A rare Second World War Italy operations D.S.O., immediate M.B.E. group of nine awarded to Wing Commander E. B. R. Lockwood, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a Liberator pilot who commanded No. 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron in the closing months of the War

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., the reverse of the lower suspension officially dated 1945; The Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) 2nd type; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (Act. Wg. Cdr., R.A.F.); Air Efficiency Award, G.VI.R., with Second and Third Award Bars (Act. Sqn. Ldr., R.A.F.), together with related Path Finder Force badge good very fine or better (9) £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Men of Bomber Command 1939-45.

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D.S.O. London Gazette 21 August 1945. The recommendation states:

‘Throughout a long and distinguished operational career, Wing Commander Lockwood has displayed outstanding leadership, great skill and unfailing duty. He has successfully directed six major night attacks against well defended targets. The results of his cool and accurate bombing directions when under fire are reflected in the outstanding results achieved. In April 1945, this Officer directed a full scale night attack against the strongly held enemy line, south-east of Bologna and only 2000 yards in front of the Eighth Army troops. His careful planning and masterful control of the attack resulted in a highly successful bombing concentration and gave valuable support to the ground forces.’

M.B.E. London Gazette 30 October 1942. The immediate award recommendation states:

‘One night in July 1942, a Wellington aircraft returned from a cross-country flight with one engine defective. Whilst circling the aerodrome the faulty engine stopped and the pilot proceeded to make an emergency landing. As the flare path was already in use by another aircraft which was also landing, the pilot of the Wellington decided to land on the port side but in so doing he overshot the space available and ran into a building situated on the edge of the aerodrome. The aircraft and the building immediately caught fire. All the members of the crew were thrown clear with the exception of the Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, who was ejected on to the roof of the building which was soon burning fiercely. Flight Lieutenant Lockwood, displaying initiative and complete disregard for his own personal safety, made his way on to the roof by kicking out the window panes of a door. He found the injured airman and then carrying him in his arms, jumped from the roof only a few seconds before it collapsed. Flight Lieutenant Lockwood’s gallant action undoubtedly saved the airman’s life.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1942.

Edgar Bernard Richard Lockwood, who was born at Chapel-en-le-Frith, Stockport in 1917, enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1935, transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1937 and was commissioned in June 1940. According to one local newspaper source his M.I.D. reflected ‘consistently fine work on operational flights’ in the course of 1941, presumably with a Wellington unit.

His operational career with No. 614 Squadron, a Liberator unit operating out of Amendola, commenced in November 1944 with a strike against the marshalling yards at Sarajevo in the early evening hours of 5 November. Thus ensued a busy tour of operations, the Squadron having undertaken the role of specialist target markers - Lockwood was awarded his Path Finder Force badge in January 1945. Mainly assigned to attack bridges, marshalling yards, oil depots, ammunition dumps and other selected targets in Italy and Yugoslavia, No. 614 also undertook supply drops to partisan groups, Lockwood carrying out two such sorties, Operations “Crayon” and “Flotsam”, in early 1945. And nor were these trips uncontested, an outing to the marshalling yards at Verona resulting in Lockwood’s Liberator returning to base with ‘one large flak hole in the rudder and several in the tail.’

It was, however, after he had assumed command of the Squadron in the rank of Acting Wing Commander - aged just 28 years - that Lockwood achieved some of his greatest feats. By February 1945 he was acting as the Visual Marker for No. 614, and soon afterwards as Blind Illuminator (Master Bomber), in which latter guise he won the D.S.O., not least for the brilliant marking of enemy positions just 2000 yards away from the 8th Army’s forward line in the vicinity of Lugo, near Bologna on the night of 9 April 1945.