The Ron Penhall Collection

The Second World War Bomber Command operations D.S.O., D.F.C. group of nine awarded to Wing Commander A. R. Poole, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, late Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who completed a remarkable tally of 100 operational sorties, latterly in No. 617 Squadron and as Gunnery Leader in No. 97 Squadron of the Path Finder Force: ‘his spirit of aggression can be best illustrated by the fact that after a century of sorties, it has been necessary to issue a direct order to prevent him continuing to operate’

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse of the suspension bar officially dated ‘1945’; Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1943’; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals; Coronation 1953; Air Efficiency Award, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar (Act. Flt. Lt. A. R. Poole, R.A.F.V.R.), mounted court-style as worn, rank on the last officially corrected, good very fine and better (9) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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As Squadron Gunnery Leader, he has proved himself a “Leader” in every sense of the word. By his own example he has maintained the highest possible spirit amongst the gunners in the Squadron.

In addition to operating, Squadron Leader Poole’s work in training has been untiring with the result that the efficiency of the section has been raised to the highest possible level.

For his remarkable operational record, for his outstanding courage and display of leadership, and for his exceptional contribution to the war effort, Squadron Leader Poole is most strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Service Order.’

D.F.C. London Gazette 26 March 1943. The original recommendation states:

‘Pilot Officer Poole is an Air Gunner of high merit. He has taken part in a large number of operational flights, including many in the Middle East. On one occasion he was forced to abandon his aircraft over the desert. Four days later he was picked up by an army patrol. Pilot Officer Poole took part in raids on the Ruhr and Bremen when 1,000 of our bombers operated. He has flown on three attacks against Berlin. His skill and courage have been of the highest order.’

Alfred Raymond Poole, a pre-war member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, was called-up in September 1939 and completed his Air Gunner’s course at Evanton, Scotland in July 1940, prior to attending an Operational Training Unit and converting to Wellingtons.

Operational tours with 38 and 97 Squadrons

Posted to No. 38 Squadron at Markham in September of the same year, he flew his first mission on the last night of that month, against Berlin, the first of eight such bombing sorties prior to the Squadron’s move to the Middle East a few weeks later - his other targets included Calais, Cologne, and Dusseldorf. And out in Egypt and Libya, in the period December 1940 to December 1941, he went on to complete around 35 more sorties, mainly serving as Air Gunner in the crew of Squadron Leader R. J. Gosnell, D.F.C. Regular targets in this period included Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk, with occasional “one offs” to such places as Crete and Yugoslavia, but it was following a raid against Derna on 19 November 1941 that Poole was elected to the membership of the Caterpillar Club - ‘Lost on return journey. Baled out of rear-turret at 3,000 feet. Adrift four days in desert. Rescued by an Egyptian Army desert patrol’.

Returning home to the U.K. in early 1942, Poole’s intended period of “rest” at an Operational Training Unit at Chipping Warden was rudely interrupted by the advent of the “Thousand Bomber Raids”, the sheer scale of which necessitated him participating in the strikes against Cologne on 30 May, Essen on 1 June and Bremen on the 25 June - and according to his flying log book his Wellington was the first aircraft to arrive over the latter city. Then in November 1942, having qualified as a Gunnery Leader at a course held at Sutton Bridge, he joined No. 97 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Woodhall Spa. Flying his first sortie on the night of the 28th - against Turin - he went on to complete another 15 or so trips as a Mid-Upper Gunner to his Squadron Leader before being “grounded” as an instructor at an Air Gunnery School in Anglesey in April 1943, the latter decision no doubt precipitated by the fact he had now completed over 60 sorties and 500 hours of operational flying time. His targets, incidentally, had largely been of the heavily defended kind, not least Berlin, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg and Stuttgart. He was awarded the D.F.C.

617 Squadron

In June 1944, Poole resumed his operational career with none other than No. 617 Squadron, then commanded by Cheshire, V.C., but soon to be taken over by “Willie” Tait. Flying variously as Mid-Upper or Rear-Gunner to Squadron Leader J. L. “Les” Munro, D.S.O., D.F.C., Flying Officer A. E. Kell, D.F.C. (R.A.A.F.), 1st Lieutenant N. Knilans, D.S.O., D.F.C. (R.C.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F.) and Flight Lieutenant D. J. Oram, D.F.C., Poole went on to participate in 17 precision trips, his Lancaster often being armed with the mighty 12,000lb. “Tallboy” bomb, if only because the target was frequently of the U-Boat pen kind - such as Brest and La Pallice.

