The Second World War D.F.C. group of five to Pilot Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) William Edgar

The Second World War D.F.C. group of five to Pilot Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) William Edgar Lewis Palmer, R.A.F.: Distinguished Flying Cross, George VI, reverse lower arm dated 1944, engraved details across horizontal arms (P/O., W. E. L. PALMER 12TH DECEMBER), in case of issue with transmission slip, good very fine; 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star with France & Germany clasp, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, with postal box and Air Ministry slips, lightly tarnished, otherwise about extremely fine; together with a small collection of fabric insignia, identity tags, the recipient's R.A.F. Service and Release book, a copy of ''To See the Breaking Dawn' by W.R. Chorley (in which the recipient receives several mentions) and various associated ephemera. [5 medals]

D.F.C. London Gazette 12/12/1944

William Palmer served in 76 Squadron R.A.F. flying bombers over Europe. On the night of the 24th May 1944 he was at the controls of a Halifax on approach to Aachen when his rear gunner warned of an approaching enemy fighter. The gunner called for a corkscrew manoeuvre (a breakaway that had saved Palmer's bomber from a similar predicament over Tergnier the previous month*) but "in the next second our starboard outer engine was knocked out and the wing set on fire"**. Palmer extinguished the flames by going into a dive so steep and rapid that to pull out of it required the strength of three men on the controls. "Bill Palmer would fly home low across the channel, his hydraulics shot away, to crash-land at Tangmere". By family tradition, this was the incident that resulted in the award to the D.F.C.

* AIR 50/139
** Flying officer Clifford Waite quoted in Chorley, 'To See the Breaking Dawn', p. 147