HughAHalliday
5th April 2022, 22:46
From Spink auction catalogue, transcribed by Huguette Mondor Oates, estimated value to be 350-400 pounds,
Sergeant William Dennis BURCHETT, No.49 Squadron - Distinguished Flying Medal - awarded as per London Gazette dated 13 July 1943. The recommendation states: “Sergeant Burchett has completed 32 successful operational sorties as a bomb aimer, including the daylight sorties to Le Creusot and Milan. Throughout his career, he has consistently shown great skill and determination, both in attacking the target and in assisting navigation by accurate pinpoints and map reading. On one occasion, when returning from Nurnburg, his aircraft was heavily attacked by flak over the French coast and the forward escape hatch became dislodged. Sergeant Burchett lost most of his maps and equipment and only saved himself by clinging to his bomb sight mounting brackets. On another occasion, the aircraft was struck in the nose by an incendiary bomb from another aircraft which exploded between the pilot’s and bomb aimer’s positions, Sergeant Burchett’s intercommunication wires were cut, and much of his equipment damaged, but he continued to assist the Navigator by passing back information by written messages. In both of the above situations, he showed coolness and devotion to duty and throughout the tour, he has, by his determination and skill, contributed in no small extent to the success of his crews’ efforts”.
Served as a s Bomb-Aimer, 49 Squadron (Lancasters) and was present during No. 5 Group’s epic dusk attack on the Schneider armament and locomotive works at Le Creusot, 17th October, 1942; operations, 1942-43 also included: Manheim, Paris, Essen, Hamburg, Cologne, Lille, Flensburg, Bremen, Wismar, Aachen, Genoa, Munich, Stuttgart and St. Nazaire.
Sergeant William Dennis BURCHETT, No.49 Squadron - Distinguished Flying Medal - awarded as per London Gazette dated 13 July 1943. The recommendation states: “Sergeant Burchett has completed 32 successful operational sorties as a bomb aimer, including the daylight sorties to Le Creusot and Milan. Throughout his career, he has consistently shown great skill and determination, both in attacking the target and in assisting navigation by accurate pinpoints and map reading. On one occasion, when returning from Nurnburg, his aircraft was heavily attacked by flak over the French coast and the forward escape hatch became dislodged. Sergeant Burchett lost most of his maps and equipment and only saved himself by clinging to his bomb sight mounting brackets. On another occasion, the aircraft was struck in the nose by an incendiary bomb from another aircraft which exploded between the pilot’s and bomb aimer’s positions, Sergeant Burchett’s intercommunication wires were cut, and much of his equipment damaged, but he continued to assist the Navigator by passing back information by written messages. In both of the above situations, he showed coolness and devotion to duty and throughout the tour, he has, by his determination and skill, contributed in no small extent to the success of his crews’ efforts”.
Served as a s Bomb-Aimer, 49 Squadron (Lancasters) and was present during No. 5 Group’s epic dusk attack on the Schneider armament and locomotive works at Le Creusot, 17th October, 1942; operations, 1942-43 also included: Manheim, Paris, Essen, Hamburg, Cologne, Lille, Flensburg, Bremen, Wismar, Aachen, Genoa, Munich, Stuttgart and St. Nazaire.