Pilot Officer L. J. Barnes, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who died of wounds after baling out of his blazing Hurricane over Egypt in September 1942

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, all unnamed, nearly extremely fine (4) £260-300

M.I.D. London Gazette 2 June 1943.

Leslie John Barnes was born in East Croydon in 23 February 1921 and was educated at Selhurst Grammar School for Boys. Enlisting in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as an Aircraftman 2nd Class / Pilot under training on 8 August 1939, he was promoted to Sergeant a day later and promoted to Flight Sergeant in July 1940.

He became a fully fledged pilot in October 1940 and served in Hurricanes of No. 134 Squadron in Russia in August-December 1941, flying offensive operations and providing cover for Russian bombers; the Old Croydonian Association’s Book of Remembrance 1939-45 credits him with having been awarded the ‘Golden Star of Russia’ as a consequence.

The Squadron was afterwards based in Northern Ireland, where Barnes was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 20 February 1942. He subsequently served in the Middle East, where he transferred to No. 213 Squadron on 28 August 1942. A few days later, on the 31st, he shot down a Ju. 87 but was himself shot down and badly burned before he could exit his blazing Hurricane by parachute. He died as a result of his injuries in the R.A.F. Hospital, Egypt, on 17 September 1942 and was buried in the Cairo Military Cemetery.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s M.I.D. certificate in envelope addressed to ‘Mrs O. Barnes, 77 Meadvale Rd., East Croydon, Surrey’; campaign medal forwarding box, similarly addressed; named condolence slip; photographs (6); cloth R.A.F. badge; letter written to his mother following his death, dated 24 September 1942; War Office slip informing Mrs. Barnes that her son had died; record of service; Selhurst Grammar School for Boys, School Record, 1932-37 and copied extracts from the Operations Record Book.