Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    My Collection of RAF Gallantry Awards


    Recommended Posts

    truly outstanding as a by the by i live about 2000 yards away from the raf museum at hendon,should you ever need any info from there please just ask,next time i visit there is a hall of fame going up the stairs,i will look to see if any of your guys are there cheers doug

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Fantastic groups, thanks for sharing! Interesting that Lale had the India General Service Medal - could you tell me which bars as they are obscured by flash? Does anyone know the numbers of RAF who qualified for this medal? Can't have been awfully many, I suspect...

    Gilbert

    Gilbert

    The Afghanistan bar went to about 850 RAF blokes of 52nd Wing (20,31,48 & 114 Sqs.); Mahsud bar quite rare: 175 to RAf, and its always won with the first one; last one went to about 600 RAF of 5,20,27,28,31,97 & 99 Sqs. (source: Gordon's ) Some infantry support, I believe but also a lot of leaflet dropping and some bombing of hostile villages and tribal war parties. Hazardous work, with lots of ground fire at "stringbag" aircraft and the possibility of a really nasty end if one made a forced landing in the wrong spot!

    Peter

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Some bombing of hostile villages and tribal war parties. Hazardous work, with lots of ground fire at "stringbag" aircraft and the possibility of a really nasty end if one made a forced landing in the wrong spot!

    Very true... Lale won a DSO and a Bar to his WW1 DFC during these operations in India.

    I have copies of the official documents that recommended Lale for the Waziristan decorations... they make amazing reading and are highly detailed, including if I remember rightly, details of how he returned from one bombing raid on the NWF and made an emergency landing in a badly shot up Bristol Fighter on a polo ground!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Some bombing of hostile villages and tribal war parties. Hazardous work, with lots of ground fire at "stringbag" aircraft and the possibility of a really nasty end if one made a forced landing in the wrong spot!

    Herewith the document that recommended Lale for the award of a Bar to the DFC. Look to bottom right for the mention of his forced landing on a polo field!

    Docslale-1.jpg

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Next up is the AFC, DFC (US) and Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters (US) grouping to Capt. Wessel Badenhorst, South African Air Force, who was shot down and killed in January 1951 whilst strafing the Chinese front lines in his Mustang. He was one of the original volunteers and a flight commander in the famous Flying Cheetah Squadron which South Africa sent to join the UN forces at the start of the Korean War.

    Medals-006.gif

    Capt. Badenhorst's widow receiving his two US decorations (which she is wearing) from the United States Ambassador to South Africa.

    Medals006.jpg

    Below is the eyewitness account of Capt. Badenhorst's last flight from his wingman.

    Medals003.jpg

    Capt. Badenhorst and his wife and the letter of condolence to her from the Commanding Officer of No.2 Squadron SAAF, the famous Flying Cheetahs.

    Medals007.jpg

    Medals004.jpg

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 3 weeks later...

    A really stunning group of awards, congratulations. Regarding copy log books, a friend has a copy log which belonged to SL Peter Duggan-Smith DFC, a Blenheim pilot. It was described as a "fair copy" and was almost identical to the actual log book, with entries etc.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 2 months later...

    Wow, the story gets better and better, and you showed yourself a 'gent' in arranging the return of the medals to their rightful owner. Xmas has obviously come early to F/L trotman!

    Wonderful group too!!

    And much better did you have pictures of this handover??

    I like such stories, they're just like fairytales

    This story had a happy ending... I can report that I recently received a surprise visit from F/L Trotman and his charming wife at my home downunder in which he conveyed to me his relief and gratitude at having managed to find again and be reunited a year ago with his medals. We spent a terrific day together visiting amongst other things New Zealand's beautifully preserved Lancaster bomber.

    Below a few pictures from that day. :)

    Lancaster004.jpg

    F/L Trotman at the rear of the Lancaster.

    Lancaster015.jpg

    F/L Trotman and his wife.

    Lancaster001.jpg

    The New Zealand Lancaster.

    Lancaster010.jpg

    Another view.

    Lancaster007.jpg

    The Bomb bay.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 3 weeks later...

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.