Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas

The Suez crisis Fleet Air Arm D.S.C. group of seven awarded to Captain R. L. Eveleigh, Royal Navy, who had earlier been mentioned in despatches for his bravery in Barracuda operations off the Norwegian coast, including a memorable strike on the Tirpitz in April 1944

Distinguished Service Cross, E.II.R., reverse officially dated ‘1957’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Near East (Lt. Cdr. R. L. Eveleigh. R.N.); Campaign Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Malay Peninsula (Captain R. L. Eveleigh. R.N.), mounted court-style as worn, good very fine (7) £6,000-£8,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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Spink, May 1998.

D.S.C. London Gazette 13 June 1957: ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in operations in the Near East, October to December 1956.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 25 July 1944: ‘For ‘bravery, leadership, skill and devotion to duty during successful strikes at enemy shipping off the coast of Norway.’

Royston Leonard Eveleigh was commissioned as a Temporary Acting Sub. Lieutenant (A.) in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on qualifying as a Fleet Air Arm Observer in April 1943, when he was posted to No. 830 Naval Air Squadron (N.A.S.) at Lee-on-Solent.

Operation ‘Tungsten’

Eveleigh subsequently teamed-up with Lieutenant Robinson as his pilot and Petty Officer Lock as his T.A.G. and the three airmen honed their skills in the squadron’s Fairey Barracuda IIs over the coming months, especially after joining the carrier Furious in late 1943, and they flew their first anti-shipping strike off Norway in February 1944.

Meanwhile, plans were afoot for Operation ‘Tungsten’, a major Fleet Air Arm strike against the Tirpitz in her Norwegian lair. The plans had been hastened by ‘Ultra’ intelligence reports that revealed the German battleship had been repaired after the epic midget submarine attack of September 1943, and that she was now preparing for new sea trials. Tirpitz, a ‘Fleet in Being’, remained therefore a serious threat, and when Admiral Fraser received another ‘Ultra’ report suggesting she would put to sea on the 3 April 1944, just as he was escorting the Russian-bound convoy JW. 58, events moved quickly. In fact, the planned Fleet Air Arm strike was immediately brought forward to the 3rd.

The attack was to comprise two strikes, an hour apart, with 21 Barracudas in each from the carriers Furious and Victorious. Ten would each carry a 1600lb. armour-piercing ‘cookie’ bomb, 20 would carry three 500lb. semi-armour piercing bombs and the remainder 600lb. bombs for underwater blast effect. In addition, 40 Corsair, Hellcat and Wildcat fighters from the auxiliary carriers Emperor, Pursuer and Searcher would deal with any fighters and, if not engaged, then strafe Tirpitz.

Eveleigh, with Robinson and Lock, flew in the first wave in Barracuda 5F, armed with one of the 1600lb. ‘cookie’ bombs. Menace – The Life and Death of the Tirpitz, by Ludovic Kennedy, takes up the story:

‘At 4.30 a.m. the first strike of Barracudas and 50 Corsairs, Hellcats and Wildcats took off and headed South, flying at sea-level to avoid enemy radar. Twenty-five miles from the coast they climbed to 8,000 feet to clear the mountains … By 5.15 a.m. they were only 20 miles from their target. They passed over a high mountain, “and there,” said Sub. Lieutenant Eveleigh, “at the head of the fjord just where intelligence told us she would be, lay the Tirpitz, looking as large as life and very forbidding.” No enemy fighters having appeared, the commander of the British fighter wing radioed, “Out lights!” This was the signal for them to assume their secondary role of strafing the Tirpitz with machine-gun fire, destroying the radar and flak control and killing all those in exposed positions on the deck.’

The Barracudas then swept in low, determined to achieve some telling hits, Eveleigh recording in his flying log book that they dropped their ‘cookie’ through a barrage of medium flak before making ‘an individual getaway’ and returning to Furious. The attack launched by the first wave had lasted just minutes and only one Barracuda had been lost. Ludovic Kennedy continues:

‘By 5.31 a.m. the upper decks of the Tirpitz were a shambles, with more than 100 dead and 200 wounded … at least 14 bombs had caused serious damage; destruction of the flak control and bridge telegraphs; fires in the aircraft hangar, wardroom, gunroom, and mess decks and storeroom; buckling of the keel plates and causing underwater flooding.’

And all this before the arrival of the second wave which inflicted further damage and casualties.

As it happened, the Tirpitz mission was the first of several sorties flown by Eveleigh off Norway, including a strike on enemy shipping off the Lofoten Islands on 26 April 1944, when intense light flak downed a Barracuda and four fighters, and another anti-shipping strike on 1 June 1944, when intense flak caused further loss. Finally, on 17 July 1944, he participated in the Fleet Air Arm’s second attack on the Tirpitz, his flying log book noting: ‘Not too good – target obscured by smoke – bags of flak – 1 Barracuda and 1 Corsair lost.’

Eveleigh was subsequently among those mentioned in despatches. And he ended the war as an instructor in 786 N.A.S. back in the U.K.

Operation ‘Musketeer’

Post-war, he obtained a regular commission in the R.N., qualified as a pilot and was advanced to Lieutenant-Commander in October 1952. And it was in this rank that he took command of 802 N.A.S. in early 1956, then working up in Sea Hawks at Lossiemouth, in preparation for a commission in the Ark Royal.

