Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Warrant Officer F. R. Williams, Royal Air Force, a Dakota pilot who assisted in the evacuation of hundreds of casualties on the Burma front in 1945

1939-45 Star, the reverse engraved ‘W./O. F. R. Williams, 238 Sqdn., R.A.F.’; Burma Star, clasp, Pacific; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (3) £180-220

Williams enlisted in the Royal Air Force in August 1941 and was embarked for pilot training in Canada shortly afterwards. Returning to the U.K. in October 1943, after serving as an instructor, he remained employed in similar duties at assorted units until joining No. 238 Squadron, a Dakota unit of R.A.F. Transport Command, in February 1945.

Later in the same month, the Squadron made its way to India, and by mid-March was flying regular sorties out of Comila to the Burma front, very much the type of work shared by Dakotas of the “Combat Cargo Task Force” in the wake of the Allied advance - thus outward journeys with reinforcements, and return journeys with casualties, Williams remaining employed in such duties until his unit was re-deployed to the Pacific theatre of war in early July. Here, operating out of airfields in Australia, the Squadron’s Dakotas once more conveyed numerous passengers to such destinations as Papua New Guinea and Guam, right up until the end of hostilities. Williams appears to have made his last flight for 238 in December 1945, and was released for the service on his return to the U.K. in the following year.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.C.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Book, covering the period January 1942 to August 1944, and R.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Book covering the period September 1944 to December 1945, the latter with several pasted down wartime photographs and other documentation, and several wartime photographs.