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

Three: Sergeant F. T. Luscombe, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a No. 40 Squadron casualty from the raid on Hamburg on 11 May 1941

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, in card box of issue, virtually as issued (3)

Three: Sergeant D. Fletcher, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a No. 40 Squadron casualty from the raid on Hamburg on 11 May 1941

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, in card box of issue, with condolence slip, virtually as issued (3) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Men of Bomber Command 1939-45.

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Sergeant Frederick Tom Luscombe, who was from Coventry, originally flew as 2nd Pilot to Sergeant “Finny” Finlayson, No. 40 Squadron, but was detached to R.A.F. Bassingbourn to collect a new crew in March 1941. Returning to the Squadron later that month, he quickly found himself skippering a Wellington on two missions to the docks at Calais. In the following month, he completed no less than three attacks on Kiel, in addition to strikes on Berlin and the airfield at Merignac - ‘After bombing this aircraft dived to 2,000 feet and machine-gunned searchlights one mile S.W. of the aerodrome.’ And in May he was detailed to attack the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Brest, afterwards reporting a possible direct hit, in addition to participate in no less than four raids on Hamburg. Tragically, on the last of these trips, on the night of 11th-12th, his aircraft was reported missing. Luscombe, who was 21 years of age, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Sergeant Deryck Fletcher, who before the outbreak of hostilities was a teacher from Holt, commenced training as a Navigator in January 1940, and following experience gained on Battles and Blenheims of No. 13 Operational Training Unit, was posted to No. 40 Squadron in September 1940. Joining the Blenheim crew of Sergeant “Finny” Finlayson, he completed his first operational sortie to Ostend on the night of the 18th-19th, in addition to strikes on enemy concentrations at Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk before the end of the month. October witnessed sorties being flown to Cologne on two occasions, Antwerp, Rotterdam and a return visit to Boulogne, following which time was taken off from operations as No. 40 converted to Wellingtons. By December the Squadron was once more ready for action, Fletcher and his crew participating in a raid on Dunkirk at the end of the month.

The new year’s agenda commenced with a strike on Wilhelmshaven in mid-January, and was followed by sorties to Boulogne, Dusseldorf, Hannover and Brest in the following month, the latter in another attempt to hit enemy shipping. In March, the month that Sergeant Luscombe left Finlayson’s crew to collect his own one from R.A.F. Bassingbourn, Fletcher participated in two raids on Bremen, in addition to other strikes on Cologne and Gelsenkirchen. Tragically, on the night of 11-12 April, in the raid on Hamburg, his aircraft was reported missing. Fletcher, who was also 21 years of age, is buried in the British War Cemetery at Kiel. His Wellington had actually crashed in the Westerkoog area and he was originally interred in the cemetery at Suderstapel, together with fellow crew members including Sergeant Finlayson, who was from New Zealand.

Sold with Sergeant Fletcher’s original Flying Log Book, covering the period January 1940 to May 1941; a fine selection of wartime photographs, including a coloured-portrait; and a poignant series of letters written by his sister in the mid-1990s.