Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War D.F.C. group of five awarded to Pilot Officer G. B. King, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1945’ and further engraved, ‘182393 P.O. G. King, No. 78 Sqdn.’; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany, these two with engraved reverses, ‘182393 P.O. G. King, 78 Sqdn., R.A.F.V.R.’; Defence and War Medals, cleaned and lacquered, extremely fine (5) £700-800

D.F.C. London Gazette 20 February 1945: ‘In recognition of gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations.’

Gareth Blackburn King was decorated for his services as a Navigator in No. 78 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Breighton, Yorkshire. Arriving at that unit in early 1944, his introduction to the operational scene was the hugely costly raid against Nuremburg on the night of 30-31 March, when nearly 95 aircraft were lost and another 71 damaged. Another trip to Germany - to Essen - followed on the night of the 26th.

April was an especially busy month for No. 78, King and his crew completing a further eight operational sorties, largely against French targets in the lead-up to the Normandy landings, but also against Dusseldorf on the night of 22nd-23rd and Karlsruhe on the night of 24th-25th. In May, four more trips to France were undertaken, and in June another eight, these latter often being strikes against railways and other communications, but also known ammunition dumps such as that at Fouillard. July followed a similar operational agenda, with the exception of a trip to Kiel on the night of the 12th, and also included no less than three strikes against the V.I rocket site at St. Martin L’Hortier, two of them on successive nights. King was commissioned as a Pilot Officer at the end of the same month.

He then completed four more sorties in August, two of them in direct support of the ongoing ground offensive, including the “Falaise Pocket”, and a further two in September, the last of them, against Calais, marking the end of his operational tour. He was “posted-out” of No. 78 Squadron to No. 41 Base in early November 1944, having participated in 39 sorties, and was gazetted for the D.F.C. in the new year.