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Lot 1251
A collection of approximately 50 Military cloth badges and Regimental embroideries, to include: Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment, Royal Leicestershire Regiment, Princess of Wales Own Regiment, Aircraft Handler 1st Class, Leading Hands, Petty Officer Photographer, Petty Officer Fitter & Mechanic, Landing Hands Air Crew, Radio Operator 1st Class, Canadian Royal Armoured Corps, Netherlands Army sleeve badge, Staff Sergeants stripes, Supply Rating, Engineer Mechanic, Marine Engineer; together with Regimental embroidered postcards and embroidered handkerchiefs. (approximately 50)
Lot 492
SELECTION, inc. cards, booklets, leaflets, recipe, adverts, photocopies, postcards, magazine pages; Barratt, Coca-Cola, Safeway, Prescott-Pickup, motoring, Jacobs, pop music, Capital Radio & other DJs, Typhoo, football, royalty, cut-outs etc., from the Peter Wright collection (some with his notes), G to EX, Qty.
Lot 762
A DULCETTO SENIOR PORTABLE GRAMOPHONE, A SERANTI WALNUT MODEL 748 MAINS RADIO AND A KODAK KODASCOPE EIGHT MODEL 35 PROJECTOR, CASED (3) All showing effects of long terms storage in an outbuilding or similar. Sold as vintage items which must not be used unless or until electrical safety has been verified by a qualified electrician
Lot 425
Three: Able Seaman F. L. G. Ellissen, Royal Navy, who lost his life on the occasion the Cunard White Star liner Laconia was torpedoed and sunk in shark-infested waters off West Africa on 12 September 1942, with 1,800 Italian Prisoners of War aboard: on learning of this, the U-Boat commander commenced rescue operations, but his admirable endeavours, and those of other U-Boats that joined the scene, were quickly curtailed by an unfortunate attack delivered by Allied aircraft - and the transmittal of Doenitz’s notorious “Laconia Order” 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue addressed to ‘Mrs. I. M. M. Ellissen, 6 Cardigan Road, Richmond Hill, Surrey’, extremely fine (3) £140-£180 --- Francis Lyon Gordon Ellissen served during the Second World War as an Able Seaman borne on the books of H.M.S. President III, and died when the Cunard White Star liner Laconia was torpedoed and sunk in shark-infested waters off West Africa in September 1942. Homeward bound from the Cape in September 1942, with some 2,700 people aboard, among them 1,800 Italian Prisoners of War under a 160-strong Polish guard, the Laconia was torpedoed by the U-156, commanded by Kapitain Werner Hartenstein, on 12 September, in a position about 500 miles south of Cape Palmas, Liberia. Shortly after the liner capsized, the crew of the now surfaced U-Boat were amazed to hear Italian voices yelling amongst the survivors struggling in the water, and on speaking to some of them, Werner Hartenstein immediately began rescue operations, alerting at the same time nearby U-Boats to come to his assistance. Also by radio he contacted his seniors in Germany, asking for instructions and, more courageously, sent out an un-coded message inviting any nearby ships to assist, allied or otherwise, promising not to attack them on the basis his U-Boat was left unmolested. And amazingly, to begin with at least, Berlin replied in the affirmative, although Hitler personally intervened to threaten Admiral Raeder in the event of any U-Boats being lost to enemy action as a result of the rescue operation. Over the next few days, Hartenstein’s ‘rescue package’ achieved commendable results, and by 16 September, U-156 had picked up around 400 survivors, half of which she towed astern in lifeboats, while other enemy U-Boats, the U-506 and the U-507, and the Italian Cappellini, had arrived on the scene and acted with similar compassion. Tragically, on 16 September, an American Liberator bomber, operating out of Ascension Island, attacked the gathered U-Boats, forcing Hartenstein and his fellow captains to cut their tows with the lifeboats and submerge. Mercifully, some neutral (Vichy) French warships arrived on the scene soon afterwards from Dakar, and in total, including those still aboard the U-Boats, some several hundred men, women and children were saved. But two lifeboats remained undiscovered, their occupants having to endure a living nightmare, adrift without adequate sustenance, under a burning sun, with sharks for company, for several weeks. Following his enforced departure from the scene of rescue on 16 September, Kapitain Hartenstein remained in contact with Berlin, in a vain attempt to complete his worthy task. In the event, he, and his fellow U-Boat commanders, received Doenitz’s famous “Laconia Order”, a diktat that mercilessly rewrote the conduct of sea warfare (and became one of the charges levelled at the Grand Admiral at Nuremberg). Turner was amongst those who died on or after the 12 September, and he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Lot 441
