Recommendation for Honours and Awards (Immediate)
Title
Recommendation for Honours and Awards (Immediate)
Description
A document recommending an immediate DFC for Alan Edgar.
Creator
Date
1944-05-13
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Three typed sheets
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
MEdgarAG172180-180704-02
Transcription
[inserted] 31 May [/inserted]
CONFIDENTIAL [INSERTED] P/O [/INSERTED]
RECOMMENDATION FOR HONOURS AND AWARDS (IMMEDIATE)
Christian Names : ALFRED GEORGE Surname ; EDGAR
Rank : PILOT OFFICER Official No : 172180
Command or Group : No. 5 Group Unit : No.49 Squadron
Total Hours flown on operations : 47.50 hours
Total Sorties : 9 Sorties
Appointment held : An officer of the R.A.F. (G.D. Branch) employed as a Pilot with No. 49 Squadron
Particulars of meritorious service or which recommendation is made :
This officer has shown himself to be ab outstanding captain of a night bomber, and to have endurance, determination and courage of the highest order.
On the night of 11th May, 1944, he was detailed to attack BOURG LEOPOLD, a target in Belgium.
Due to circumstances beyond his control on the target area, he was unable to drop his bombs accurately and rather than scatter then wildly and cause unnecessary damage to the friendly civilian population he decided to start the return journey with all his bombs on board.
As the enemy coast was approached his aircraft was subjected to a terrific raking of gun and cannon fire by an enemy aircraft. The fuselage of the Lancaster was set on fire; aileron controls and trimming tab wires were severed.
The fire in the fuselage was extinguished and rather than abandon air aircraft over enemy territory P/O Edgar decided to set course for England.
[Page Break]
The controls of the were do [inserted] damaged [/inserted] [deleted] injured [/deleted] that it was necessary for the Pilot and Bomb Aimer to throw their full weight against the control column in order to keep the aircraft on an even keel.
In this manner the aircraft was flown for two hours until a British base was reached. The Pilot then executed a perfect landing under the most difficult circumstances, thus saving a valuable aircraft from further damage and a highly trained crew from injury.
For the outstanding airmanship displayed by P/O Edgar, for his courage and determination in the face of almost unsurmountable odds, I strongly recommend the immediate award of the D.F.C.
Signed by M. Crocker
Wing Commander, Commanding
RAF Station, Fiskerton
Date 13th May 1944
[underlined] REMARKS OF BASE COMMANDER [/underlined]
Recommended
Signed by S L Pope
Air Commodore, Commanding
No. 52 Base, RAF
[Page Break]
[underlined] REMARKS PF AOR OFFICER COMMANDING [/underlined]
This officer has shown that he possesses courage and determination of a high order. The damage to the aircraft on the night of 11th May was such as would have caused a Pilot of less determination to abandon his aircraft over enemy territory.
I recommend an immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Signed by R A Cochrane
Air Vice-Marshal
Air Officer Commanding
No. 5 Group, R.A.F.
Date 29th May 1944
AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS
(IMMEDIATE AWARD)
Signed by R Saundby
A/M
For Air Chief Marshal
Commanding-in-Chief
BOMBER COMMAND
CONFIDENTIAL [INSERTED] P/O [/INSERTED]
RECOMMENDATION FOR HONOURS AND AWARDS (IMMEDIATE)
Christian Names : ALFRED GEORGE Surname ; EDGAR
Rank : PILOT OFFICER Official No : 172180
Command or Group : No. 5 Group Unit : No.49 Squadron
Total Hours flown on operations : 47.50 hours
Total Sorties : 9 Sorties
Appointment held : An officer of the R.A.F. (G.D. Branch) employed as a Pilot with No. 49 Squadron
Particulars of meritorious service or which recommendation is made :
This officer has shown himself to be ab outstanding captain of a night bomber, and to have endurance, determination and courage of the highest order.
On the night of 11th May, 1944, he was detailed to attack BOURG LEOPOLD, a target in Belgium.
Due to circumstances beyond his control on the target area, he was unable to drop his bombs accurately and rather than scatter then wildly and cause unnecessary damage to the friendly civilian population he decided to start the return journey with all his bombs on board.
As the enemy coast was approached his aircraft was subjected to a terrific raking of gun and cannon fire by an enemy aircraft. The fuselage of the Lancaster was set on fire; aileron controls and trimming tab wires were severed.
The fire in the fuselage was extinguished and rather than abandon air aircraft over enemy territory P/O Edgar decided to set course for England.
[Page Break]
The controls of the were do [inserted] damaged [/inserted] [deleted] injured [/deleted] that it was necessary for the Pilot and Bomb Aimer to throw their full weight against the control column in order to keep the aircraft on an even keel.
In this manner the aircraft was flown for two hours until a British base was reached. The Pilot then executed a perfect landing under the most difficult circumstances, thus saving a valuable aircraft from further damage and a highly trained crew from injury.
For the outstanding airmanship displayed by P/O Edgar, for his courage and determination in the face of almost unsurmountable odds, I strongly recommend the immediate award of the D.F.C.
Signed by M. Crocker
Wing Commander, Commanding
RAF Station, Fiskerton
Date 13th May 1944
[underlined] REMARKS OF BASE COMMANDER [/underlined]
Recommended
Signed by S L Pope
Air Commodore, Commanding
No. 52 Base, RAF
[Page Break]
[underlined] REMARKS PF AOR OFFICER COMMANDING [/underlined]
This officer has shown that he possesses courage and determination of a high order. The damage to the aircraft on the night of 11th May was such as would have caused a Pilot of less determination to abandon his aircraft over enemy territory.
I recommend an immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Signed by R A Cochrane
Air Vice-Marshal
Air Officer Commanding
No. 5 Group, R.A.F.
Date 29th May 1944
AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS
(IMMEDIATE AWARD)
Signed by R Saundby
A/M
For Air Chief Marshal
Commanding-in-Chief
BOMBER COMMAND
Collection
Citation
Wing Commander RAF Fiskerton, “Recommendation for Honours and Awards (Immediate),” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 7, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23786.
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