|
 |
 | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||
| | You are in: UK: England | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | | Wednesday, 8 May, 2002, 19:52 GMT 20:52 UK Dambuster medals wing way to auction  The famous Dambuster raid took place in March 1943 A set of medals awarded to one of the heroes of the Dambuster raids are to be sold by the man who prevented them going abroad 14 years ago. Former RAF serviceman Geoff Wood bought the Distinguished Flying Medals at an auction in London, after it seemed a foreign buyer would buy them. Despite not having the �6,000 for the medals, he bagged the historic set before handing them back to their original recipient, Sgt Douglas Webb. Mr Webb flew 27 missions as a gunner on Lancaster bombers before being selected in March 1943 for the 617 Squadron, which attacked the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams - flooding the German war industry. RAF parades The squadron used revolutionary bouncing bombs when it attacked the targets in the Ruhr. Mr Wood, 80, of Heaverham, near Sevenoaks, Kent, gave the medals back to Mr Webb to wear on official RAF parades, on the understanding they would be returned upon his death. Mr Webb died earlier this year, and the medals are expected to fetch more than �5,000 at independent auctioneers Spink on Thursday. Mr Webb gave up his career as a photographer to join the RAF's World War II No 49 Squadron.
On April 16, 1943 Sgt Webb and his fellow crew members took off in their Avro Lancaster bomber, piloted by Flight Sgt Bill Townsend. Their job was to fly over a dam not intended for bombing in a bid to draw fire away from the RAF's main targets, and their plane, O for Orange, was the last one back. Also being sold with the medals is Sgt Webb's logbook, covering the period of the Dambuster raids, with entries by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. "Last bid" Mr Wood said: "It was about 14 years ago and I was in London at an auction when I noticed this lot of medals. I was interested as I was in the RAF. "I saw that the medals looked like going into the hands of a non-English collector. Impulsively, and in a very naive English way, I stepped in and made a bid. It was the last bid and I got them." As was arranged more than a decade ago, the five medals were returned to Mr Wood when Mr Webb died. Mr Wood said: "I only bought them to save them going to foreign hands. I only hope they stay in this country, and that if there is a foreign bidder someone else like me will once again step in." | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
|
Links to more England stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend