Orders, Decorations and Medals

A superb Glider Pilot’s D.F.M. group of five awarded to Staff Sergeant A. McCulloch, Army Air Corps
Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (962438 Staff-Sjt., A.A.C.); 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal, good very fine (5)

D.F.M. London Gazette 8 March, 1945.
Sergeant Andrew McCulloch was one of six Glider Pilots selected to fly the three American Waco gliders of the Russian Military Mission into Yugoslavia in February 1944. Operation ‘Bunghole’, as it was called, was a truly Allied undertaking. The towing aircraft were C47’s of the 64th Troop Carrier Group, U.S. Air Force, the glider pilots British, flying American Waco gliders. It was mounted at very short notice at the request of 133 Force, War Office Intelligence, and the human cargo consisted of a high-ranking Russian general and staff officers, under the command of General Korneyev. The aim of the mission was to land the Russian officers inside occupied Yugoslavia in a valley called Medenapolu (the Honey Field), about midway between Zagreb and Sarajevo, in the eastern foothills of the Dinaric Alps, which rise at this point to 8,000 feet. The L.Z. was about 100 miles inland from the Dalmation coast and 250 miles north from Bari. Landing in deep snow the six pilots and their crews were hidden in a small mountain village for about a month before the spring thaw had sufficiently melted the snow to allow an aircraft to land and fly them to the safety of Italy. During this period supplies were dropped by parachute and they were under constant threat of discovery by the Germans, especially when coded messages were being sent back to British Intelligence.

It would seem logical that McCulloch received the D.F.M. for his part in the above mission. However, in an original letter by him, written in 1966, he states: ‘The Action was the Invasion of the South of France in August 1944, on the 15th. Airborne Landing, both Paratroop and Glider Borne, was carried out by the 2nd Independent Para Brigade. I was a glider pilot of the 1st Independent Glider Pilot Squadron flying Horsa gliders carrying 6-pounder anti-tank gun, jeep and gun crew. The landing was designated in the inland area of Le Muy & La Mott behind the port of St. Raphael. Aerial photographs showed the field to be clear, but on arrival in daylight after a 3 hour tow the field was covered with anti-glider landing obstacles. My glider was of the last group to go in with space to land limited both by obstacles and the crashed gliders. I was forced to try a corner of the field approaching between tall trees. We went between the trees losing both wings and landing skid and the tail section removed when we swung on impact with the trees against a stone farm house. We succeeded in getting the gun & crew into action and later joined the infantry section as protection of the area.’
In addition to the letter quoted above, the group is sold with original notification of the award, two congratulatory letters and named Buckingham Palace letter; and also with further research including accounts by two of the other glider pilots who flew in the mission to Yugoslavia. McCulloch’s D.F.M. is a unique award for the landings in the South of France.