Beschreibung:

Medals to the R.F.C. and R.A.F. from the Collection Formed by the Late Squadron Leader David Haller Four: Flying Officer R. G. V. “George” Coston, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who flew operationally as a Navigator and Bomb Aimer in Liberators of No. 59 Squadron and who was present at the destruction of at least one U-Boat 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in their original addressed card forwarding box, extremely fine (4) £300-350 Footnote “George” Coston was enlisted in the Royal Air Force in October 1941, and undertook his training as a Navigator out in Canada. Returning home in September 1942, he was posted to No. 59 Squadron, a Coastal Command unit operating in Liberators out of Ballykelly, in July 1943. Remaining similarly employed until August 1944, in which period he flew in excess of 30 operational sorties, the majority of the anti-submarine or convoy escort variety, Coston was present at two memorable U-Boat actions. The first of them, as verified by 59’s Operational Record Book, was against the U-470 during the course of convoy ON. 206 on 16 October 1943, when his aircraft was captained by Pilot Officer W. G. “Wes” Loney, R.A.A.F.: ‘Directed by S.N.O. to U-Boat fully surfaced (210 ZZ 40). Attacked under moderate flak and straddled the hull with first four DCs. Under heavier flak the remaining four DCs were dropped close alongside and the U-Boat was seen to dive at about 60 degrees. None of our crew were injured and damage was received only in the port tyre and a hole in the port tank.’ Accompanying research includes an eye-witness statement made by one of Coston’s crew, Flight Sergeant “Bill” Sills, in which he states: ‘George [Coston] was a Navigator par excellence; he was a tremendous chap in other ways, one of which was his courage. On the U-470 attack we made four passes in all, getting shot up for our pains. The Germans were not friendly! It was due to Wes’ supreme low flying, in which we climbed over the conning tower, that I had a straight view down inside the U-Boat from a very close standpoint. We were so low that I believe our top camouflage could have been seen from the conning tower. We did not experience much flak on the final run and Wes made a classic drop of DCs from the starboard quarter. Fifteen bods were seen in the water and we whistled them up a destroyer to collect them. Unfortunately, owing to the imminent danger of further attacks, it could not stop and steamed slowly through them with nets out to catch them - this added up to just two. We attacked on P.L.E., and lost between 100 and 300 gallons of fuel from being shot up. I reckoned 100 and Wes 300, so we settled on 200! We also had our port undercarriage suffering from a 20mm. shell or two. We climbed to Rated Altitude without superchargers and headed back home to Ballykelly. I eased off the mixture until the cylinder temperatures rose, getting it as lean as possible. This caused a drop in airspeed which upset George as he was worried we would not make it, especially as the action had taken place at the bottom end of the Denmark Strait and we had quite a long way to go at night. George couldn’t be blamed as he was as keen as the rest of us to get back safely. We made it but the landing was, to say the least, interesting. We lost the complete port wheel and finished up on the remains of the oleo leg. Still, we were on the runway - just. on dipping the tanks we found that we had about a teaspoon full of fuel in each tank - I estimated we had about 15 minutes left! Wes got a well-deserved immediate award of the D.F.C. for that.’ During another patrol on 13 January 1944, Coston and his crew inflicted serious damage on the U-621. 59’s Operational Record Book takes up the story: ‘The notable achievement of the month was an attack by F./O. Loney and crew on a fully surfaced U-Boat on the 13th. The U-Boat was visually sighted from eight miles 060 Red from 2,000 feet, and an attack was made, the approach being made ou