Auction Catalogue

27 June 2002

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria including the collection to Naval Artificers formed by JH Deacon

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

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Lot

№ 1268

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27 June 2002

Hammer Price:
£1,000

An immediate Second World War Rear-Gunner’s D.F.M. group of five awarded to Flight Sergeant J.R. Mann, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, the survivor of an operational tour of 34 sorties, most of them with the Path Finder Force

Distinguished Flying Medal
, G.VI.R. (1589153 F./Sgt. J.R. Mann, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, the first with re-riveted suspension and polished, about very fine, the remainder nearly extremely fine (5) £1100-1300

D.F.M. London Gazette 15 May 1945. The immediate award recommendation states:

‘On 24 March 1945, Flight Sergeant Mann was Rear-Gunner in a Lancaster detailed to carry out a daylight bombing attack on Harpenerweg. Whilst approaching the target, the aircraft encountered accurate predicted flak. The aircraft received a direct hit in the bomb bay. The pilot’s cabin filled with smoke and he was informed that the aircraft was on fire. He ordered the crew to abandon but, at 13,000 feet, was able to control the crippled aircraft. Flight Sergeant Mann was half out when he observed the aircraft was more or less under control and, sensing the damage which may have caused the direct hit, he realised he might be of assistance. With the bomb bay shattered, the Mid-Upper Gunner had presumably fallen through a large hole in the fuselage as his parachute was still in the aircraft. Flight Sergeant Mann proceeded precariously through the wreckage alongside the fuselage, gripping at what support he could find with the fuselage filled with fumes and smoke. He found the Navigator and Wireless Operator had already baled out. He was directed by the pilot to carry the wounded Engineer to the flight deck beside the pilot as the Set Operator was unable to manage alone, being almost exhausted from his previous efforts in the nose of the aircraft. Flight Sergeant Mann then assisted to dress the Engineer’s wounds and gave other assistance in the damaged aircraft under the directions of the pilot. This N.C.O. then assisted the pilot and the Set Operator in landing the crippled aircraft at Manston. Flight Sergeant Mann showed keenness and grit throughout a period of hazard and danger and was always ready to perform any duty for which his pilot ordered him regardless of the risk involved. This N.C.O. has now completed 32 operational sorties, 13 of which have been with the Path Finder Force. He showed courage and determination and tenacity of a high order. I recommend him for the immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.’

Flight Sergeant John Rouffignac Mann, D.F.M., who was from Childwall in Liverpool, commenced training as a Rear-Gunner in February 1944 and joined his first operational posting, No. 166 Squadron, a Lancaster unit, at Kirmington in August of the same year. Having completed just three sorties, however, he transferred to the Path Finder Force and joined No. 156 Squadron. Thus continued an eventful tour of 34 operations, the vast majority of targets being of the heavily defended German kind, Cologne, Dortmund and Essen being visited on several occasions. Mann’s Flying Log Book records flak damage to his Lancaster’s starboard wing over Gelsenkirchen on the night of 18-19 September, and again over Duren on the night of 16-17 November, when damage was sustained to the tailplane and fuselage.

But, of course, the most hair-raising incident of them all took place on the night of 24-25 March 1945, when Mann’s Lancaster took a direct hit in the bomb bay during a raid on Harpenerweg: the Mid-Upper Gunner was so shocked by the explosion that he baled out without his parachute (or possibly fell through a large hole in the fuselage); two other crew members who baled out were taken P.O.W. after being ‘subjected to violent treatment by an angry local mob,’ and the remaining four crew members returned home to receive immediate decorations, a C.G.M. to the Engineer, Sergeant Dennis Bowers, among them - though grievously wounded, he set a magnificent example of courage and fortitude, so much so that
The London Gazette stated that his example would ‘long be remembered.’ In his official report on the incident, Mann’s skipper gave due recognition to his Rear-Gunner’s calm courage and to the valuable assistance he rendered to Bowers - the latter’s shattered leg was amputated soon after the Lancaster reached Manston, a landing made all the more precarious by virtue of the fact nine 500lb. bombs were still caught up in the damaged bomb bay.

Mann ended his tour of operations with a raid on Wangerooge on the night of 25-26 April 1945 but remained with No. 156 long enough to participate in food supply drops to Holland and in bringing home ex-P.O.Ws. His final appointment was with No. 138 Squadron and he was demobilised in late 1946. Some 50 years later, his old skipper, Flying Officer Gilbert Hampson, D.F.C., decribed him as a ‘pleasant, quiet chap, unflappable and reliable.’

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Log Book, covering the period February 1944 to September 1946; an original and informative letter from his wartime skipper, Flying Officer G. Hampson, D.F.C. , written in July 1996; and his wartime A.G’s Brevet.