On his first operation, however, he flew against a V. 1 rocket site at St. Leu d’Esserent in the Pas de Calais, Cheshire marking the target from 800 feet - on visiting the ruins after the War, “Bomber” Harris asked a local French boy what was the cause of the awful smell - “There are 800 Boche trapped in there!” came the prompt reply. Cheshire marked with equal accuracy on the Squadron’s next V-weapon target at Minoyecques, but because it was a daylight raid, it fell to “Les” Munro to lead 617’s Lancasters in ‘as the sky became a nightmare of flak’, a sight not lost on Poole, who was in Munro’s crew that day.

For his next six sorties, however, he flew with the American, 1st Lieutenant “Nicky” Knilans, a colourful squadron character who had just recently been saved by the intervention of Cheshire, V.C., after he “buzzed” 617’s Officers’ Mess - his Lancaster roared over the roof with only two or three feet to spare and so frightened a W.A.A.F that she dropped an entire tray of tea over the Station C.O., Group Captain Philpott. Not long afterwards, towards the end of July, with Poole acting as Mid-Upper, Knilans dropped a “Tallboy” on Wizernes and scored a direct hit on the V. 2 site at Wattan. But on a visit to the V-weapon storage depot at Reilly La Montagne on the last day of the month, captain and crew had a very close call indeed - another 617 Lancaster was observed - bomb doors open - just 100 feet above them: Knilans’ swiftly turned to one side using full rudder and disaster was averted. Next up were sorties to the V-weapon establishment at Siracourt - where10/10ths cloud cover prevented a successful strike - the railway bridge at Etaples and the U-Boat pens at Lorient and Brest, Knilans and his crew once again gaining a direct hit on the latter amidst heavy flak.

At the end of the first week of August, Poole teamed-up with Flight Lieutenant D. J. Oram’s crew, with whom, over the next seven days, he flew no less than six sorties, three of them to the U-Boat pens at La Pallice, and another three to the pens at Brest, where the ‘flak was as severe as ever, making life very uncomfortable for the crews’. Luckily for Poole, however, he flew his last 617 Squadron mission - another strike on La Pallice on 18 August - back in Knilans’ crew: Flight Lieutenant Oram’s Lancaster suffered the indignity of having an engine shot away.

Pathfinders

In September 1944, Poole was recruited by the Path Finder Force, joining No. 83 Squadron at Coningsby, and was quickly back in action with a sortie to Munchen-Gladbach on the 10th. Another 15 trips to targets in Germany, France, Norway and Poland followed between then and January 1945, bringing his tally of sorties to 96. And while most of these sorties could be fairly described as those of the hair-raising kind, the most worrying of all must surely have been the daylight strike on the Dortmund Ems Canal on 1 January 1945, when Poole acted as Rear-Gunner in Squadron Leader - and Deputy Force Leader - F. W. Twigg’s aircraft.

One senses from Poole’s flying log book at this stage that higher authority was desperately trying to “ground” him, hence the sudden appearance of a “Special Liaison Tour” attached to the 8th U.S. Air Force, a tour that witnessed him flying as a passenger over the U.K. in a Fortress flown by 1st Lieutenant Dickson. Yet one also senses Poole’s underlying determination to reach his operational century, and having cadged a lift as a Rear-Gunner in a Lancaster to Bohlen on the night of the 20-21 March 1943 - probably against orders - his cause gained greater impetus. By April the opposition appears to have diminished, the newly promoted Wing Commander Twiggs piloting Poole to a strike against Moldis, probably more anxious about the safety of his Rear-Gunner than ever before. But the final honour of conveying the remarkable Poole to his 100th target - Leipzig - fell to Flight Lieutenant Cartwright: and a mighty relieved man he must have been when his Lancaster touched down at Coningsby after an 8 hour flight. Poole was awarded the D.S.O. - possibly the only commissioned Air Gunner to receive said honour in combination with a D.F.C.

In early 1945 he was awarded a permanent commission, but soon afterwards transferred to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, his flying log book further noting several flights out in the Far East in November 1953 and a brace of trips in a Hastings in April 1961, when he was attached to a maritime unit at R.A.F. Northwood.

Sold with the recipient’s Flying Log Book, covering the period February 1940 to April 1961, and his Path Finder Force badge, gilt metal, the former constituting a remarkable wartime record, second only to a handful of Bomber Command aircrew.

Provenance: Spink, August 1973 (private purchase); sold with an original letter to Spink from the recipient, dated 5 May 1973.