Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce Second War 1945 Pathfinder’s D.F.M. and Second Award Bar group of five awarded to Lancaster flight engineer Flight Sergeant J. R. Hughes, Royal Air Force, who flew in at least 67 operational sorties with 582 Squadron, often employed as a Marker Crew, and on occasion as a Master Bomber crew

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, reverse officially dated ‘1945’ (1125877. F/Sgt. J. R. Hughes. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted for wear, very fine (5) £4,000-£5,000

D.F.M. London Gazette 16 January 1945.
The original Recommendation states: ‘Flight Sergeant Hughes is Flight Engineer of a most experienced marker crew that frequently functions as Master Bomber. In the course of a long tour of operations, the crew has attacked many heavily defended targets with success. During an attack on Osnabrück on 13th September, 1944, operating as Master Bomber, the aircraft was engaged almost continuously by heavy flak. Flight Sergeant Hughes’ conduct throughout was exemplary and the Captain was able to rely implicitly on his assistance with the engines. Flight Sergeant Hughes is consistently reliable and cool under fire. He is recommended for a non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.

Remarks by Station Commander: This N.C.O. has completed many sorties, some of them over the most heavily defended targets in Germany and occupied territory. He has always displayed courage, reliability and coolness of the highest order and is recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.’

D.F.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 21 September 1945.
The original Recommendation states: ‘Flight Sergeant Hughes, during a long tour of operations, has shown himself to be an exceptionally fine crew member. In the early part of his tour as Flight Engineer he showed exceptional keenness and efficiency, and since becoming a Visual Bomb Aimer his operational results have been of a consistently high standard. Throughout, his courage and coolness, together with his insatiable desire to press home his attacks with great skill, regardless of opposition, have been an inspiration to all, and he is strongly recommended for the non-immediate award of a Bar to the Distinguished Flying Medal.

Remarks by Station Commander: Flight Sergeant Hughes is possessed of exceptional determination. He has achieved his results by unfailing persistence and continues to strike hard and often at the enemy. The Award is strongly recommended.’

John Rhys Hughes served during the Second War as a Sergeant and Flight Engineer with 582 Squadron (Lancasters) operating out of Little Staughton from April 1944. He was crewed with Flight Lieutenant (later Squadron Leader) N. S. ‘Min’ Mingard as his pilot - the crew operating as a marker crew, and with Mingard employed as Master Bomber on a number of raids.

Hughes flew in at least 67 operational sorties with the Squadron between April 1944 - April 1945, including: Noisy-le-Sec; Cologne (2); Dusseldorf (2); Karlsruhe; Essen (2); Nantes; Cap-Gris-Nez; Louvain; Boulogne (2); Duisburg (3); Aachen; Rennes; Foret-de-Cerisy; Laval; Lens; Coubronne; Oisement (2); Blainville-sur-Leau; Coqueraux; L’Hey; Nucourt; St. Philibert le Ferme (2); Nucourt; Vaires; Cabourg; Dijon; Russelheim (2); Stettin (2); Ghent; Bremen; Kiel (2); Agenville; Le Havre (3); Frankfurt; Osnabruck; Saarbrucken; Scholven Buer; Wilhelmshaven; Stuttgart; Homburg; Munster; Coblenz; Aschaffenburg; Kamen; Chemnitz; Dessau; Kessel; Castrop Rauxel; Hanau; Sterkrade; Hannover; Lutzkendorf and Plauen.

The crew also included Bill Heane as Navigator I, and additional insight into their service is given by him in Master Bombers, The Experiences of a Pathfinder Squadron at War 1944-45, by S. Feast:
‘Our skipper, Squadron Leader ‘Min’ Mingard, used to say that if you’re at the front of the queue you’ve got more chance of making it back. It worked. We flew 57 [sic] trips on Pathfinders on an extended tour, six as master bomber and one as deputy master bomber. And survived.’

The rest of the crew included Gordon Blake, nav two, and Arnold Bowyer, wireless operator, ‘Blakey’ had been born in Nairobi, whereas Arnold Bowyer, with whom Bill was particularly friendly, came from a family of butchers in South London... The two gunners were Fred Holl and Ken Moye who started out as mid-upper and rear gunners respectively, but later changed positions... The flight engineer was Ron [sic] Hughes. To begin with they were posted from Warboys Pathfinder NTU to 156 Squadron, but in the event they were sent directly to 582 Squadron, arriving as one of the first intake on April 1, 1944. The first trip to Noisy-le-Sec on the 18th passed without incident; two days later, however, was a very different story.

