Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine Second World War Typhoon pilot’s D.F.M. group of four awarded to Flying Officer L. Richardson, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who ‘personally dropped 53,000lbs. of bombs on the enemy’ (his recommendation refers)

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (1335505 F./Sgt. L. Richardson, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany; War Medal 1939-45, together with a wartime painted wooden 197 Squadron wall-plaque and a coloured portrait photograph, extremely fine (5) £1800-2200

D.F.M. London Gazette 29 August 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘This pilot has shown very great keenness and ability on operations. He has carried out many dive-bombing attacks against heavily defended targets and has always pressed home his attacks to the full despite intense flak of all calibres. Flight Sergeant Richardson has personally dropped 53,000lbs. of bombs on the enemy.’

Leonard “Len” Richardson had completed over 140 operational sorties by the time he was recommended for his D.F.M. on 4 June 1944. Such were the casualties suffered by his unit, No. 197 Squadron, that just three original members of his Flight survived their 20 month operational tour, one of them being James Kyle, the author of Typhoon Tale, in which his good friend - Richardson - receives mention:

‘There were deeply poignant moments of emotion when one returned from an operational sortie to a shared room where the missing comrade’s possessions were still very much in evidence. Memories of the good times shared soon dissolved, as bitter thoughts that he was now either lodged in the bed-rocks of the English Channel, or embedded deep in a hole in the foreign fields of France, trapped in the cockpit of his wrecked Typhoon. For him never to be seen again, was unbelievable. That trauma I often witnessed but thankfully seldom experienced, as I shared a room with “Len” throughout most of the War.’

Kyle adds, however:

‘During my period with the Squadron only five of the original members who formed the Squadron at Drem, Scotland in 1942 managed to remain alive, two who were from ‘A’ Flight and three of us from ‘B’ Flight [including Richardson]. We went through five Wing Leaders, five Squadron Leaders and five times five pilots during that special twenty months of mine. Of the five that survived, all were decorated but again the will of fate played its hand and the two remaining pilots of ‘B’ Flight were killed in flying accidents shortly after the War. And so there was one.’

Sadly, indeed, Richardson, having been commissioned and advanced to Flying Officer, was killed in a flying accident while serving in No. 54 Squadron on 26 November 1945. Aged 24 years, he was the son of Augustus and Lillian Richardson of Dorking, Surrey, and is buried in the Brockwood Military Cemetery.

The following extract from J. D. R. Rawlings’ Fighter Squadrons of the R.A.F. and Their Aircraft neatly summarises the wartime activities of 197 Squadron, although Kyle’s Typhoon Tale is strongly recommended for a more definitive and evocative account of the unit’s trials and tribulations:

‘No. 197 Squadron formed at Drem on 21 November 1942 and began working-up on Typhoons, becoming operational in February 1943, with East Coast patrols. Moving south the following month it began sector recces and standing patrols to intercept low-level raiders and in April took the offensive, at first with Rhubarbs and then as escort to bomber Typhoons (known as “Bomphoons”). On 16 April the Squadron had its first combat and scored two probables; it was now blooded and continued, largely with bomber escorts although it was not yet at full stretch and during the early part of the summer was hindered by low serviceability. By August this was remedied and No. 197 got into full swing with escorts to fighter-bombers, to heavier bombers and Rhubarbs. In October it began to convert to the fighter-bomber role itself and was in the dive-bombing business the next month delivering 90 tons of bombs in the month. As the year ended the Squadron began ultra low-level attacks on Noball targets and concentrated on these for the first few months of 1944. With D-Day the Squadron went into beachhead bombing all day and followed this up with daily bombing attacks in support of the invasion. It was now working in close co-operation with the Army and went on “cab-rank” control for its close-support sorties. In July it moved to France to be close to the operational area. This continued until September when it turned its attention more to the French and Belgian coastal area and “E” and “R” boats in that vicinity. In October it moved to Antwerp and now concentrated on communications, railways, road traffic, etc. As the weather began to clamp the Squadron more and more went out seeking suitable interdiction targets and it closed the year with an attack on a German H.Q. which killed nearly all the staff officers. However, the pace had taken a toll of the men and machines and this, added to the Lufwaffe’s New Year’s Day attack, reduced the Squadron state to six aircraft ... ’