Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good Bomber Command campaign group of four awarded to Flight Lieutenant J. A. Walker, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who survived a busy tour of operations as a Mid-Upper Gunner in Lancasters of No. 12 Squadron in 1943, a tour that included participation in the famous Peenemunde and Hamburg ‘firestorm’ raids, in addition to five trips to the “Big City” - his Australian pilot, Flight Lieutenant “Jack” Burkhardt, R.A.A.F., was awarded the D.F.C.

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in their original card forwarding box with remnants of address label, together with named and numbered issuance and Air Ministry slips and the recipient’s identity discs, extremely fine (6) £350-400

John Angus Walker enlisted in the Royal Air Force in December 1942 and qualified as an Air Gunner at No. 4 A.G.S. in February 1943. Having then attended an O.T.U. and been commissioned Pilot Officer, R.A.F.V.R., he joined No. 12 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Wickenby, in May of the same year. Joining the crew of Flying Officer “Jack” Burkhardt, R.A.A.F. (afterwards a Flight Lieutenant and D.F.C.), he went on to complete a full tour of operations in the period leading up to January 1944.

Among his more notable sorties were the Hamburg ‘firestorm’ raid of 27 July and the strike on the secret rocket site at Peenemunde on 17 August. On the latter occasion, a fellow gunner in 12 Squadron - Sergeant A. C. Farmer - later recalled ‘the explosions below were so tremendous that, as we made our pass over the area, it was like riding a car over a ploughed field’. He added - in a sentiment probably shared by Walker - ‘There was a great sigh of relief when we altered course for home and my poor old backside muscles relaxed a bit’ (Martin Middlebrook’s The Peenemunde Raid, refers).

Equally notable would have been Walker’s impressive tally of five trips to the “Big City” in December 1943/January 1944, one of several heavily defended German targets visited by his crew; thus, by way of example, two trips apiece to Cologne and Hanover, in addition to strikes on Dusseldorf and Frankfurt.

Tour ‘expired’, he was posted for instructional duties and advanced to Flight Lieutenant. His final postings in 1945 included 90 and 186 Squadrons but he saw no further action and resigned his commission in February 1947.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767 type), covering the period December 1942 to June 1945, and his R.A.F. ‘Active Service Edition’ of the New Testament.