The target was Cologne, never an easy trip. Four groups were taking part, 379 aircraft in all, including 13 Lancasters from 582. Among them was ND 438 ‘B’ Baker, a Lancaster III being navigated by Flying Officer Bill Heane. The flight out was almost exactly two hours, and they arrived over the target to see the first red/yellow flares going down. Despite the cloud the radar navigator identified the target using his H2S set, and their load of six 2,000-pounders went down from 18,000ft, adding further damage to an already concentrated effort that would ultimately account for nearly 2,000 homes destroyed and a further 2,000 damaged. It was just after two in the morning. And then they were hit:
“We got well peppered by flak, Gordon Blake, navigator two, was sat at the H2S set. I was leaning over the chart as we were going in on our bombing run. Suddenly there was a great noise as shell splinters smashed the side of the aircraft. We both shot to our feet, and turned to one another, our mouths open, but no screams coming out. ‘They missed us Blakey,’ I said. He just nodded.”

Over the coming next few weeks the crew were ‘coned’ over Dusseldorf, and on the receiving end of more flak over Louvain. By ‘the end of July the crew had served their apprenticeship as Pathfinders and been promoted through the ranks... On August 31, they were ready for their first sortie in charge, as master bomber for an attack on the V2 rocket storage facilities at Agenville.’ (Ibid)

Sadly weather conditions were against them, and the raid was not a success. There were in the thick of it again, during a series of raids on Le Havre:
‘There was no time to dwell on what had been, only to look forward to what was coming, and in the first two weeks of September [1944], Bomber Command only had one target in mind: Le Havre. In the advance through France, Belgium and Holland, the Allies had left behind them various pockets of resistance that now required mopping up. The Germans had in effect created fortresses that on the dramatic orders of the Führer were to hold out to the death. The Allies, however, had no wish to lose their own troops for no significant gain, and turned to Bomber Command to deal with the most important that had been singled out for special attention. One of these was Le Havre, whose garrison under the command of Oberst Eberhard Wildermuth comprised more than 11,000 men, 115 guns of all calibres, and enough rations to hold out for 90 days. As it transpired, Bomber Command dealt with this potentially tough nut in the space of seven days, with seven daylight attacks involving 1,863 aircraft dropping 9,500 tons of bombs.’ (Ibid)

Hughes’ crew took part in the raids on Le Havre on the 8th, 9th and 10th September:
‘The attack on the 8th had to be abandoned as Le Havre was covered in a thick veil of white and grey, but not before several of the squadron aircraft had been hit, and Flight Lieutenant Goddard shot down. Lancaster NE140 ‘F’ Freddie also found itself in trouble. Bill had navigated the aircraft to the target in a little over an hour from take-off and they began circling the target, struggling to identify the aiming point. Orbiting to the left, they came in at 2,500ft and were immediately hit by flak:
“This was our worst trip,” Bill says. “We were a backer-up and there was 10/10ths cloud. Min flew in low, and went down lower and lower to try and get down beneath the cloud base. We got down to below 2,000ft, conscious that the high ground to the east of Le Havre is up to about 1,300/1,400ft! We came out of the cloud and the light flight opened up.
We took 40 hits to the port inner engine nacelle, and all the engine casings fell away. Min quickly popped back into the cloud. We tried to mark, but because we were at such low altitude our TIs fell ‘safe’ and did not explode. If you think about it, we were down to 2,000ft and the gunners were perched on top of the hills less than 500 feet away. They couldn’t miss.”

The gunners didn’t miss. As well as taking hits in the bomb bay, the aircraft was lucky not to have suffered severe structural damage:
“It was only after we’d got back - having flown home all the way at 3,500ft until reaching the English coast on three engines - that the full damage to the aircraft was clear. The diheydral on the wing had disappeared, and we had taken so many hits to the main spar that the weight of the engines had made the wings droop.”

Despite the trials of above, the crew were selected as Master Bomber for the raids on the 9th and the 10th:
‘Their luck changed on the 10th, when again the Mingard crew was detailed to lead. The attack was an operation of epic proportions: there were no fewer than eight aiming points, each with its own master bomber, and with the whole attack ‘controlled’ by the 582 Squadron CO, Group Captain Peter Cribb, in a new role as ‘longstop’... It was a solid attack, with Mingard giving a running commentary for main force from when he arrived at 17.34 to when he left 20 minutes later, continually urging them on and not to stray to port or overshoot. When the TIs began to dim, he called for more markers to be dropped until at last calling for the attack to be abandoned. And then once again they were hit:
“This time we took cannon shells in the bomb bay and we still had a full load of TIs. They tore a hole in the bomb doors that you could fall through. We tried to jettison our load over the sea but couldn’t get the bomb doors open. In the end we had to take them home.” (Ibid)

The crew flew another two trips with Mingard as Master Bomber, to Osnabrück and then to Boulogne. Their Lancaster received flak damage on the latter.