Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Flight Lieutenant C. R. Butler, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who completed a tour of operations as a Flight Engineer in Halifaxes of No. 78 Squadron in 1944

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, all privately inscribed “Boots-style” ‘F./Lt. C. R. Butler’, mounted as worn, generally good very fine (4) £300-350

Having qualified as a Flight Engineer at a conversion unit in February 1944, Butler was posted to No. 78 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Breighton in Yorkshire, and completed his first operational sortie - a strike against the marshalling yards at Tergnier in France - on the night of 18-19 April. And he and his crew went on to attack six further targets in the same month, including Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe and Montzen, near Aachen (’Many combats’).

In May, Butler and his crew flew sorties against Malines in Belgium (’Ju. 88 sighted’), Bruneval (twice) Trouville, Aachen (’Considerable fighter activity’), and Trappes, while in June the French agenda included strikes against the coastal gun battery at Mont Fleury, St. Lo from 2,000 feet on D-Day itself, and Laval, Douai, Fouillard and Blainville.

July commenced with a daylight attack on St. Martin L’Hortier, the first of three visits to the same target inside a week, followed by Caen and Stuttgart and the rocket site at Foret du Nieppe, while in August Butler and his crew completed no less than eight daylight sorties, mainly against rocket sites but also Watten (’Accurate flak. Hottest daylight target yet’). But the most memorable sortie that month was a night operation against Sterkrade on 18th-19th:

‘Synthetic oil plant near Essen. Pursued by fighter for 15 minutes. Corkscrewed. Both gunners kept up fire. Still followed. Skipper went into steep dive. Pilot’s hatch blown off and perspex roof smashed. Lost fighter. Very cold at 18,000 feet with no roof. Banks of searchlights and flak over target’ (Butler’s Flying Log Book refers). In addition to this close encounter, the recommendation for the D.F.C. awarded to his skipper, Pilot Officer N. M. Prince (London Gazette 12 December 1944), refers to his aircraft returning with flak damage on three occasions, ‘but he carried on and released his bombs on the aiming point before setting course for base.’

Tour-expired after 37 sorties at the end of August, Butler was posted as an instructor to a conversion unit at Marston Moor.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767), covering the period February to December 1944, together with several wartime portrait photographs and newspaper cuttings.