Orders, Decorations & Medals - British Groups

Lot 4514    Session 14 (4.30pm)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - British Groups

Estimate $600
Bid at live.noble.com.au

GROUP OF FIVE TO A CATERPILLAR CLUB MEMBER: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Burma Star; Defence Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45. Unnamed as issued. Swing mounted, very fine.

Together with, 1. Original issued laminated Caterpillar Club card named to F/LT. A.Birley in its Congratulations Irvin card holder and Irvin envelope addressed to F/Lt. A.Birley, 145585,/No.355 Squadron,/Royal Air Force,/India., sent Dec1944, received 7.1.45. 2. Letter written by Birley detailing how he qualified for each of his medals. 3. A letter to the Caterpillar Club on the occasion of its Jubilee year, 1982 in which Birley details how he qualified for his Caterpillar Club membership. 4. Various aerial photos of targets, some identified on back by Birley. 5. Original Air Board letter terminating his commission. 6. A large photo of the Liberator 'Eustace The Sucker' and other photos together with menu for 355/356 Squadrons' Reunions dinner dance 1992, on the back of this are identified aircrew for the photo of 'Eustace The Sucker'. 7. Copies of Operations Record Book detailed reports 1/3/44 - 2/5/44. 8. A leaflet in Japanese used in air drops urging Japanese troops to surrender. 9. Also, newspaper cuttings and a hand drawn map of Birley's areas of operations.

F/O A P Birley was the Navigator of a Liberator flying with 355 Squadron, RAF mainly on operational sorties over Burma and Thailand, bombing train yards and other key sites. On one raid on the night of 1-2 May 1944 his aircraft with its crew of eight were aiming to bomb the Maymyo Rail Yards. Unable to locate the prime target they attacked the marshalling yards at Mandalay at 2206 hours from 10,000ft. On the flight back from Burma the aircraft crossed the northern part of the Bay of Bengal and when approaching the coast of India one of the engines cut out as the aircraft was running out of petrol. After bailing out his crew, (Birley was the last to leave), the captain, A/Sqn Ldr Joe E Morphett DFC, RAAF (Aust. 407533) who was regarded as the finest Liberator pilot in the RAAF, managed to crash land his un-powered aircraft alone and in the darkness but was severely injured. For his actions he was awarded a bar to his DFC and a full account of his airmanship was published in the London Gazette.

Arthur Birley, in a letter to the Caterpillar Club, wrote of the incident, 'I heard the Pilot and Flight Engineer checking fuel gauges, but as engines continued to 'cut', orders were given to put on parachutes. I reckoned we were just over twenty minutes away from the nearest airfield, and when I called the Pilot with this information and an alteration of course, his short reply was - 'We can't make it'. We were now losing height rapidly, and almost immediately the inter-com came alive again with 'Arthur get out, we have no fuel'. It was about 0145 when I landed. I found myself still clutching the 'D' ring from the parachute pack, but in tumbling along the ground one of my shoes had come adrift. To enable me to become mobile, the back-pad of the harness provided a makeshift shoe - bound on with parachute cord - the main canopy of the 'chute was to prove useful later.'

Birley was found by local villagers and in spite of their initial reservations about him, they were helpful in getting him and another crewman back to their base airfield by the evening of 3rd May and all members of the crew were accounted for and safe. After a fortnight's leave in Darjeeling Arthur Birley returned to duty and carried out a further nineteen operations to complete a total of 49 sorties on Blenheims and Liberators. After the war Arthur Birley remained in the RAF Volunteer Reserve until 13 May 1959 when he was required to relinquish his commission having reached the compulsory retirement age of 45. The Air Council did however grant him permission to retain the rank of Flight Lieutenant.