordon Musgrove; a copy of Pathfinder, by Air Vice-Marshal Donald Bennett, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O.; a large group photograph of the Squadron in front of a Lancaster; and copied research.