Beschreibung:

A Second War Lancaster Rear Gunner’s campaign group of four awarded to Warrant Officer W. C. Gundry, Royal Air Force, who flew in a number of operational sorties with 12 and 550 Squadrons, including a raid to Berlin, 1 January 1944, on route to which he earned his Caterpillar Club Badge when bailing out after being shot down by a night fighter. He was taken prisoner of war and interned at Stalag IVB until the end of the war 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (X 1654359 Cpl. W. C. Gundry. R.A.F.); with Caterpillar Club badge, in gold with ‘ruby’ eyes, reverse engraved ‘Sgt. C. [sic] Gundry’, mounted for wear, together with Bomber Command Commemorative Medal, in case of issue with number certificate, generally very fine (lot) £600-£800 Footnote William Charles Gundry (known by his second name - Charles or ‘Charlie’) served with the Royal Air Force as an Air Gunner during the Second War. Having advanced to Sergeant, Gundry was posted for operational flying with 12 Squadron (Lancasters) at Wickenby in September 1943. He served as a Rear Gunner and flew on a number of sorties with Flying Officer J. G. Bryson as his pilot, including to Hagen, when the aircraft was beaten up by flak and the crew claimed a Ju88 probably destroyed over the target area. Gundry transferred with his pilot to 550 Squadron (Lancasters) at Grimsby in November 1943. He flew on several operational sorties, including to Dusseldorf and Berlin, before being part of 12 crews of the Squadron designated to attack Berlin again, 1 January 1944. Gundry’s account gives the following detail: ‘It was New Year’s day 1944 and operations were on as anticipated after being stood down the two previous nights. Our crew were on Battle Orders, and for this operation we had been allocated Lancaster DV 189-T2, in which we had not previously flown….. The main briefing began in a tense atmosphere of absolute silence, but when the curtain was drawn aside the silence was broken - Berlin again! This was our sixteenth operational briefing, six of which were to the ‘Big City’. The route was almost straight, and the weather conditions were far from ideal. As we waited, I found it difficult to relax, subconsciously I wanted to get going and get it over with. However the take-off time was delayed by several hours, until around midnight because of deteriorating weather. This was the most stressful period of the day, and an air of tension surrounded us. All of us Air Gunners were taken for our own briefing with the Gunnery Officer. While waiting for take-off, I found myself looking back over the last year, I had completed my training as an air gunner at Stormy Down in South Wales, been through O.C.U. where I became the member of the crew that I was going to fly with on operations. After a few weeks at O.C.U. with my crew flying Lancasters, we were posted to 12 Squadron… where we flew on operations as part of ‘A’ Flight… My crew were: Pilot - F/O J. G. Bryson F/Eng - Sgt. D. F. Fadden Navigator - Sgt. T. F. M. Roxby Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt. P. W. Evans M/U Gunner - Sgt. J. J. Sawkins W/O Air Gun. - Sgt. J. Donnan and myself Sgt. W. C. Gundry, as Rear Gunner…. As New Year’s Day was drawing to a close, our Lancaster, along with all the other aircraft was preparing for take-off. As we queued at the end of the runway with the pilot carrying out his checks, he was given the green light and with the engines roaring at full power, we started rolling. I had my turret centralised and was looking back at the ground receding from my view. Then we were airborne, climbing to our operational height, and on our way at last. The sky was dark and overcast, and we found ourselves flying through layers of broken cloud as we headed East over the North Sea. The bomber stream had spread out and we appeared to be on our own. I listened to the routine exchanges on the intercom, and knew that we were over the Dutch coast. The pilot gave us gunners a sharp r