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Items Signed by Squadron Leader Ron Curtis DSO DFC (deceased)

 Flew Hampdens with No.144 Sqn then became a Navigator on Lancasters with No.44 Sqn.  Converted to the Mosquito from 1943 and flew 139 operations with No.109 Sqn Pathfinder Force. ......
Clipped Signature - Ron Curtis.
Price : £35.00
Flew Hampdens with No.144 Sqn then became a Navigator on Lancasters with No.44 Sqn. Converted to the Mosquito from 1943 and flew 139 operations with No.109 Sqn Pathfinder Force. ......

Quantity:
 Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......
Top Dog by Robert Taylor. (AP)
Price : £135.00
Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......

Quantity:
 Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......
Top Dog by Robert Taylor. (B)
Price : £120.00
Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......

Quantity:
 Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......
Top Dog by Robert Taylor. (C)
Price : £265.00
Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfin......

Quantity:
Up to 1942 Bomber Command operations were beset by many problems. The means they had to accurately pinpoint the target and assault it were totally lacking, in fact their Commander in Chief, Air Marshall Arthur Harris later wrote : It was glaringly ob......
Winter Ops by Gerald Coulson (B)
Price : £595.00
Up to 1942 Bomber Command operations were beset by many problems. The means they had to accurately pinpoint the target and assault it were totally lacking, in fact their Commander in Chief, Air Marshall Arthur Harris later wrote : It was glaringly ob......

Quantity:
Squadron Leader Ron Curtis DSO DFC (deceased)


Squadron Leader Ron Curtis DSO DFC
Squadron details



No.109 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Disbanded 1st February 1957
Known Codes : , HS,


No.109 Sqn RAF

Primi hastati - The first of the legion

The squadron first formed on 1 November 1917 as 109 Squadron Royal Flying Corps at South Carlton and began training on the de Havilland DH.9 bomber but was disbanded on 19 August 1918 without becoming operational On 10th December 1940, the squadron was re-born from the Wireless Intelligence Development Unit (WIDU) whose headquarters were at Boscombe Down, Wilts. Using Anson and Wellington aircraft it was engaged during the next two years in development of radio counter-measures and also new radar aids, notably the blind bombing system known as Oboe. In August, 1942, No. 109 moved to Wyton to become one of the original units of the Pathfinder Force.1 In December it converted to Oboe Mosquitoes and on 2Oth/21st made World War 2 history by flying the first Oboe sorties over enemy territory - on a calibration raid against a power station at Lutterade in Holland. Eight nights later, on 31st December/1st January 1943, it made history again when it pioneered Oboe target marking for a following force of heavy bombers; the target was Düsseldorf. The squadron remained an Oboe Mosquito marker unit for the rest of the war and from mid-1943 had a friendly PFF rival in No. 105 Squadron. One of No. 109's most outstanding successes was on 5/6th March, 1943, when eight of its Mosquitoes led Bomber Command's devastating assault on Essen which laid waste more than 160 acres of that city and heralded the Battle of the Ruhr. Included among the squadron's many other wartime claims to fame is the claim that the last bombs to be dropped on Berlin were dropped by one of its Mosquitos at 2.14am on 21st April, 1945. On 30 September 1945 the Squadron was disbanded. Among the scores of decorations won by No. 109 Squadron personnel was a Victoria Cross. It was awarded posthumously to Squadron Leader BAM Palmer, "in recognition of most conspicuous bravery" while flying a Lancaster of No. 582 Squadron (mainly with a 582 Squadron crew) and acting as Oboe leader of a Lancaster force against Cologne on 23rd December 1944. On 1 October 1945, No. 627 Squadron at Woodhall Spa was renumbered 109 Squadron and flew Mosquitoes as a target marking unit until conversion to Canberras began in July 1952. It eventually re-equipped with Canberras and saw action in the Suez campaign. With the increase of the V bomber force the squadron was no longer needed and was finally disbanded on 1 February 1957 at RAF Binbrook.



Squadron Leader Ron Curtis DSO DFC
Aircraft details




Lancaster
Manufacturer : Avro
Built : 7377


Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' "Operation Gomorrah" in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992.



Mosquito
Manufacturer : De Havilland
Built : 7781


Mosquito
Used as a night fighter, fighter bomber, bomber and Photo-reconnaissance, with a crew of two, Maximum speed was 425 mph, at 30,300 feet, 380mph at 17,000ft. and a ceiling of 36,000feet, maximum range 3,500 miles. the Mosquito was armed with four 20mm Hospano cannon in belly and four .303 inch browning machine guns in nose. Coastal strike aircraft had eight 3-inch Rockets under the wings, and one 57mm shell gun in belly. The Mossie at it was known made its first flight on 25th November 1940, and the mosquito made its first operational flight for the Royal Air Force as a reconnaissance unit based at Benson. In early 1942, a modified version (mark II) operated as a night fighter with 157 and 23 squadron's. In April 1943 the first De Haviland Mosquito saw service in the Far east and in 1944 The Mosquito was used at Coastal Command in its strike wings. Bomber Commands offensive against Germany saw many Mosquitos, used as photo Reconnaissance aircraft, Fighter Escorts, and Path Finders. The Mosquito stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1955. and a total of 7781 mosquito's were built.

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