Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An original R.A.F. Flying Log Book appertaining to Sergeant J. E. Mosses, Royal Air Force, who completed a tour of operations as a Flight Engineer in Halifaxes of No. 420 Squadron in 1944-45, Form 1767 (revised October 1943) Type, for Navigators, Air Bombers, Air Gunners and Flight Engineers, covering the period June 1944 to February 1945, together with several original photographs and negatives, in good condition (Lot) £200-260

Mosses, who qualified as a Flight Engineer in July 1944, commenced his operational tour in No. 420 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Tholthorpe, in September of the same year.

A member of Pilot Officer O. H. Austenson’s crew, he flew his first sortie - a strike on Calais - on the 25th. Re-visiting the same target on the following day, his crew also attacked Bottrop and Cap Gris Nez before the month’s end. In October, they flew eight sorties, including two trips to Duisberg and two to Cologne; in November they carried out six more, among them another visit to Duisberg, in addition to Dusseldorf and Bochum; and in December they flew another eight sorties, including two further strikes on Cologne and their fourth trip to Duisberg.

The new year witnessed attacks on Frankfurt and Stuttgart and pilot and crew carried out their final sortie on 4 February - an attack on Osterfeld. Austenson, who had been advanced to Flight Lieutenant in the interim, was awarded the D.F.C. (London Gazette 25 May 1945, refers).