Special Collections

Sold on 17 July 2019

1 part

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A Collection of Medals to Second World War Royal Air Force Casualties

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Lot

№ 697

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17 July 2019

Hammer Price:
£320

Three: Sergeant (Navigator / Bomb Aimer) D. G. Shayler, 82 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a veteran of over 30 operational sorties, who was killed in action when his Blenheim was lost without trace whilst on an anti-shipping patrol over the North Sea, on 29 April 1941

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure and medal tickets, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘E. C. Shayler Esq., 11 Northern Avenue, Polegate, Sussex’, extremely fine (3) £300-£400

Douglas Gordon Shayler served during the Second World War as a Navigator / Bomb Aimer with 82 Squadron. His first operational sortie was a bombing raid against Le Havre docks on 13 October 1940; further sorties in the same month included Gelsenkirchen hydrogenation plant and oil refinery.

Throughout the first four months of 1941 Shayler took part in over 30 sorties- targets included Bremen, Hamburg, Gelsenkirchen, Cologne, and various shipping off the Dutch and German coasts. On 26 April 1941 Shayler and his crew attacked an aerodrome West of Sund, Norway. 5 Me.110’s were caught taking off. Shayler’s aircraft destroyed one by bombing and machine gunned another aircraft. Joined by another R.A.F. aircraft they then proceeded to have a 16 minute air battle with the 3 remaining Me.110s, in an action that saw Shayler’s skipper, Flight Lieutenant R. E. Tallis, awarded the D.F.C.

Shayler was killed in action when Blenheim V6451, piloted by Flight Lieutenant R. E. Tallis, D.F.C., was lost without trace whilst on an anti-shipping patrol off the Norwegian coast, on 29 April 1941. Tallis’ body was later washed up and he is buried in a Norwegian cemetery, but Shayler’s body, and that of the other crew member, were never recovered.

Shayler is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. His medals were sent to his father, E. C. Shayler.

Sold with copied research.