A well-documented Second World War Bomber Command veteran’s group of five awarded to Master Navigator R. O. Rudd, Royal Air Force, who, having completed an operational tour in Halifaxes 1944-45, flew 250 missions in the Berlin Airlift

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Cyprus (M. Nav. (1801752), R.A.F.); Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (M. Nav. (1801752), R.A.F.), mounted as worn, together with related Bomber Command commemorative medal, in case with certificate, generally good very fine (6) £400-500

Robert Octavius Rudd was born in January 1920 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in August 1942, direct from the Air Training Corps. Trained as a Navigator at No. 5 Air Observation School between September 1943 and January 1944, he afterwards attended No. 20 Operational Training Unit at Lossiemouth before being posted to No. 578 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Burn, Yorkshire, in July of the same year.

Joining the crew of Flight Sergeant (later Flying Officer) D. P. Millard, he flew his first sortie as Navigator on 3 August 1944, the first of several strikes against enemy V.1 and V.2 sites, or gun emplacements, in France. But the squadron was also allocated its fair share of German targets, Kiel and Sterkrade being attacked in the same month, in addition to Bottrop that September, while Kleve and Essen were on the agenda in October, the latter sortie ending with a crash-landing at Manston. Rudd’s flying log book notes further “incidents” over the coming months, the first of them on the night of 16-17 November, when his Halifax was caught in heavy flak over Julich for four minutes, a hit being registered in the starboard outer engine and elevator, and another on the night of 12-13 December, on returning from his third trip to Essen, when his Halifax carried out a crash-landing at Wormingford - ‘Starboard outer feathered. Port outer propellor dropped off. Bomb Aimer injured.’

Transferring with Millard to No. 51 Squadron, another Halifax unit, based at Snaith, Yorkshire, in February 1945, Rudd completed sorties to Mainz, Chemnitz and Goch in the same month, four enemy night fighters being sighted on the latter operation.

Then in March, having been commissioned as a Pilot Officer, he participated in no less than nine operations, among them attacks on Cologne, Hamburg, Essen (his fourth such trip), Sterkrade, Osnabruck and Barmen, the former trip witnessing his aircraft being straddled by bombs from above, and the latter a hair-raising 16-minute-long orbit of the target area on the Master Bomber’s orders (flying log book refers). Finally, on the night of 13-14 April 1945, Rudd flew his last operational sortie - his 34th - against Boizenburg, in fact a “spoof raid” to divert enemy night fighters from a Main Force strike on Kiel.

In May 1945, No. 51 was allocated to Transport Command and moved to Leaconfield, Rudd’s flying log book listing numerous “bomb disposal” missions over the North Sea with Millard at the helm - the latter was grounded in the following month, and awarded the D.F.C. (London Gazette 16 November 1945 refers). Rudd, meanwhile, remained in Transport Command, gaining experience on Liberators and Dakotas, and advancement to Flying Officer at the end of the year.

Opting to remain in the Royal Air Force, and having relinquished his wartime commission and been re-graded as a Warrant Officer and Navigator I, Rudd joined No. 53 Squadron, a Dakota unit of Transport Command, in August 1947, and it was in this capacity that he flew on 250 missions to Gatow during the famous Berlin Airlift, the first of them in June 1948 and the last in September 1949 (flying log book refers). Interestingly, the R.A.F. Transport Command Dakota displayed as part of the Imperial War Museum’s collection at Duxford, is believed to have been the very same one crewed by Rudd during this period - accompanying photograph refers.

Subsequently qualifying for his G.S.M. with “Cyprus” clasp for services in the Middle East Communications’ Squadron at Akrotiri in the late 1950s, he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in December 1961, and having attained the rank of Master Navigator, last flew in March 1964, while serving in No. 114 Squadron, an Argosy unit. Thereafter, he served as an Air Traffic Controller, largely at R.A.F. Honington or Coltishall, and finally retired with an “Exemplary” rating in August 1973.

Sold with a good quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Flying Log Books (4), covering the periods September 1943 to November 1948, December 1948 to August 1953, September 1953 to January 1959, and February 1959 to March 1964; his A.T.C. certificate of service, dated 24 July 1942; Aircrew Categorisation Card - Navigator, with dated entries for 1962-64; R.A.F. certificate of service, dated 31 August 1973; R.A.F. Air Traffic Control certificate of competency, with dated stamps for the period 1964-72; R.A.F. M.T. Vehicle Driving Permit, dated 25 September 1972; H.Q. No. 11 Group “Letter of retirement”, dated 24 August 1973; signed Official Secrets Acts declaration, dated 31 August 1973; assorted “career” photographs (10), including wartime Halifax crew line-up; a glazed display frame containing two photographs, one of Anthony Eden, and a related Foreign Office letter, 21 September 1954, the whole commemorating the occasion that Eden was flown by a crew navigated by Rudd on a return trip to London via Belgium, Germany, Italy and France; and the recipient’s heliograph mirror, in linen pouch.