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Signatures on this item | |
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
Name | Info |
Flight Lieutenant Graham Stevens *Signature Value : £10 | With No.230 Sqn, flew Sunderlands against the Japanese. Called up in 1941, he completed his pilot training with the US Navy in Pensacola, Florida and was selected to fly Catalina flying boats in the maritime reconnaissance role. Inititally posted to 270 Squadron in West Africa as a 2nd Pilot, he and his crew were tasked with patrolling over the South Atlantic gathering information on enemy maritime activity. As the war in Europe drew to a close, he completed a Captains conversion course and re-trained to gly the Short Sunderland. As victory over the Japanese approached he joined 230 Squadron in Madras to begin what was the most satisfying period of his service, piloting repatriation flights for Allied POWs from Singapore to begin the first leg of their journey home. |
Flight Lieutenant William Eddie Bardgett *Signature Value : £10 | With No.230 Sqn, flew Sunderlands against the Japanese. Volunteering for duty with the RAF, after training in Canada he crewed up at an OTU in Northern Ireland and eventually flew out to India to join 230 Squadron where he was '2nd Dickie' to Graham Stevens as Captain of Sunderland aircraft P for Peter. He was briefly re-assigned to another skipper when his Captain became ill, serving with Flight Lieutenant Alliot as part of a three aircraft detachment based to the island of Labaun which, after the Japanese surrender, was also home to P-51 Mustangs of the RAAF. Upon his former Captain's recovery, he was reunited with him at RAF Seletar in Singapore where they had earlier taken part in many repatriation flights together ferrying recently released POWs and wounded troops back to India for their trip home. |
Flight Lieutenant William Hallisey *Signature Value : £10 | With No.230 Sqn, flew Sunderlands against the Japanese. Working as a customs and excise officer at the outbreak of war he was finally allowed to enlist in January 1941, in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. After training he became a Flying Instructor spending two years in Canada, sometimes flying anti-submarine patrols. Receiving an operational posting to 202 Squadron in April 1944 and based in Gibraltar as a 2nd Pilot on Catalina PBYs, he flew during Operation Cork to protect the western flank of the D-Day landings from U-Boats. In April 1945 he was posted to the Far East where he flew Sunderlands with 230 Squadron against retreating Japanese coastal vessels, where he also gave informal night-flying training. Following the Japanese surrender he represented the squadron to fly in the formal surrender ceremonies, then helped to ferry recently liberated Allied POWs out of Singapore and back to India. |
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