Auction Catalogue

14 April 2021

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 126

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14 April 2021

Hammer Price:
£9,000

A particularly fine Second War D.F.C and Second Award Bar, A.F.C. group of six awarded to Wing Commander W. J. “Marmaduke” Alington, Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers, late Mercantile Marine and Royal Naval Reserve, who, having shot down two Dornier 217s flying Beaufighters at night in 1942, converted to Mosquitos, destroying or damaging seven locomotives in May 1943. Rated an ‘exceptional’ pilot, the following month he led the four most experienced Mosquito crews of 264 Squadron in executing the highly successful ‘Instep 184’ low-level night raid on the German sea plane base at Biscarosse Lake, an action that is vividly described in a secret Official Intelligence Report, the recipient’s original copy of which is included in the lot

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated ‘1943’ and the reverse of the Bar ‘1943’; Air Force Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1941’; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, Atlantic; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (6) £5,000-£7,000

D.F.C. London Gazette 2 February 1943:
‘This officer has completed a large number of sorties and has destroyed 2 enemy aircraft at night. He is an extremely able flight commander, whose efforts to achieve success in night fighting have been most praiseworthy.’

D.F.C. Second Award Bar
London Gazette 23 July 1943:
‘This officer has displayed exceptional keenness and determination to inflict loss on the enemy. On 1 sortie, he damaged 7 locomotives. More recently, in June, 1943, he led a formation of light bombers on an operation which resulted in the destruction of 4 enemy aircraft on the ground, while much damage was caused to a hangar. In addition, a minesweeper was attacked and damaged. By his fearless and skilful leadership, Wing Commander Alington played a large part in the success of the sortie.’

A.F.C.
London Gazette 30 September 1941.
The recommendation (abridged) states: ‘This Officer has completed 2700 hours of instruction flying of which 595 have been flown since December, 1939. His great enthusiasm for the work is reflected in the high standard of his pupils.’

William James Alington was born on 26 March 1906 at Hythe, Kent, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. M. Alington, East Lancashire Regiment and the grandson of Admiral A. H. Alington. His two brothers also served with distinction: Paymaster Lieut.-Cdr. R. H. Alington, Royal Navy, mentioned in despatches and killed in the Mediterranean on active service in September 1943 and Wing Commander P. H. Alington, D.F.C. for gallantry as captain of a Sunderland aircraft during the evacuation from Greece, 1941.

Allington initially embarked on a naval career, serving with the Mercantile Marine from 1921, and was also appointed Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve, 1 January 1923, advancing to Sub-Lieutenant on 12 June 1928. His attention then switched to flying, however, and having obtained his Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate at Hampshire Aeroplane Club on 24 June 1932, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve, Class “F”, as a Sergeant on 15 October 1934 - this despite having rather inauspiciously crashed his Moth on Burbage Edge near Buxton just 4 days earlier. He joined the staff of Aberdeen Airways as a pilot in 1935 and, gaining his wings in the Reserve in April the same year, he was commissioned Pilot Officer on probation in the Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers on 4 April 1936, advancing to Flying Officer, October 1937 and Flight Lieutenant, November 1940.

No. 54 O.T.U. Flying Instructor - A.F.C.
On 18 May 1941, whilst employed as a Flying Instructor at at No. 54 Operational Training Unit, R.A.F. Church Fenton, Alington survived another plane crash; on this occasion, whilst giving dual instruction at night on instruments in a Miles Master, his pupil inadvertently switched off the engine shortly after take-off and during the attempted forced landing a wing tip of the aircraft clipped a tree. The aircraft was written off and Both Alington and his pupil were removed to York Hospital, seriously but not fatally injured. Alington resumed flying on 10 July and later the same year he was awarded the A.F.C. in respect of his services as a Flying Instructor, both before and since the start of the war.

25 Squadron - Beaufighter nightfighter operations - D.F.C.
On 27 July 1941, Alington went operational with a posting to 25 Squadron, a Beaufighter unit flying out of R.A.F. Wittering. He flew four night patrols in August and continued flying regular sweeps and patrols over the course of the the next 15 months, gaining promotion to Squadron Leader on 1 December 1941. On 24 July 1942, his logbook describes an unusual sortie in search of a pilot downed over the sea. After 2.5 hours of searching he was then directed to pursue nearby enemy aircraft but after being misidentified and chased by Spitfires he finally landed at Catford with just 30 gallons of fuel left. On 23 August, he was again shot at by friendly fighters but the same night he destroyed a Dornier 217, the enemy aircraft crashing at Sutton Bridge killing all its crew. He shot down his second Dornier 217 off Sheringham on 15 September but on 11 November 1942, after 85 night sorties, Alington was posted back to No. 54 O.T.U., with which unit he resumed Instructor duties for a few months, this time on Beaufighters. He was awarded the D.F.C. in February 1943 for his night fighter exploits with 25 Squadron.

264 Squadron - Mosquito operations - locomotives destroyed
Returning to operational duties, Alington joined 264 Squadron, a Mosquito unit, on 21 March 1943. After a short period familiarising himself with the ‘Wooden Wonder’, he began flying Ranger sorties over enemy territory, one of which, on 11 May, prompted him to observe in his logbook, ’passed two 190s at opps, they went on! Met two more and had a mild dog fight, fired quite a bit of ammo but missed all the time. Collected one bullet hole in port wing. Made cloud cover and returned to base.’
Another Ranger sortie on 22 May was more productive, ‘No aircraft seen. 7 locos attacked. 3 blew up. 4 severely damaged.’

