British Groups

Lot 5542    Session 18 (2.30pm Friday)    British Groups

Estimate $4,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $5,500

GROUP OF SIX: Distinguished Flying Cross (GVIR) (first type GRI); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45; Bomber Command Medal 1939-45. The first with 1944 engraved on reverse lower arm of the cross, the rest unnamed as issued. Extremely fine - uncirculated.

Together with case for DFC with letter to Flight Lieutenant Robert McLean, D.F.C. from King George VI regretting that he was unable to present DFC personally; set of matching miniature medals, swing mounted, additionally this has France & Germany clasp affixed to Air Crew Europe Star; pair of dog tags to 'R.McLean / Offr / Pres / 170720 / R.A.F.V.R'; gold coloured miniature Air Force Path Finder eagle stick pin; Bomber Command Medal case, miniature and certificate card; Pilot's Flying Log Books (2) for period 24 November 1941-1946 February 1946; Pilot's Notes General book, 2nd Ed. A.P.2095 by the Air Ministry, April, 1943; USAAF Advanced Flying School Instrument Flight Certificate awarded to Embryo Pilot Robert McLean, 24th August 1942 at Moody Airfield, Georgia; USAAF Advanced Flying School Pilot Training Certificate awarded to (349653) LAC Robert McLean (UK), 6th September 1942 at Moody Field, Georgia; Certificate for Award of Path Finder Force Badge to Acting Flight Lieutenant R. McLean, D.F.C. 170720, signed personally by AVM D C T Bennett, Air Officer Commanding, Path Finder Force, dated 11th November 1944; Key to RAF aircraft KN375 (Dakota) the last aircraft entered in Flt Lt McLean's Pilot's Flying Log Book; Squadron photo; photo of the then Sgt McLean and his wife on wedding day; Aircrew Association, Scottish Branch, two pin back name tags to Robert McLean, D.F.C.; The Royal Air Forces Association Life Membership Card to Robert McLean of Glasgow, dated 1984. DFC: LG 27/6/1944 Fourth Supplement to Robert McLean (170720), R.A.F.V.R., 582 Sqn. Robert McLean was born in Scotland. During WWII on 24Nov1941 commenced training on Tiger Moth at No 4 EFTS; 25Feb1942 continued training on PT17 Trainer at Darr Aero Tech, US Air Corps Training Detachment, Albany, Georgia; 2May1942 further training on BT13A with US Air Corps at Cochran Field; 8Jul1942 transition training on AT6A, AT9 & AT17 at SEAAFTC - Advanced (T.E.), Moody Field, Valdosta, Georgia; 3 Nov1942 advanced flying on Airspeed Oxford at `G' Training Flight, RAF Little Rissingtoin; 8Dec1942 Course 45 at 1517 B.A.T. Flight, No 12 OTU, Chipping Warden, Oxfordshire; 22Dec1942 Night Flying training, 6 (p) A.F.U., No 2 Training Sdn; 25Feb1943 28 OTU, Wymeswold (Castle Donnington) flying Wellington; 2Aug1943 1656 C.U., Lindholme flying Halifax, Oxford and Lancaster; 3Sep1943 Air Crew Pool, Hemswell; 18Sep1943 N.T.U., Upwood, Huntingdon; 21Sep1943 156 Sqn P.F.F. flying Lancaster, shows ops to Oldenberg, Darmstadt, Brunswick, Bochum, Hannover, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin (recorded main plane holed over Texel), Stettin, Magdeburg, Stuttgart, Schwginfurt (recorded, returned early blind flying, instrument u/s, hit by own flak, struck balloon cable), Augsburg; 24Mar1944 on ops to Berlin log book entry shows `struck by 30 lb incendiaries over target, port no 1 tank badly holed, Perspex nose & side window blown in, complete crew frost bitten on return'; 1Apr1944 582 Sqn P.F.F. as one of inaugural members of this new squadron, ops Aachen, Karlsruhe, Essen, Aulnoye marshalling yards, Somain marshalling yards, Mantes Gassicourt marshalling yards, Cap Gris Nez long range gun emplacement, Dortmund, Mardyck gun emplacement, Calais gun emplacement, Rennescure P-Plane supply depot, Oisemont - Neuville (Deputy Master Bomber), Middel Strmete, Villers-Bocage Adolf Hitler Panzer Division, Beauvoir (Master Bomber), Les Hautes Boissons (Deputy Master Bomber), Limveux, Kiel, Stuttgart, Oeuf En Ternois (Master Bomber), Le Havre, St Leu D'Esserent (Deputy Master Bomber), Carbourg, Mare De Magne; 2Oct1944 1655 Mosquito Conversion Unit, log book record on 27Oct1944 shows `Belly-landed Woodbridge'; 19Nov1944 139 Sqn P.F.F. (attached to M.S.S.); 22Jan1945 1315 (T) Flight, RAF Merryfield flying Dakota IV; 25Mar1945 RAF Dorval, Montreal flying Dakota; Log book certificates show that Flt Lt McLean successfully completed the Mobile Transporter Training Course of RAF Transport Command and qualified as a Transport Captain to ferry passengers and freight both by day and night and also completed a course of instruction in U.S. Airway Traffic procedure and Trans-Ocean flying at Headquarters No 45 Group Dorval; during April 1945 Flt Lt McLean flew transport ops throughout America then to Fiji, New Zealand and then on 15 April to Camden, Sydney; for the next few months he continued transport flying throughout Australia with the occasional trip to New Guinea; he regularly transported Defence Force officers and sometimes their staff ; 4Sep1945 transported Brigadier Davy from Manila to Okinawa and then on to Yokohama; 16Feb1946 log book certificate award of RAF Transport Command Aircrew Categorization "X" to Flt Lt R McLean on Dakota aircraft dated 16.2.1946 Archerfield, Brisbane by Wg Cdr, Commanding No 1315 (T) Flight, RAF. RAF 156 Sqn was formed in August 1942 as one of four squadrons selected to form the nucleus of the new Path Finder Force (No 8 Group), remaining with the Force until the end of the war and played a major part in Bomber Command's offensive. RAF 582 Sqn was formed on 1 April 1944 from C Flight of 7 Sqn and C Flight of 156 Sqn to be part of Path Finder Force (No 8 Group). RAF Master Bomber - the Path Finder Group devised and perfected the Master Bomber technique. Master Bomber, always one of the most experienced pilots in Bomber Command, guided the main force in daylight or night attacks and in all weathers. He was responsible when attacks were made in close support of the Army to ensure that all bombs fell ahead of the bombing line. His first task was to check the position of the target indicators dropped by the Path Finder Force, flying down low over the target to do so. If the markers were correctly in place the Master Bomber called in the main force to bomb. If the markers were not correctly located he had to order them be correctly dropped and then go through the whole procedure again. The main bombing force was directly under his control. If an attack was to be aborted because of weather or any other reason it was his decision. The Deputy Master Bomber was on standby to assume the Master Bomber's place at a moment's notice. Pilots were severely tested before selection and then trained intensively before becoming a Master Bomber and were drawn from the most experienced pilots in the Path Finder Force.