A particularly fine Second World War Air Gunner’s D.F.C. and Bar group of five awarded to Flight Lieutenant D. B. Ross, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a veteran of 54 operational sorties in Whitleys of No. 51 Squadron and in Wellingtons and Halifaxes of No. 427 Squadron, among them Operation “Biting”, the famous paratroop raid mounted on Bruneval in February 1942

A number of encounters with enemy night fighters aside, his aircraft returned with flak damage on no less than 11 occasions: most memorable of all was a raid on Essen in March 1943, when a direct hit killed his Navigator and seriously wounded his Wireless Operator - the latter’s subsequent gallantry resulted in a V.C. recommendation and the award of the D.F.C. to Ross

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated ‘1943’ and the reverse of the Bar ‘1945’; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, generally very find or better (5) £4000-5000

D.F.C. London Gazette 17 August 1943. The original recommendation states:

‘Pilot Officer Ross has completed 10 operations on his second tour with this squadron and has carried out his duties in the air with the greatest zeal. On a flight from Essen on 12 March 1943, he was Air Gunner of an aircraft hit by flak in which the Navigator was killed and Wireless Operator seriously injured. He nevertheless helped the Captain in bringing the damaged aircraft to base, and on the way home successfully beat off two attacks by a Ju. 88. He has shown courage and devotion to duty during this present operational tour of the highest order.’

Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 22 May 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘This Gunner has completed 10 trips on his third tour of operations. At all times his work has been of a very high calibre. He has exceptional qualities of leadership and coolness setting a fine example, not only to his crew but to the Squadron in general.

On 30 December 1944, his bomber was detailed to attack Cologne. After leaving the target while on three engines, the bomber was attacked by an Me. 210. Flying Officer Ross skilfully directed the evasive action and drove off the enemy fighter with his guns.

I most highly recommend that Flying Officer Ross be awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross.’

David Burgess Ross commenced training as an Air Gunner in July 1941 and, on qualification, was posted to No. 51 Squadron, a Whitley unit operating out of Dishforth, at the year’s end. Thus his first operational sortie - an attack on Aachen - flown on the night of 8 December 1941.

Having then teamed-up with Squadron Leader Peveler’s crew, he participated in three further sorties in December 1941, namely attacks on Brest on the 17th - ’Hit by flak’ (his Flying Log Book, refers); on Cologne on the 23rd and on Emden on 28th - ‘Bags of flak and searchlights’ (ibid).

At the end of January 1942, after sorties flown in Sergeant Ashley’s and Pilot Officer Hanlon’s crews to Brest, St. Nazaire and Emden, he joined Flight Lieutenant Towsey’s crew. It was in this latter capacity that he flew two further sorties to Emden before the month’s end, his turret freezing-up at -31 degrees on the first occasion and his aircraft being damaged by flak on the second.

Operation “Biting”

In February, No. 51 commenced training for Operation “Biting”, the famous Combined Operations raid on the enemy’s Wurzburg radar installation at Bruneval. The military force - namely the fledgling 1st Parachute Brigade - was placed under the command of Major J. D. Frost, while the R.A.F’s paratroop-carrying Whitleys of No. 51 Squadron were commanded by another wartime legend, Wing Commander P. C. “Pick” Pickard. The raid - carried out on the night of the 27th-28th - was a complete success, the parachutists afterwards being embarked by Coastal Forces with their valuable haul of components removed from the radar station.

For his own part, Ross noted in his Flying Log Book:

‘Ops - Paratroop Dropping, Bruneval, N. France. Radiolocation Station Destroyed. Shot-up Searchlights and M.G. Posts.’

Other than the value of the captured radar apparatus to our ‘boffins’, the Bruneval raid achieved one other notable success, namely the acceptance by higher authority that the military could - and should - expand its airborne capability. John Frost takes up the story in his biography, A Drop Too Many:

‘One very beneficial result from our point of view was that it put our airborne forces on the map. General “Boy” Browning had been having difficulty in persuading people that airborne forces could play a really useful part in the war. Despite the successes of German airborne troops, the traditional conservatism of many Service chiefs stood in the way of experiment, very largely because our more conventional resources were already strained. Now our General was able to get some degree of priority and the Prime Minister, who had initiated the formation of our Parachute troops, was encouraged to ensure that we had the necessary support. It was also a feather in the cap for Headquarters Combined Operations.’

Ross’s next sortie was flown in support of another well-known wartime operation, the raid on St. Nazaire on the night of 27-28 March 1942, although owing to poor visibility his own aircraft was unable to release its bomb load.

Over the coming month No. 51 continued to practice paratroop drops but there was no relief from regular operational sorties. Thus trips to Poissy, Genoa, Lorient and Rostock in April, the former resulting in flak damage to his aircraft and the latter, on account of loss of fuel, a crash-landing 40 miles from base.

In the period May-July 1942, Ross was attached to 296 and 297 Squadrons, fledgling glider-training units, following which he was rested at No. 10 O.T.U. in Abingdon.

