Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family group:

A well documented Second War pilot’s D.F.C. group of six awarded to Squadron Leader T. C. Wood, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who shot down a Junkers 88 over Kent in March 1943 and was decorated for his services following the completion of a large number of night intruder sorties in Mosquitos of 29 Squadron over enemy occupied Europe in 1944-45, culminating in a raid on Horsching and Wels in April 1945 in which 4 enemy aircraft were destroyed or damaged on the ground
Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1945; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (F/Lt. T. C. Wood. D.F.C. R.A.F.) mounted as worn, good very fine

Pair: Gunner T. Wood, Royal Garrison Artillery, who died of wounds on the Western Front on 14 October 1917
British War and Victory Medals (157613 Gnr. T. Wood. R.A.) extremely fine (8) £2,400-£2,800

D.F.C. London Gazette 14 September 1945

Thomas Cyril Wood was born in 1916 in Nottingham and before the war was employed by the Hull Corporation as a test engineer. Having been earlier commissioned Second Lieutenant in the the East Riding unit of the Royal Engineers (T.A.) in July 1939, he began training as a pilot at No. 15 Elementary Flying Training School Carlisle in November 1941 and was granted an emergency commission as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 20 August 1942. Upon completion of his training at the end of the year he was posted to No. 29 Squadron (Beaufighters) at West Malling.

Wood piloted his first operational patrol on 26 January 1943 and on 3 March he destroyed a Junkers 88 over south-east England. In reference to Wood’s feat, the Hull & Yorkshire Times reported:
‘Searchlights helped him to find the German bomber flying over Kent. Although the enemy was “jinking“ to escape detection, the Hull pilot never lost track of him and by the light of the searchlight was able to identify it as a Junkers 88. Pilot Officer Wood opened fire from 300 yards’ range and after only two bursts with cannon and machine-gun the German machine burst into flame and hit the ground.’
Wood’s own combat report (copy with lot) describes the enemy aircraft bursting into a mass of flames and hitting the ground near Maidstone.

Regular patrols with his navigator, Sergeant (later Flight Lieutenant) Evans, continued initially in Beaufighters and, from June 1943, in Mosquitos. Wood was transferred to an instruction role in November 1943 but returned to 29 Squadron in June 1944, during which month he completed a number of beach head patrols. For the remainder of the war Wood mostly conducted intruder patrols over enemy occupied Europe, his log book recording a raid to Venlo in which he damaged a barge in the mouth of the Scheldt on 9 September 1944. He also documents ‘anti-diver’ sorties and notably mentions ‘patrol cover for airborne landings in Arnhem Area’ on 17 September 1944.

Wood’s final sortie of note was a night intruder patrol to Horsching and Wels on 25 April 1945 in which he destroyed 2 enemy aircraft on the ground and damaged 2 more. The details of this sortie, which was conducted together with a Mosquito VI of the ‘Fighter Experimental Flight’ (Call-sign Beauty 60), are recorded in his ‘pilot’s personal combat report’, (copy with lot), stamped ‘SECRET’, and which contains the following extract:
‘We then flew on to Horshing airfield and at 0100 hours Beauty 60 released two flares from 3000 feet over the S.E. corner illuminating the whole airfield. I positioned myself for attack, selecting 3 T/E aircraft on the south side of the airfield. Diving from 1500 to 0 feet from S-N I fired a 5 second burst. Strikes were seen on the first aircraft which caught fire immediately behind the cockpit. Almost immediately the fire was extinguished. This aircraft I claim as damaged. Fire was concentrated on the second aircraft and I observed numerous strikes on the fuselage and all over the wing area. This aircraft caught fire immediately and burnt furiously. On leaving the target 15 minutes later it was still burning. I claim this aircraft as destroyed. Carrying on and lifting my nose slightly, my Navigator observed strikes on a third aircraft. Crossing the airfield at zero feet, and as no opposition was observed, I positioned myself for a third second attack which was made from E-W along the Main runway. I attacked at 0103 hours from 500 - 0 feet firing a 4 second burst on a U/I/T/E aircraft standing on the runway facing west. This aircraft had a number of men standing round it. Strikes were observed and the aircraft caught fire and was still burning when I left the target nine minutes later. I claim this aircraft as destroyed. On this run my observer saw a small fire burning in the last a/c attacked on the previous run. I claim this aircraft as damaged.
Intense light flak was experienced on my second run from the airfield and its vicinity. Beauty 60 called up on the R/T and stated he was making an attack, in spite of persistent flak. I decided to remain in the vicinity to see what went on. He made an attack on the airfield and was hosed by flak. A few seconds later he called up and said, “They’ve got me but I’m still going”, and requested a homing from me to the nearest friendly territory. I gave him one to Switzerland. At 0116 hours he called up again stating he would have to bale out. I asked him if both were able to bale out, he said “Yes, I think so” and whilst transmitting I heard his navigator’s voice. At 0119 hours he stated he was baling out. This was the last I heard and estimate his position to be 30-40 miles S.W. of Linz.’

