Auction Catalogue

17 & 18 July 2019

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 726

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17 July 2019

Hammer Price:
£480

Three: Flight Lieutenant (Air Gunner) J. D. Nesbitt, 78 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Halifax was shot down by a night fighter and crashed near Hainaut, Belgium, whilst on a bombing raid to Aachen, on 13-14 July 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. A. Nesbitt, 23 Cairnside, East Herrington, Nr. Sunderland, Co. Durham’, extremely fine (3) £400-£500

John Douglas Nesbitt served during the Second World War as an Air Gunner with 78 Squadron. He joined the Squadron as a Sergeant in May 1942, and his first operational sortie was the first 1,000 Bomber Raid on Cologne, on 30-31 May 1942. From May 1942 to December 1942 he took part in 18 operations including the Krupps works at Essen four times, Emden, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Vegesack (The Vulcan U Boat construction yards), Duisberg three times, Hamburg, and Saarbrucken. He was commissioned Pilot Officer on 6 October 1942, and was promoted Flying Officer on 6 April 1943, and then acting Flight Lieutenant, serving as the Squadron’s Gunnery Leader. As Gunner Leader he intermittently took part in raids in 1943, the most notable of which were attacks on Le Creusot (The Skoda Arms Works), Berlin, Mannheim, and Cologne.

Nesbitt was killed in action when Halifax JD108, piloted by Warrant Officer K. A. Toon, was shot down by a night-fighter piloted by Obit. Rudolf Altendorf of II/NJG, whilst on a bombing raid to Aachen, on 13-14 July 1943 and crashed near Frois-Chapelle, Hainaut, Belgium, on what was Nesbitt’s 24th operational sortie.

This was Altendorf’s 18th victory out of a total of 26. Five of the crew managed to bail out, three evaded capture, and two were taken prisoner of war. Nesbitt, together with the pilot, and one other crew member, died in the wreckage of the aircraft.

Nesbitt is buried in Gosselies Communal Cemetery, Belgium. His medals were sent to his mother, Adelina Nesbitt.

Sold with copied research.