An original Observer’s Flying Log Book and related items appertaining to Warrant Officer L. R. Watson, Royal Air Force, who completed several operational sorties in Halifaxes of No. 10 Squadron prior to his aircraft being shot down by a night fighter in July 1943: duly elected to the membership of the Caterpillar Club for his parachute descent on the same occasion, he ended the War as a P.O.W. at Stalag Luft III, scene of the “Great Escape”, comprising his Royal Canadian Air Force Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (R.C.A.F. R. 96 / R.A.F. 1767 type), covering the period May 1942 to the night his Halifax was posted missing on 3 July 1943, with related letter from the C.O. of No. 10 Squadron; his Caterpillar Club membership card and related forwarding letter, addressed to him at Stalag Luft III, together with an ‘Irvin’ gilt and enamelled lapel badge; his R.A.F. cap badge; his R.A.F. Brief Statement of Service and Certificate of Discharge; his embroidered Observer’s (2) and Navigator’s uniform brevets; a No. 10 Squadron crest wall-plaque; a New Testament with ink inscription, ‘May this be the Talisman for your safe and soon return home once again’, and a U.S. Army New Testament (Washington, 1942); seven birthday post cards from the 1920s/30s; and a copy of the book Into the Silk, by Ian Mackersley London, 1957), the whole contained in a wartime period carrying case, generally in good condition and a scarce and interesting archive (Lot) £200-300

Lloyd Raymond Watson, a native of Manchester who was born in September 1918, originally enlisted in the Territorial Army in April 1937, but transferred to the Royal Air Force in July 1941. Embarked for the U.S.A., he attended an Air Observer’s Navigation Course at Miami, Florida in the summer of 1942 and, on returning to the U.K. attended conversion and operational training courses.

Posted to No. 10 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Melbourne, Yorkshire in May 1943, he flew his first sortie - against Dusseldorf - on the night of 11 June, followed by attacks on Le Creusot, Krefeld, Mulheim, Wurrpertal and Gelsenkirchen in the same month.

However, on the night of 3-4 July 1943, during a strike on Cologne, Watson’s aircraft - Halifax II DT784 ZA-M - was shot down by an enemy night fighter ace Leutnant Johannes Hager of 6/NJGI, and crashed at 0135 hours north-east of Malmedy, Belgium. His pilot, Flight Sergeant A. Morley, R.A.A.F., and another crew member perished, but Watson and four others made successful parachute descents and were taken P.O.W. His subsequent P.O.W. camps included Stalag Luft VI in East Prussia, Stalag 357 in Poland and Germany, and Stalag Luft III at Sagan, scene of the “Great Escape”. Watson was liberated in May 1945 and discharged in the rank of Warrant Officer in April 1946 and, in addition to his entitlement to the 1939-45 & Air Crew Europe Stars, and the War Medal, he was awarded the Efficiency Medal (Territorial).

Also see Lot 822 for his brother’s 1939-45 awards.