Gallantry medals of WWII pilot at Sworders
The gallantry awards of an RAF Second World War flying ace come for sale at Sworders this month. Air Commodore Vic Willis, who died aged 80 in 2006, was twice decorated for gallantry for his operational flying in the top-secret world of signals intelligence, radio countermeasures and electronic warfare.
The rare group of eight medals include a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) dated 1942 and the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) dated 1944. They are offered together with Willis’s identity tags, three pilot’s flying logbooks, plus five photo albums assembled while on active service throughout the world over close to three decades.
A logbook covering the period January 3, 1939, to September 4, 1953 documents a remarkable 2,573 flying hours – evidence of Willis’s extraordinary skill, stamina and bravery.
An outstanding cadet considered the best pilot of his year at RAF College Cranwell, at the outbreak of war Charles Victor Douglas Willis flew patrols over the North Sea in London and Sunderland flying boats with No 201 Squadron.
However, his skills as a specialist in radio countermeasures, were nurtured after he joined the experimental Blind Approach and Training Development Unit (later No 109 Squadron) at Boscombe Down in July 1940. Part of a team of pilots tasked with investigating the science behind the beam radio navigation used by the Luftwaffe, these sorties were both hugely important and highly dangerous.
Willis received the Distinguished Flying Cross when Flight Lieutenant in No 109 Squadron.
The London Gazette, January 20, 1942, recorded an officer who had ‘carried out a large number of operational missions, many of which have been of great importance.’
They included piloting one of six specially equipped Wellington bombers sent to the Middle East in support of an expected offensive in the Libyan Desert in late October 1941. The objective was to jam radio communications on the wavebands used between enemy armoured columns.
Just few days later, flying alone deep over enemy occupied territory, Willis completed his task of jamming enemy communications despite an engagement with a German fighter. Shortly afterwards it was announced that he had been awarded an immediate DFC.
After flying Wellingtons with the newly-formed No 162 (Special Signals) Squadron in Egypt he was promoted to wing commander and ordered to form a new squadron, No 192, to conduct similar exploratory flights over enemy territory in northern Europe.
After 18 months in command, and on continuous operations, Willis was awarded the DSO. He was described as ‘a fine leader, whose example of courage and devotion to duty had been worthy of the greatest praise.’
Willis ended the war in command at RAF Foulsham, the home of No 192 Squadron and other specialist radio countermeasure squadrons. He continued to work in the top-secret world of signals, joining the RAF Mission in Greece in 1948 and commanding RAF Luqa in Malta to monitor the movements of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean. Promoted to air commodore in September 1962, he was appointed as commandant of the RAF Staff College at Andover before retiring in March 1965.
The medals and ephemera of Air Commodore Vic Willis are expected to sell for between £5,000-8,000 as part of Sworders’ March 18-19 sale titled Homes and Interiors (with Arms and Militaria).
The George VI ‘King’s Medal’ Willis received in 1938 after passing out first in his year at Royal Air Force College Cranwell is offered separately. This scarce 18ct gold medal in the original fitted case is estimated at £2,500-3,500.