Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Flight Lieutenant B. A. O’Callaghan, Royal Air Force, a Spitfire and Tempest pilot who flew 34 operational sorties over North-West Europe 1944-45: in a post-war career that saw his total flying hours pass the 5000 mark, he won a Queen’s Commendation after being compelled to abandon his Meteor

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, generally very fine and better (5) £400-500

Brian Anthony O’Callaghan, who was born in January 1924, joined the Royal Air Force in London in April 1942. Selected for pilot training, he was embarked for the U.S.A. and Canada, where he attended courses until returning to the U.K. in the summer of 1943.

Subsequently employed as an instructor, he finally went operational with a posting to No. 33 Squadron of 135 Wing in early November 1944, a Spitfire unit operating out of Maldeghem, Belgium, in which month he flew four sorties, one of them an attack on an enemy barracks; a brace of bomber escort missions and a strike on railway communications at Leidel made up December’s sorties, O’Callaghan noting in his flying log book, ‘Flak!’

The Squadron returned to the U.K. in January 1945, to re-equip with Tempests at Predannack, Cornwall, but by mid-February was back in action from an advanced airfield in Holland, O’Callaghan making three fighter sweeps before the month’s end. In March, he carried out nine further offensive sweeps over Holland and Germany, his flying log book noting squadron successes on the 25th - ‘Nailed 4 109s’ - but the loss of his C.O. on the 28th, and damage to his own aircraft on the 29th - ‘Plenty of flak! Hit in port wing, canopy and fuselage.’ While in April, in the course of another 14 sorties, O’Callaghan and his fellow pilots turned their attention to railway targets, his flying log book recording successful strikes on locomotives and rolling stock.

Having carried out his last offensive sweep over Hamburg on 18 April, O’Callaghan remained in No. 33 Squadron until early 1946, following which he held a succession of appointments as an instructor. And it was in that capacity at R.A.F. Driffield in April 1952, that he and his student pilot were compelled to abandon their Meteor, an incident described in a special “green endorsement” in his relevant flying log book, as per the instructions of the A.O.C. No. 25 Group:

‘Flight Sergeant O’Callaghan displayed calmness and very sound airmanship when the lateral movement of the control column became restricted in flight after aerobatic manoeuvres over the sea. By skilful handling of the remaining controls and by use of asymmetric power he was able to maintain a level turn at 200 knots and orbit until over land where, on instructions from base, the aircraft was abandoned by parachute. Throughout this occurrence the instructor displayed great calmness and instilled confidence in his pupil.’

O’Callaghan was duly awarded a Queen’s Commendation in the New Year Honours List in 1953.

He had, meanwhile, joined No. 245 Squadron, flying Meteors, in August 1952, in which capacity he remained employed until returning to a training unit in April 1954. Between 1955-57 he held assorted appointments at Group H.Q. in Germany, in addition to more flying time with No. 2 Squadron and, after further service as an instructor in the U.K., was attached to the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force in Muscat 1962-63. Another brief foray overseas having followed Kenya in 1964, O’Callaghan returned to duties as an instructor for the University of London Air Squadron at White Waltham, in which role he remained employed until his retirement in June 1967, by which date he had amassed over 5,000 hours flying time.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Flying Log Books (7), covering the periods January 1943 to June 1948, July 1948 to August 1950, September 1950 to April 1953, May 1953 to March 1958, April 1958 to February 1961, March 1961 to May 1962, and, finally, June 1962 to June 1967, a remarkable record spanning active service in Spitfires through to Meteors and Vampires; together with other career documentation and a silk evader’s map, covering Germany, Poland, Hungary, etc., and assorted Pilot’s Notes for Harvards, Chipmunks and Meteors.