Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Warrant Officer Class II P. Pynisky, 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, who was killed in action on during Operation Hydra, the Peenemunde Raid, 17-18 August 1943

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, Canadian issues in silver; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp, mounted court-style for display in this order; Canadian Memorial Cross, G.VI.R. ‘W.O.2 Air Gunner P. Pynisky R104462’, nearly extremely fine (6) £500-£700

Peter Pynisky was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 5 June 1921. A steel mill worker of Greek Catholic heritage, he attested for the Royal Canadian Air Force on 31 July 1941, and earned his Air Gunner’s Badge on 27 April 1942. Posted to 44 Squadron in March 1943, he died on the night of 17/18 August 1943 whilst serving as mid upper gunner aboard Lancaster DV202 under the command of Pilot Officer Reginald Harding, Royal Canadian Air Force. Directed to attack the V-1 and V-2 rocket facility of Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom as part of Operation Hydra, the crew of seven departed Dunholme Lodge at 2140hrs and were subsequently lost without trace, with one of three aircraft of No. 44 Squadron shot down on this mission.

Remarkably, some 70 years later and during a heat wave, the remains of the Lancaster bomber were discovered poking out of the water of a lake in northern Germany. On 16 July 2014, the story caught the attention of The Mirror newspaper, who traced Elaine Towlson, the daughter of Sergeant Stanley Shaw, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, air gunner aboard the bomber:
‘When Elaine was just nine years old she waved him off on another vital mission against the Nazis, wondering when she would see him again. But she never did. At 31, he was the father figure among the crew, some of whom were boys barely out of school. She still remembers his visits home, often accompanied by three or four of his crewmates who would bring her sweets and hoist her on to their shoulders on trips to the cinema.’

An eyewitness account by German soldier Botho Stuwe describes what happened to their Lancaster bomber:
‘There was a flash and a line of tracer fire, then an explosion. This fireball hung there and then it fell from the point of impact down in a curving line into the Kolpinsee.’

Pynisky is commemorated along with his crew on the Runnymede Memorial.

Sold with copied R.C.A.F. Service Record, and private research, including a photographic image of the recipient in uniform.