Second Tour - immediate D.F.C. - fellow member of crew recommended for the V.C.

Returning to an operational footing at the end of 1942, Ross joined No. 427 (R.C.A.F.) Squadron, a Wellington unit operating out of Croft, Cheshire. Appointed to Wing Commander Burnside’s crew, he flew his first mission - a strike on Lorient - on 29 January 1943. A brace of return trips to Lorient having been undertaken in February, Ross’s aircraft was assigned to attack Essen on two occasions in March. The second of these sorties, on the night of 12th-13th, was to result in a V.C. recommendation for his Wireless Operator, Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Keen, D.F.M. Bravery Awards for Aerial Combat, by Alan W. Cooper, takes up the story:

‘On the night of the 12th, he [Keen] was part of the C.O's crew - Wing Commander D. H. Burnside, D.F.C. They took off in Wellington BK 164 at 7.10 p.m. The target was successfully reached at 9.30 but they were then hit by heavy flak in the target area. The navigator, Pilot Officer Heather R.C.A.F., was killed instantly. Flight Sergeant Keen later recorded: ‘I was sitting three to four feet away from him and I had my legs and feet knocked about a bit.’

In fact he had half of one of his feet blown away as well as cuts and lacerations to both legs. Despite this he regained his seat and for over two hours worked on the damaged wireless set. The Wellington had been badly hit, but the bomb aimer, Pilot Officer R. J. Hayhurst, successfully guided Dudley Burnside on the bomb run. Later, on the return flight, the rear gunner, Pilot Officer D. B. Ross, successfully beat off a night fighter attack.

Keen, meanwhile, had dragged himself to the navigator’s compartment and ignoring his painful injuries managed to assist in the navigation and later obtained essential information to get them home. They made it back to England and made a creditable forced landing at R.A..F Stradishall.

On 27 March, Wing Commander Burnside put forward a recommendation for Keen to receive the Victoria Cross, and who better to do so for he had been there. This was supported by the A.O.C. of 6 Group, Air Vice Marshal G..E. Brooks, C.B., O.B.E., but it was later changed to that of the C.G.M.  Burnside himself received a Bar to his D.F.C., while Pilot Officers Hayhurst and Ross received D.F.Cs.’

Second Tour - further adventures

In early April 1943, Ross resumed operations in Wing Commander Burnside’s crew, taking part in raids on Kiel and Stuttgart, following which pilot and crew attended a conversion course for Halifaxes; at the end of May, in an attack on Wuppertal, Ross’s aircraft was once more damaged by flak, in addition to being shadowed by an enemy night fighter for 30 minutes.

June’s operational agenda commenced with a full moon low-level strike on Le Creusot on the 19th, Ross noting in his Flying Log Book, ‘Hedgehopped on return. Shot up on coast and M.U. Gunner wounded. Opened up on Ground Defences. Landed Tangmere.’ Intense flak then having been encountered in trips to Wuppertal and Cologne, Ross’s aircraft crashed on take-off for Gelsenkirchen on the 25th - ‘Kite Written Off.’

Operations continued apace in July, including further flak damage being sustained in an attack on Essen on 25 July and two trips to Hamburg at the time of the famous ‘firestorm’ raids; so, too, a trip to Remscheid on the 30th, in which pilot and crew ‘encountered hundreds of searchlights in Ruhr defences’ and returned home - once again - in a flak-damaged aircraft.

Following an attack on Nurnberg in early August 1943, Ross participated in a strike on Munchen Gladbach on the 30th: ‘Attacked five times by fighters - sight damage to own A/C.’ His final sortie, prior to being rested, was against the marshalling yards in Modane in mid-September.

Third Tour - Bar to D.F.C.

In October 1944, Ross rejoined No. 427 Squadron and commenced his third tour of operations, this time as a member of Wing Commander Ganderton’s crew. Thus strikes on Dortmund, Bochum and Wilhelmshaven, in addition to two daylight attacks on Wanna Eickel and Homberg: his Halifax was hit by flak on both occasions.

In November, Ross participated in two further daylight operations, against Julich and Munster, the former outing ending in the loss of an engine, height and speed: ‘Fought a one man war and got caught in heavy flak - Hit by flak.’ December witnessed two night raids, one of them a full moon attack against Cologne on the 30th: on the way home Ross engaged an Me. 210 and claimed several hits.

New Year 1945 commenced with a spate of sorties, including a daylight strike on Essen, and in mid-March Ross flew his 50th sortie, an attack on Zweibrucken; so, too, a daylight attack on Hildesheim. Finally, in March, his aircraft was detailed to attack Hamburg and Leipzig. He was ‘grounded’ and awarded a Bar to his D.F.C.

After the war, Ross gained a permanent commission in the R.A.F., onetime serving in No. 18 Group.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767 type), covering the period July 1941 to May 1951; together with his commission warrants for the ranks of Pilot Officer (March, 1943) and Flying Officer (August 1947), and three photographs.