Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Second World War 2nd T.A.F. precision bombing operations D.F.C., 1939-40 operations D.F.M. group of six awarded to Squadron Leader P. E. Barns, Royal Air Force, who acted as Lead Navigator in the famous strike on Amiens Prison in February 1944, when his Mosquito was first to “go in” at tree-top height - 10 feet to be precise - an astonished witness breaking radio silence to exclaim “Bloody hell! From here it looked like the buggers were going to land!”

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1945’; Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (564117 Sgt. P. E. Barns, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, lacquered, contact marks, otherwise generally very fine (6) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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Philip Edmund Barns entered the Royal Air Force as an Apprentice Aero Fitter in 1930 and qualified for aircrew duties at the Air Observer’s School at North Coates in the summer of 1938.

By the outbreak of hostilities he was serving in No. 21 (Norwich’s Own) Squadron, a Blenheim unit based at Watton, Norfolk, and between then and July 1940 he completed 29 operational sorties, a photo-reconnaissance of Wilhelmshaven on 17 November 1939 being the War’s first operational flight carried out over Germany. But it would not be until March 1940 that No. 21 set about more regular missions, Barns participating in three attacks against enemy flak ships west of Heligoland, in one of which his Blenheim was damaged by an enemy fighter. He was also heavily engaged in operations in support of the B.E.F., his aircraft attacking targets in such areas as St. Omer, Arras and Courtrai. Tour expired, he was awarded the D.F.M.

Posted to No. 17 O.T.U. at Upwood, where he served until joining No. 1 A.A.S. at Manby in February 1941, Barns returned to the operational scene in December 1943, after being commissioned while employed at Bomber Command H.Q., when he joined No. 487 (R.N.Z.A.F.) Squadron, a Mosquito unit of 138 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire (and later at Gravesend, Kent). Between then and July 1944, he flew 41 sorties, most of them as Navigator to either Wing Commander Wilson or Squadron Leader Lucas, but on 18 February 1944, in the famous strike against Amiens Prison (a.k.a. “Operation Jericho”), he flew in Wing Commander I. S. “Black” Smith’s Mosquito as Lead Navigator - he had already flown a dozen or so sorties.

“Operation Jericho”

At 11 a.m. on 18 February 1944, 19 Mosquitoes departed Hunsdon in a swirling snowstorm, six of them from 487 Squadron and the others drawn from the strength of 21 and 464 Squadrons, the whole under the command of R.A.F. legend Group Captain P. C. “Pick” Pickard, D.S.O., D.F.C., but guided by the navigation of Barns in Wing Commander “Black” Smith’s aircraft. In addition, the attacking force was accompanied by a Mosquito of the R.A.F’s Film Production Unit, an aircraft that would capture spectacular footage of the raid and bring back evidence of its success. The force’s target, of course, was Amiens Prison, where it was hoped a low-level precision attack would breach the walls and enable several hundred members of the French Resistance - many of them awaiting execution - to escape, thereby assisting the prospects of the pending Allied invasion at Normandy. Security in the lead up to the operation was consequently tight. Mosquito by C. Martin Sharp and Michael J. F. Bowyer, takes up the story:

‘Detail planning of the raid, on the prison situated alongside the Amiens-Albert road, had been conducted in the greatest secrecy, and at the briefing a model of the cruciform building was revealed and closely studied. Strict security precautions were in force in the operations block, each man being carefully checked as he entered. Crews experienced unusual emotions, for they were now to attack to save life rather than to destroy. Recalling the briefing an R.A.A.F. officer said, “It was not a time for long speeches, but there is no mistaking the air of determination that was about that morning.”

The prison stood in a compound surrounded by a wall 20 feet high and 3 feet thick. Six aircraft of 487 Squadron forming the first wave were to breach the wall on its North and East sides. A second wave was to open up either end of the prison, destroying the quarters of the Germans. A third wave was to stand by, and the filming aircraft to take cine and still photographs. To avoid collisions over the target a very exact timetable needed to be adhered to. Fears existed that slight mistiming would cause a collision, as the Mosquitoes swept over the prison at right angles. To ensure maximum benefit from the assault the Resistance was to be informed of the precise time of the attack.’

