Auction Catalogue

17 & 18 July 2019

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Live Online Auction

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Lot

№ 721

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17 July 2019

Hammer Price:
£550

Three: Sergeant (Navigator) G. R. Fernee, 77 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Halifax was shot down during Operation Frothblower, the raid on the Škoda Works, 16-17 April 1943

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. M. S. Fernee, 48 Harrow Road, Carshalton Beeches, Surrey’,
nearly extremely fine (3) £300-£400

George Richard Fernee was born on 21 May 1911 and joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, training as a Navigator at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. He served during the Second World War as a Sergeant Navigator with 77 Squadron, flying Halifaxes, and was killed in action during Operation Frothblower, when Halifax JB908, piloted by Flight Sergeant F. S. Wall, was shot down by Oberleutenant Jakob Bender during a raid on the Škoda Works at Plzen, Czechoslovakia, and crashed in the Mauren valley, on the night of 16-17 April 1943. 327 heavy bombers had set out to destroy the Škoda Works that night, and in an attempt to minimise civilian casualties the raid was flown at almost full moon, at low level, and over a distance of over 1,700 miles, resulting in the heaviest losses for Bomber Command up to that date. 38 aircraft were lost, including Fernee’s Halifax.
Peter Wilson Cunliffe in his book ‘A Shaky Do!’ gives a very detailed account of the raid and mentions Fernee’s Halifax:
‘At 0032 hrs a Four group crew observed “one aircraft falling with one engine on fire and fire rapidly spreading at Stuttgart.” This was quite possibly JB908 of 77 Squadron...’

Of the crew of seven, four (including Fernee) were killed, with the other three being taken Prisoner of War. According to a letter from Fernee’s daughter (who was just three years old at the time of his death), he was found dead, hanging in a tree. She also notes that the mid upper gunner was killed by machine gun fire on the approach to the target and was only 18.

Fernee is buried alongside his crew-mates in Durnback War Cemetery, Germany. His medals were sent to his widow, Mary Saxby Fernee.

Sold with a large quantity of original photographs, including one of the recipient and his crew; various letters and telegrams sent to the recipient’s wife; a signed copy of the book
A Shaky Do!, The Škoda Works Raid, by P. W. Cunliffe; and copied research.