Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

Four: Leading Aircraftsman R. L. Johnson, Royal Air Force, who flew operationally with No. 55 Squadron over North Africa 1940-41

1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, together with an Air Gunner’s brevet, extremely fine (5) £250-300

Johnson commenced his training with No. 55 Squadron out in Egypt at the end of 1939, completing his first sortie in one of the unit’s Blenheims, a shipping patrol over the Gulf of Suez, on 2 February 1940. A similar sortie was flown in the following month, and in April he formally qualified as a Bomb Aimer and an Air Gunner.

In September 1940 he participated in a brace of strikes against Tobruk, a target that he re-visited on two occasions in the following December, in addition to four raids on Bardia and another on El Adam. Two further sorties followed in the new year, one against Tobruk and the other enemy aircraft at Soluch, but in March he was returned to ground duties.

In April 1944, he attended a new flying course in Canada, mainly flying in Battles, and was posted to No. 5 O.T.U. at Boundary Bay that July, where he gained experience on Liberators. But he saw no further active service, ending the War with an appointment in a Halifax unit in Northern Ireland.

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Log Book, covering the period October 1939 to May 1945; together with Air Council campaign award forwarding and issuance slips.