Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare and well documented Second World War group of five awarded to Flight Lieutenant S. L. Woodcock, a cameraman for the R.A.F’s Photographic Production Unit who was killed in action in a Mosquito of No. 110 Squadron in Burma in May 1945 - many of his films survive to this day in the collection of the Imperial War Museum

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, extremely fine (5)
£400-500

Sidney Leslie Woodcock, who was born in Lambeth, London, in March 1911, enlisted in the Royal Air Force in June 1941 and, soon after completion of his Air Gunnery and Wireless Operator courses, was hospitalised at R.A.F. Yatesbury in the November 1942. Reporting back for duty in the new year, he attended a Signals Training Assessment Course at No. 7 O.T.U. and was then ordered to India, via North Africa, where he commenced an operational tour in Wellingtons of No. 203 Squadron, operating out of Santa Cruz, Bombay - commencing with a flurry of anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols in February 1944. Raising his operational hours to over the 100 mark by the end of April, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the same month, and completed a few more sorties prior to his transfer to No. 3 Film Production Unit (F.P.U.) on the Burma front.

The R.A.F’s Film Production Unit had been established in August 1941, No. 1 F.P.U. being the H.Q. unit based at Pinewood Studios, from whence emerged No. 2 F.P.U. to cover operations in the Middle East, No. 3 F.P.U. to cover the Far East and, finally, in April 1944, No. 4 F.P.U. to cover the Normandy landings and operations in North-West Europe. Given that part of their brief was to accompany aircraft on operations, the cameramen shared fully in the risks undertaken by regular aircrew, Woodcock being a case in point - he was killed in action in a Mosquito of No. 110 Squadron while en route to film the Allied sea landing south of Rangoon in May 1945, one of 13 R.A.F. P.R.U. cameramen to lose their lives, in addition to others who were taken P.O.W. By the War’s end the R.A.F’s cameramen had shot over 1,640,000 feet of newsreels, and luckily for posterity’s sake much of that footage today survives in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, including extensive work undertaken by Woodcock - a comprehensive list is included, with dates, subject matter, and relevant descriptions.

His postings included No. 99 Squadron in December 1944, in which he flew in the unit’s Dakotas, Hudsons and Liberators, including a sortie over Taungup, Burma, while in January 1945 he took his camera along in a Beaufighter of No. 27 Squadron to film a strafing attack on Japanese positions on the Irrawaddy, in addition to covering three supply drops by Dakotas of No. 435 Squadron in Myanmar District, and the visit of Air Marshal Sir Guy Garrod to forward airstrips at the month’s end. In February he appears to have remained on terra firma, covering Lord Mountbatten’s visit to Mandalay, but by early March he was airborne again, filming the bridgehead taken by 2nd Division on the Irrawaddy, and covering squadron scrambles, bombing surveys and attacks carried out in such areas as Sadang. And but for the poor weather that intervened at the end of April, his work continued apace, flights in Liberators and Dakotas enabling footage to be taken of the advance of 19th Division and the R.A.F. at work.

And with the advent of the final push on Rangoon on 2 May, he was assigned to a Mosquito of No. 110 Squadron, piloted by Flight Lieutenant John Buchanan, R.N.Z.A.F. At 0735 hours, a message was received ordering an attack on barges and gun positions along the river, and it was in the course of this strike that Woodcock’s aircraft was hit by gunfire and seen to crash in flames. A few days later the bodies of pilot and cameraman were recovered and today they lie side by side in Rangoon War Cemetery. Woodcock’s name is further commemorated on the P.R.U’s Memorial at Pinewood Studios.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s original R.A.F. Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767 Type), covering the period February 1943 up until his death in action on 2 May 1945; his Buckingham Palace memorial scroll in the name of ‘Flight Lieutenant S. L. Woodcock, Royal Air Force’, torn in one or two places; a letter from the Air Ministry’s Directorate of Public Relations, dated 14 January 1946, forwarding a copy of the history of the R.A.F’s P.R.U. to his widow, Violet, the latter a 13pp. document with the recipient’s name on the closing Roll of Honour; a fine array of wartime photographs from his days in Burma (approximately 70 images), mainly captioned, and including some of the recipient’s official work, together with embroidered uniform flashes, including his A./G’s Brevet, and a file of research.