‘Instep 184’ - Biscarosse Lake raid - Bar to D.F.C.
The following month, Wing Commander Alington led a team of his four most experienced mosquito crews on the highly successful ’Instep 184’ raid on the German seaplane base at Biscarosse Lake on the Bay of Biscay, France. Departing from R.A.F. Predannack in Cornwall on 20 June 1943 at 2015 hours, Alington, in company with Flying Officer E. E. Pudsey, Squadron Leader L. T. Bryant-Fenn, Flying Officer J. L. Mason and their respective navigators approached the target at 2217 hours, having between them already destroyed an airborne Blohm und Voss 138 encountered en-route. Identifying the shapes of moored aircraft on the lake, the Mosquitos of 264 Squadron then began to systematically strafe the stricken seaplanes with cannon fire. The secret Final Intelligence Report of the raid (Alington’s original copy with lot) describes the action on the lake from the perspective of each pilot in some detail, with Alington in Red 1 orchestrating proceedings and also very much partaking:

‘Red 1 had headed towards the two aircraft farthest from the Hangars and, as he did so, saw Cannon tracer going down towards these aircraft which were in front of him. He called out to say he was coming in from the East and then saw two large E/a beam on to him. He opened up with cannon fire from approximately 600 yards on the nearer aircraft aiming a little high. Strikes were seen all over it and a fire started. He pulled up his nose to get his sights on the further one and again fired seeing strikes all along causing flames. He pulled up to the left and, looking back, saw both aircraft which he had attacked burning nicely.

...After Red 1 had pulled up to the left he had noticed that the flak was becoming unpleasantly accurate so he dodged and climbed to the level of the cloud which was 5/10 at 1000 feet. Just before reaching it he felt a hit. He went into cloud where he steadied and looked over his engine instruments all of which he found to be O.K. He then came out of cloud and saw tracer going both ways from the ground and becoming fairly heavy so he called everyone to break off their attacks. He called all the crews individually and all reported O.K. He then ordered them to return separately to base. He, too, had seen at least three fires burning on the lake. At 2232 hours Red 1 set course for base, followed very shortly afterwards by our other aircraft all of whom headed in the direction of Ushant. When they were about 2 miles from the target there was an explosion followed by a very large and bright glow over the lake.’

The raid had been an unmitigated success with no allied casualties, 4 Blohm und Voss 138s destroyed (1 in the air), 1 Blohm und Voss 222 damaged and 1 Hangar damaged. (Intelligence received in February 1944 revealed that actually 2 BV 222s were completely burnt out). Flying Officer Mason also managed to strafe and severely damage a German R.17 Minesweeper on the return leg. Alington’s confirmed claim for his personal tally was 1/2 BV 138 (airborne) destroyed and 2 BV 222s (on water) destroyed. He was awarded a bar to his D.F.C. for the Biscarosse Lake raid together with the earlier ground attack operation on 22 May.

Five days later, Alington was invited to meet and escort H.M. the King. This appointment was never kept due to a scheduling error but on 28 June he did visit the B.B.C to ‘make a recording of the Biscarosse show’. On 2 August he ‘attacked two armed trawlers’ on an outing to the Gironde Estuary, noting that he ‘beat them up pretty well’ and ‘probably sank’ them.
He survived the third plane crash of his career on 24 November 1943 when the engine of his Mosquito cut out while on approach to landing at Coleby Grange and in May 1944 he was posted again to an instructor role at the Empire Central Flying School, R.A.F. Hullavington. Relocating to South Africa in September 1944 he served as an instructor at Commonwealth Flying Training Schools in Bloemfontein until April 1945 and he saw out the remainder of the war attached to R.N.A.S. Wingfield training naval pilots mostly on Harvards and Oxfords. His final logged flight was on 12 September 1945. Remaining with the R.A.F. Reserve of Officers post-war, he relinquished his Squadron Leader commission with effect from 10 February 1954, retaining the rank of Wing Commander.
Wing Commander Alington flew 57 types of aircraft, landed at 176 different airfields and flew a total of 4278 hours during a distinguished flying career, over the course of which he was consistently assessed to be a pilot of exceptional ability. He died in 1969 and is commemorated together with other members of his family on a tablet in St. Helen’s Church, Swinhope, Lincolnshire.

Sold together with two of the recipient’s Royal Air Force Pilot’s Flying Log Books: Volume 6, with damaged cover and spine but contents sound, covering the period 14 November 1938 to 16 July 1941 and Volume 7, covering the period 17 July 1941 to 12 September 1945. (A note at the start of Volume 6 states, ‘No. 5 Log Book destroyed by fire, total to 27 October 1938 approx 1970 hours.’); the recipient’s copy of the ‘Final Intelligence Report Instep 184’ marked ‘Secret’ which delivers a detailed account of the Biscarosse raid together with a hand drawn technical map of the target area on lake Biscarosse - 5 foolscap pages; the recipient’s Fighter Pilot’s Gunnery Record for the period 23 August 1942 to 5 February 1944 showing all rounds fired and and all enemy aircraft and ground targets engaged; a fine portrait photograph, 158mm x 205mm, of the the recipient’s father, Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. M. Alington, in East Lancashire Regiment uniform; a portrait photograph, 160mm x 205mm, of the recipient as a youth - damage to the edge; an informal portrait photograph, 104mm x 132mm, of the recipient circa 1955; a photograph, 164mm x 215mm, of the recipient’s wife and baby daughter.