A duplicate Distinguished Flying Medal group to Flight Sergeant Peter Linn Whittaker

A duplicate Distinguished Flying Medal group to Flight Sergeant Peter Linn Whittaker, 617 Squadron Royal Air Force: D.F.M., George VI, 2nd type (Fid Def), with tailor's copy bar (1587036 F. SGT. P.L. WHITTAKER. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, with France and Germany bar; Defence Medal; 1939-45 War Medal, with MID emblem; Coronation Medal 1937; Netherlands: Order of Orange Nassau, breast badge; recently court mounted by Spinks, good very fine or better except the last which has enamel damage, [7]; together with the recipient's dress miniature medals and his two Caterpillar Club badges, a D.F.M. case, and a large quantity of ephemera including a copy of the M.I.9. report describing the recipient's parachute descent and escape from occupied Holland.

D.F.M. London Gazette 7th December 1945

Awarded for gallant conduct during the downing of his Lancaster on the 23rd September 1944, on his 37th sortie. In his M.I.9 debriefing he describes an episode of escape and evasion in occupied Holland during which he was betrayed by locals, fought his way out of the hand of the Germans, received shelter, and eventually made it back through the advancing Allied front.

Provenance: consigned by the beneficiary of the recipient's will.

Another DFM to this man was offered at auction by Spink's, 20th April 2006 (lot 403) described as "possibly a later issue", and the correspondence offered here includes references to the process of obtaining replacements for stolen medals. This DFM, having the 'FID DEF' obverse (as opposed to Spink's 'IND IMP') is clearly the later of the two, and it might be supposed that the other medals in the group are also replacements.

The second award bar is not part of the recipient's entitlement, and the Coronation 1937 cannot be either (Peter Whittaker would have been 14 at the time). Research has not confirmed the award of the Order of Orange Nassau.