THE FINE SECOND WAR ‘PATHFINDER FORCE’ TARGET INDICATOR’S D.F.C. GROUP AWARDED TO A MOSQUITO XVI NAVIGATOR, WHO’S FIRST OPERATIONS TOUR WAS WITH WELLINGTON’S OF 466 SQUADRON, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE IN 1943. CONVERTING TO MOSQUITOS, HE JOINED 109 SQUADRON IN 1944, AN ELITE OBOE EQUIPPED MARKER SQUADRON OF PFF AND WAS KILLED RETURNING FROM A SORTIE TO WESEL, 6 MARCH 1945 – THIS 72ND OPERATIONAL SORTIE OF THE WAR

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, G.VI.R., REVERSE OFFICIALLY DATED 1945, IN ROYAL MINT CASE OF ISSUE; 1939-45 STAR; AIR CREW EUROPE STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939-45.

D.F.C. London Gazette 13 April 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘Flying Officer Jones is now half-way through his first tour on Mosquitoes. He came to us with 29 trips on heavy bombers to his credit. Here he has done a further 35 of which 17 have been as a target indicator. Flying Officer Jones is a skilful navigator whose work here has been much enhanced both by his good handling of our special equipment and by his enthusiasm for the kind of work the on which the Squadron is engaged He is the navigator of a crew which is fast becoming one of our star crews; much of the credit is his. For his work here, and his previous tour I strongly recommend him for a non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Cover Remarks by the Station Commander: This officer’s skill as a Navigator and his competent handling of the special equipment with which his aircraft is fitted make him very worthy of being recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’

William Anwyl Jones was born in Meifod, Montgomeryshire, on 27 November 1920 and enlisted into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1941. After undergoing training as a Navigator at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Pensacola, in December 1941, he continued his training at No. 1 Air Observer School at R.A.F. Station Wigtown, flying Ansons. After a further period at No. 15 Operational Training Unit, converting to Wellingtons, on 25 October 1942, he received his first operational posting, to the newly formed 466 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, at R.A.F. Driffield. The squadron still in training, they moved to R.A.F. Leconfield on 27 December of that year.

ORIGINAL MEMBER OF 466 SQUADRON, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE

As a Navigator in Wellington X’s, Jones flew his first operational sortie (Pilot Sgt C T King), a Gardening raid on Terschelling, on 21 January 1943, this a week after the Squadron’s first operational sortie………..

SEE PDF FOR FULL WRITE-UP

SOLD WITH
1) Jones’s Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering his entire flying service, 30 November 1941 to 6 March 1945
2) Named Air Council medal entitlement enclosure
3) R.A.F. Central Depository letter forwarding Jones’s logbook o his NOK, 15 May 1946
4) A Damas Service Watch, the reverse stamped ‘G.S/T.P 178454’.
5) Digital copies of 466 Squadrons Operational Logs. Note, these have not been studied to locate Jones’s sorties but will give exact details of these sorties, results of attacks, any damage etc. Likewise it would be worthwhile downloading the 109 Squadrons Operational Logs from the National Archives:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C111569

A very fine DFC group with great research potential, to a Wellington and Mosquito Navigator who saw a great deal of action before he was killed.