Instead, however, the Suez crisis intervened and Eveleigh and 802 N.A.S. were called away to the Western Mediterranean to join the carrier Albion. He later told the author Brian Cull, in Wings over Suez:

‘The general feeling in the Fleet, culled from radio and press, was that we were going to confront the Israelis who were seen to be aggressing as they pushed towards Egypt. We were very surprised to find that the opposite was the case! Most of my age group has seen active service in World War Two but the realisation that the Egyptians had MiGs made for a certain amount of apprehension.’

On 24 October 1956, a week before the controversial decision to neutralize the Egyptian Air Force was put into effect, Eveleigh became the victim of a rash Admiralty order intended to decrease the turnaround time between sorties by removing from all Sea Hawks the metal retaining straps over the main fuel tank filler cap. Having objected unsuccessfully, and aware that an accident involving the procedure had already occurred, he insisted on being the first off Albion after the straps had been removed. It was a night take-off, according to Wings over Suez:

‘As I accelerated down the catapult a glaring light … lit up the deck. I pushed ‘white knuckled’ on the lever but the power still fell away and I realised that the light came from the aircraft and that I was on fire. I crashed into the sea ahead of the carrier, which swerved to avoid colliding with the burning and sinking Sea Hawk.’

Very lucky indeed to escape his aircraft unscathed, Eveleigh was picked up half an hour later. Thereafter, the straps were refitted.

In November 1956, he flew in excess of 20 operational sorties against Egyptian air bases and other military targets, commencing with a pre-dawn strike on the main Egyptian Air Force (E.A.F.) base at Almaza on the 1st. As Eveleigh would later explain in Wings over Suez, no one really knew how the E.A.F. would react to such attacks. As it transpired, its aircrew had been ordered not to intervene:

‘We were surprised by a flight of MiGs which climbed away from Almaza towards us. And as we were only straight-winged compared with their swept-wing high performance, I can still recall the feeling of my squadron closing up on me on sighting them. We were apprehensive to say the least but they swept straight past and did not attempt to mix it.’

On his second sortie of the 1st, he flew a photo-reconnaissance mission to Cairo International Airport, where there were reports of someone having attacked a civil airliner, which, as he put it, ‘were not in the target brief!’ Then on his third and final sortie of the day, he shot up an obliging line of trainers at the E.A.F. pilot training school at Bilbeis: ‘2 A/C on fire – 1 damaged.’

Back in action on the 2nd, Eveleigh claimed a MiG and Vampire damaged on the ground at Almaza, but this time was greeted by flak that shook up his Sea Hawk. He then went ‘flak busting’ on the 4th, and next day hit a ‘cab rank’ and reported leaving six vehicles in flames. That same day he led 802’s Sea Hawks in support of the Paras as they landed on Gamil airfield, and at their request ‘took out’ mortars firing from a cemetery on the airfield’s perimeter.

Another duty which befell 802 N.A.S. was to carry out interceptions of intruders approaching the fleet, more often than not aircraft from the U.S. Sixth Fleet, coming to look at what was going on. Eveleigh recalled:

‘Knowing the Egyptians had MiGs, we had to intercept all incoming fighters and, until identified, U.S. swept wing fighters appeared a threat. The wing destroyer of their fleet even got inside the screen of our own fleet, occasioning an exchange of signals which probably cannot be repeated. Our Wing C.O. asked the American which side he was on. On receiving a rather negative reply, our Wing C.O. made back in plain language, “Then why don’t you f—k off!” ’

Eveleigh was awarded the D.S.C. and attended a Buckingham Palace investiture on his return to the U.K. in November 1957. And he was advanced to Commander on graduating from the R.N. Staff College in the following year.

Post-Suez

Having then enjoyed his first seagoing command in the frigate Loch Ruthven in 1958-60, he was successively Special Assistant to the Chief of Allied Staff to the C.-in-C. Allied Forces Mediterranean in 1960-62, and Deputy to Captain (Air), Staff of Flag Officer (Home) in 1962-64.

Subsequently advanced to Captain, he commanded the Hartland Point in 1964-66 and the Leander in 1965-67, when he witnessed further active service, including run-ins with Indonesian frogmen in the Johore Strait and M.T.Bs in the Malacca Strait.

An Assistant Director of Naval Plans (N.A.T.O.) in 1967-69, Eveleigh’s final appointment before retirement was as C.O. of the Royal Naval Air Station Goldcrest.

Sold with a complete run of the recipient’s original Flying Log Books, comprising R.N. Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering the period January 1942 to March 1944; R.A.F. (Form 1757) Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering the period April 1944 to February 1945, with numerous operational entries, including the Tirpitz attack; and a privately bound flying log book, incorporating four further official logs covering the periods April 1947 to July 1948; July 1948 to December 1951; January 1952 to March 1956, and April 1956 to December 1970, this last with his Suez ‘Musketeer’ sorties and post career civilian entries up to 1997; together with copies of Menace, The Life and Death of the Tirpitz, by Ludovic Kennedy and Wings over Suez by Brian Cull, in which the recipient is mentioned and quoted many times.