Auction Catalogue

25 & 26 June 2008

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 1252

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26 June 2008

Hammer Price:
£3,500

A rare Second World War East Africa 1940-41 operations D.F.M. group of five awarded to Squadron Leader J. F. S. Lawley, Royal Air Force, who was decorated for his services as a Navigator in Wellesleys of No. 47 Squadron during numerous operational sorties in the Eritrean and Abyssinian campaigns

Distinguished Flying Medal
, G.VI.R. (564281 Sgt. J. F. S. Lawley, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals, loose suspension on the first with signs of attempted tightening to rivet, generally very fine or better (5) £2400-2800

D.F.M. London Gazette 7 March 1941. The original recommendation states:

‘This airman has participated in over 20 operational missions over Eritrea and Abyssinia as Air Observer. He has always displayed the finest qualities of courage and endurance and has successfully navigated the formations over long distances in mountainous country. His aptitude finding new targets despite unreliable maps and adverse weather has been most marked. On one occasion as Air Observer in the leader’s aircraft, he navigated a flight of 11 bombers to the heavily defended town of Danglia in Northern Abyssinia. He has played an important part in the successes obtained by the Squadron.’

Joseph Frank Stephenson Lawley, who was born in September 1913 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force in January 1930, was decorated for his services as a Navigator in Wellesley bombers of No. 47 Squadron in the East Africa operations of 1940-41 - see
Dust Clouds in the Middle East, by Christopher Shores, for frequent mention of the Squadron in action.

In brief, No. 47 was based at Khartoum on the outbreak of hostilities, under Wing Commander J. G. Elton, A.F.C., but moved to Erkowit in May 1940 and mounted its first attack on 11 June - against the airfield at Asmara, the Eritrean capital - the day after Italy entered the War, one Wellesley being brought down by accurate anti-aircraft fire. Other enemy airfields would be attacked over the coming weeks and months, so, too, enemy troop positions and communications, the latter including strikes against the railway station west of Gash River on 30 July - all of the Wellesleys involved were hit by ground fire and one Air Gunner wounded - and, in the face of particularly vicious A.A. fire, installations on Sheik Said Island - one aircraft was badly shot up by prowling CR. 42s; while in an attack on Gura in early August, Italian fighters badly damaged another Wellesley.

Meanwhile, the Italians begun to hit back at our own airfields, disaster striking No. 47 on Friday 16 October 1940, when nine CR. 42s strafed and totally destroyed eight Wellesleys on the ground. Replacement aircraft having arrived, some of them via No. 14 Squadron which was re-equipping with Blenheims, No. 47 was quickly back in action, but lost another Wellesley to CR. 42s during a raid on the village and fort of Burie. With the tide of war turning in favour of the Allied forces come the New Year, No. 47, now operating out of advanced airstrips at “Blackdown” and “Sarum”, moved forward to hammer such targets as Barentu and Agordat airfields and, in late January 1941, coveyed Haile Selassie to the border of Sudan and Ethiopia - Orde Wingate would receive similar conveyance in the following month. Agordat would eventually be taken over by No. 47 - and renamed “Wellesley Burial Ground” due to mounting losses.

It was about this time that Lawley was recommended for his D.F.M., his “Kiwi” pilot, afterwards Air Vice-Marshal Graham “Digger” Magill, C.B., C.B.E., D.F.C., later describing him as ‘a truly solid citizen, competent, cheerful, unflappable and of unquestioned loyalty - strangely enough he had a slight impediment in his speech which showed up occasionally on the ground but, as is not unusual, never in the air.’ Magill further observed:

On the “opposition”:

‘Very briefly, we didn’t think all that much of the bulk of those who attacked us, not that they were not dangerous enough. But many tended to engage at relatively long range with apparent reluctance to close too much against our return fire, such as it was. But, to our considerable discomfort, there were notable exceptions who pressed home their attacks with the determination we would expect of our own chaps ... I cannot vouch for the number of fighters that took exception to us - but there were enough! If I remember correctly on this occasion [a raid on Massawa] we disengaged by slowly climbing into medium cloud and gratefully for there was little enough of that commodity about in those parts at that time of year.’

On navigational difficulties:

‘In these days of high-technology it is not possible to equate his ability as a Navigator. In the old Wellesley, and the Vincent before that, navigational equipment was virtually non-existent, or minimal to over-state the case. A drift reading or two, perhaps a very occasional W./T. fix, lots of eye-balling with maps of very doubtful accuracy, close co-operation with the chap up front and the W.O./A.G. at the back, and the sixth sense of experience and local knowledge was the recipe for success. I can humbly claim that that was our good fortune together.’

Lawley remained actively employed in the subsequent Keren operations, most probably through to the capture of Addis Ababa, and returned home about the time his D.F.M. was gazetted. Commissioned as a Pilot Officer in April 1941, he appears to have remained employed in the U.K. for the remainder of the War, onetime being based at R.A.F. Waddington, and attained the rank of Acting Squadron Leader in August 1944. As, however, confirmed by accompanying documentation, he remained on the Reserve of Officers after the War, and was granted the substantive rank of Squadron Leader prior to being placed on the Retired List.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Abyssinia campaign “Blood Chit”, the outer cover inscribed, ‘564281 Sgt. Lawley, R.A.F.’; wartime period photographs (9), including the recipient in uniform and scenes from East Africa; a carbon copy Air Ministry statement of services, dated 6 October 1945; his R.A.F. identity card, dated 16 September 1952, as a Flight Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, with portrait photograph; and two Christmas cards and two letters from Air Vice-Marshal Graham “Digger” Magill, C.B., C.B.E., D.F.C., his old pilot, these addressed to a previous owner of Lawley’s awards.