At the end of the report a handwritten note signed by Wood reads: ‘Navigator of Beauty 60 subsequently released from German hospital wounded. Pilot went in with a/c.’

Wood was promoted acting Squadron Leader in 1945 and was awarded the D.F.C. having flown as a pilot during a long period of operations which saw him credited with the destruction of 3 enemy aircraft and with damaging a further 2.
He was appointed Officer Commanding 29 Squadron in 1946, and went on to fly Meteors and Vampires post war with 56 Squadron, receiving advancement to Squadron Leader in 1951 and retiring in 1958. Post service he flew with a variety of international airlines between 1958 and 1981. He died at Worthing, West Sussex in 2004.

Sold together with the recipient’s Royal Air Force Flying Log Books: 3 volumes in good condition covering the entirety of his flying career from November 1941 to December 1980; the recipient’s miniature awards, mounted as worn; the recipient’s riband bar, as worn; 2 sets of R.A.F. cloth wings; Intelligence and personal combat reports (2) relating to Wood’s victories on 4 March 1943 and 25/26 April 1945 respectively; silver serving tray with supporting feet, 190mm x 190mm, hallmarks for Sheffield 1940, engraved ‘Presented to 2/Lt. T. C. Wood, R.E. by the officers, W.O., N.C.O.s, and men of the East Riding (F) Royal Engineers on the occasion of his marriage, 31st August 1940.’; silver salver with ornate edge and decorative engraving, 200mm diameter, Sheffield hallmarks for Henry Wilkinson and Co., the centre engraved with the badge of 29 Squadron and with the words ‘Presented to Squadron Leader T. C. Wood, D.F.C., Officer Commanding No. 29 Squadron, R.A.F. by the officers of the squadron on his posting, September 1946.’; silver cigarette box with wood lining, 146mm x 90mm x 33mm, hallmarks for Birmingham 1947, engraved to the front, ‘Presented to Squadron Leader T. C. Wood, D.F.C., by the Officers, Royal Air Force, Thorney Island, on the occasion of his marriage, 27th Nov. 1948.’; a metal identity bracelet, engraved ‘Emily Urwin, 11 Casella Rd., S.E. 14’; a quantity of photographs (one framed) featuring the recipient in uniform in a variety of settings; a bound copy of the recipient’s Empire Flying School No. 16 Instrument Weather Course, 1947; and a quantity of other ephemera.

Thomas Wood, father of the above, was born at Thirsk, Yorkshire in 1885. He attested for the Royal Artillery at Nottingham and served during the Great War on the Western Front as a Gunner with the 306th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He died of wounds on 14 October 1917 and is buried at Duhallow Advanced Dressing Station Cemetery, Belgium. He was the son of Mr and Mrs Wood of Thirsk, Yorkshire and the husband of Minnie Wood (later Douglas), of 16 Thompson Road, Sheffield.