Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Air Efficiency Award to Fight Lieutenant H. J. S. Harmer, D.F.C., Royal Auxiliary Air Force, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944, whilst serving as a Navigator with 158 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Air Efficiency Award, E.II.R., 2nd issue (Flt. Lt. H. J. S. Harmer. R. Aux. A.F.) extremely fine £160-£200

D.F.C. London Gazette, 4 August 1944.

Harold James Stephen Harmer was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, around 1910, and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 5 July 1942, for service during the Second World War. Posted to 466 Squadron at R.A.F. Leconfield, he was advanced Flying Officer on 5 January 1943, and injured shortly thereafter on 15 February 1943, whilst flying as Navigator in Wellington HE-153 whilst returning from a raid to Cologne, when it crashed near Warter Priory, Yorkshire, with the loss of one crew member.

Posted to 158 Squadron, at R.A.F. Lissett on 29 January 1944, Harmer was advanced Flight Lieutenant on 5 July 1944, before the award of the D.F.C. the following month, the recommendation stating; ‘This officer has completed a large number of sorties, many of them against heavily defended targets. He is a Navigator of high merit whose coolness, determination and ability in difficult and dangerous situations have set an inspiring example. His record is worthy of high praise.’

Post-War, Harmer remained in the R.A.F.V.R. until relinquishing his commission on 24 January 1948 when he was commissioned into the Secretarial Branch of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force as a Flight Lieutenant, with seniority from 2 December 1947. He served with 601 Auxiliary Squadron before finally relinquishing his commission on 24 January 1963 and later died in Honiton, Devon, on 3 October 1987.