Four: Sergeant F. Tweedale, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who, having flown 24 operational sorties, including the Peenemunde raid in August 1943, was killed in action while serving as a Rear Gunner in a Lancaster of No. 50 Squadron during a strike on Frankfurt in October 1943

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, extremely fine (4) £300-350

Fred Tweedale commenced his training at No. 4 Air Gunnery School, Morpeth in January 1943. Having then attended a conversion unit, he was posted in April to No. 50 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of R.A.F. Skellingthorpe and flew his first mission, as a member of Sergeant (afterwards Pilot Officer) J. H. Mason’s crew, on the night of 12-13 May.

Of the remaining 23 sorties flown in the period leading up to his death in action in early October, his targets included Berlin Cologne, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg (four times), Mannheim (twice), Milan (thrice), Munich and Wuppertal, from which latter city his Lancaster returned to base on two engines after being coned by searchlights and damaged by flak; so, too, participation in the famous strike on the secret rocket establishment at Peenemunde on the night of 17-18 August 1943; accompanying research reveals two close encounters with night fighters.

On the night of 3-4 October, Tweedale joined the crew of another Lancaster, piloted by Pilot Officer C. J. M. Wilkie, C.G.M., and including Sergeant J. W. Brant, U.S.A.A.F. Their target was Frankfurt but it proved to be their last mission, the entire crew perishing after their Lancaster was downed by flak or a night fighter and crashed in the southern suburbs of the city. All were buried in Durnbach War Cemetery.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767 type), covering the period January to October 1943, with ‘R.A.F. Central Depository’ and ‘Death Presumed’ stamps, and copied research.