Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Flight Lieutenant C. W. Fox, Royal Air Force, who was killed in action when his Lancaster was shot down over Hamburg during Operation Gomorrah on the night of 29-30 July 1943

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named card box of issues, addressed to ‘Mrs. G. E. F. Fox, 47, Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London, N13’; Memorial Scroll ‘Flight Lieutenant C. W. Fox, Royal Air Force’; together with the named Air Council enclosure; the recipient’s Royal Air Force Pilot’s Flying Log Book; the recipient’s Royal Air Force Record of Flights Log Book; R.A.F. Identity card; a portrait photograph of the recipient; and a R.A.F. brooch, the Memorial Scroll mounted in a glazed display frame, the rest (apart from the named card box of issue - this loose) all housed in a large display case, extremely fine (3) £600-£800

Charles William Fox was born on 5 June 1909 and was commissioned Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force on 26 July 1941. He received his first operational posting, to 9 Squadron (Lancasters), in March 1943, and flew his first operational sortie, to Essen, on 12 March 1943; further targets over the next few months included St. Nazaire, Lorient, Kiel, Frankfurt, Pilsen (2), Duisberg (3), Dusseldorf (2), Essen, Wuppertal, Bochum, Oberhausen, Cologne (2), Turin, and Hamburg.

Fox was killed in action on the night of 29-30 July 1943, the second big raid of Operation Gomorrah, when his Lancaster JA692 was hit by flak and crashed in the target area during a raid on Hamburg, with the loss of the entire crew; of the 777 aircraft that took part in the raid 28 were lost. Fox is buried alongside his crew in Hamburg Cemetery, Germany.

Sold with three contemporary photographs, and a booklet entitled ‘George Fox’ by J. P. Wragge.

Please note that this lot is not suitable for shipping whilst housed in its fitted display case, but can be hand delivered within mainland Britain by prior arrangement; alternatively the lot can be shipped without the display case.