As it transpired, after crossing the Channel at high speed and an altitude of 15-20 feet, the attacking force lost four of its number, either through mechanical faults, the appalling weather or enemy fire, a case in point being a Mosquito in Barns’ flight, piloted by Flight Lieutenant “Tich” Hanafin - his aircraft was hit by flak near Albert and, badly wounded, he was compelled to head for home on ‘one-engine, one leg and one arm.’ The same flak had burst very near Barns’ aircraft, prompting him to comment to his pilot over the intercom, “Blimey! That was close! I thought we’d had it,” Smith responding, “You and me both.” Before long, however, they were approaching the final run-in down the Albert-Amiens road. Jack Fishman’s colourful account of the raid, And The Walls Came Tumbling Down, continues:

‘They passed the first little row of houses on the far side of the road, the beginning of Amiens’ suburbs.

“One minute to go.”

We’ve got to blow the walls down to let the prisoners out; got to blow the ends of the building to kill the guards who should be eating by now, and we’ve only seconds to do it in - were the uppermost thoughts in “Black” Smith’s mind as his navigator started the final countdown for him, the first Mosquito to go in.

“Open bomb doors.”

“Bomb doors open.”

Final check: course - exact; speed - exact; height - exact; thumbs on the bomb release, aiming for the base corner of the east walls. Navigation was perfect - they’d never done it better. It was like a Hendon or Paris air display demonstration.

“Forty seconds ... Thirty seconds ... Twenty seconds ... ”

The poplars suddenly petered out and there, seconds ahead, was the prison ...

“Black” Smith dropped his bombs from a height of ten feet - less than half the height of their target - pulling hard on the stick. The three Mossies pulled up to hurtle across the gaol buildings, throttles wide open, their deafening roar shattering the midday calm.

When the bombs went, the planes bobbed up violently, lightened by load loss, and after their leap-frogging over the prison, banking in tight blood-draining turns that made their aircraft structure shake, they flattened out almost to street level making passers-by either throw themselves flat, or rush into doorways.

“Bloody hell!” exploded Ian McRitchie, from afar, “From here it looked looked like the buggers were going to land!”

For a split second he was certain “Black” Smith’s plane was going to smash itself against the wall until, gracefully, its nose went up as its underbelly virtually scraped the top of the towering wall.

“Christ!” - Smith cried out - “Our bombs went right through the first wall, across the yard and into the wall at the other end!”

Even if they had wanted to, this was not time to stop and look - the minute-by-minute schedule made this impossible ... ’

Of the 700 Resistance prisoners incarcerated in the prison, around 260 escaped through the breached walls, but another 100 or so were killed during the course of the bombing, or by the fire of German guards. But such risks were always apparent and did nothing to detract from the extraordinary bravery displayed by the attacking force’s pilots and navigators. As one participant put it, “This was the sort of operation that gave you the feeling that if you did nothing else in the war, you had done something.” Tragically, however, the success of “Operation Jericho” was marred by the loss of “Pick” Pickard and his long-served navigator, Alan Broadley. In 1946, prompted by the fact that “Operation Jericho” was undoubtedly one of the most dramatic stories of the War, Sacha Cordine directed a film about the raid, many of the “actors” actually being members of 138 Wing, although it seems Barns was not among them, although he was sent a script to comment on the accuracy of Pickard’s final briefing.

He was, however, still very much in harness with 487 Squadron, 138 Wing in the weeks and months following the raid, completing another 25 sorties before bringing his second tour to a close in July 1944. During that period his Mosquito was largely assigned to road and railway targets, such as an outing on 12 April 1944 when his aircraft returned on one engine. Grounded at No. 2 Group, Barns engineered his return to operations in April 1945, when he commenced his third tour in Mosquitoes of his original wartime unit, No. 21 Squadron, and flew his last sortie on the night of the 24th-25th of that month. He retired from the R.A.F. as a Squadron Leader in February 1956.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering the period May 1938 to September 1945, with several breaks from flying duties between February 1941 and October 1943, largely while employed at Bomber Command H.Q.; Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for his D.F.C.; his wartime copy of H.M.S.O’s Air Navigation (volume I); official letter of retirement, dated 2 February 1956; assorted newspaper and magazine cuttings and contemporary photographs, including features on the making of the film about the Amiens raid in 1945, and a copy of the film script; and a copy of Jack Fishman’s book And The Walls Came Tumbling Down (London, 1982), this being the full account of “Operation Jericho” with extensive mention of the recipient’s Mosquito piloted by Wing Commander “Black” Smith, D.F.C.

Provenance: Ex Aviation Collection, Spink, May 1998 (Lot No. 39).