A Second War campaign group of four awarded to Flight Lieutenant L. Liversidge, Royal Air Force, a Spitfire pilot who from 1943 completed 117 operational sorties with No. 185 Squadron, both in the skies over Malta and in a ground attack role during the Italian Campaign, before going on to pursue a lengthy post-war flying career 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, together with the recipient’s related miniature awards, R.A.F. officer’s cloth cap badge, pilot’s wings and riband bar, slight contact marks otherwise good very fine (4) £800-£1,000 --- Law Liversidge, who was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1922, joined the Royal Air Force in April 1940. Selected for pilot training in the summer of 1941, Leading Aircraftman Liversidge was embarked for Canada where he attended courses on Tiger Moths and Oxfords until returning to England in the spring of 1942. Subsequently posted to No. 4 G.T.S. at Kidlington for single-seat fighter training, he then converted to Spitfires at No. 61 Operational Training Unit (R.A.F. Rednal), March to May 1943, and went operational in July with a posting to No. 185 Squadron, a Spitfire unit based on Malta, from where he flew the Mark Vc and Mark IX on a number of convoy and island combat air patrols in December 43 and January 1944. Part of his squadron having moved to Grottaglie in the Taranto area of Italy in February 1944, Liversidge flew a memorable shipping recce on 15 March from Brindisi to the Bay of Kotor off Montenegro, noting in his log book, ‘One troop transport and one staff car destroyed, one bus damaged.’; a two hour rhubarb was logged later the same day. From April to July, he flew numerous less eventful scrambles and patrols but in August, with 185 squadron re-uniting at Perugia as a fighter-bomber unit in support of the Allied advance, his log book springs into life with regular bombing raids and enemy contacts, notably: ‘20 August - Bombed railway yard and bridge. All bombs on target. Much Flak. 23 August - Two 109s approached but beat it when Bal and I turned in to meet them. Geoff Cross killed today. 26 August - No transport about so bombed railway line N.W. of Remini.’ September continues in a similar vein with bridges and gun positions being bombed amid flak, cars and motor transports being destroyed and comrades-in-arms occasionally perishing. Liversidge recorded no flights in October - he was commissioned Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 14 October 1944 - but he was back in action the following month, bombing Nebelwerfers on 3 November and two days later he flew a close support sortie described as, ‘fireworks for the hun - bombed and strafed Forli airfield.’ More bombing of Nebelwerfers and strafing of enemy occupied villages followed later in the month. The New Year saw the Squadron move to Pontedera, near Pisa, from where Liversidge undertook eight sorties against German ground targets in January, including on the 15th ‘two direct hits on gun pits - one farm house clobbered’ and although warming to his work with a strafing and bombing run on Castiglione on 17 January, he experienced some uncomfortable moments later in the month, noting on the 28th, ‘engine very rough after bombing - much twitch’ and on the 29th ‘upward roll accidentally after strafing. Much flak.’ In February Liversidge records further sorties or ‘Rover Joes’ among which, one is described as, ‘Direct hit on H.Q. - P.O.W. later stated: 1 General and at least 30 other troops killed.’ He also notes the loss of two squadron pilots (baled out to become P.O.W.s) and a third baled out but returned. March and April see more of the same frenetic activity, in which he destroys many ground targets, takes an occasional hit from flak and loses fellow pilots - ‘Chutney flew into house’, ‘Rosie burst into flame’. His final combat patrol on 2 May is a recce in the Bolzano Area - he notes in his log book, ‘Saw many M.T. but were not allowed to attack. Did not know that war in Italy was already over.’ Flying Officer Liversidge remained in Italy for the rest of the war, transferring to 87 Squadron (Spitfires) in August 1945 and logging his last squadron flight on 15 January 1946. He completed over 470 hours on Spitfires and 117 operational sorties during the war. Remaining on the active list, he resumed his flying career in 1949, taking a course at the Flying Refresher School, R.A.F. Finningly before embarking on a career as a Flying Instructor at an assortment of Flying Training Schools, in which capacity he remained employed, teaching on Harvards, Meteors and Vampires, for the next 6 years. He was posted in September 1955 to 614 Squadron (Vampires and Meteors), transferred in 1959 to R.A.F. Guttersloh, Germany (Hunter VII) and then having returned to England in January 1962, he joined the Flying Training Command Communications Squadron based at R.A.F. White Waltham, flying the Anson. Finally relinquishing his commission in 1968, he embarked on a career in civil aviation with British Airways and flew Vanguards and BAC 111s on European and domestic routes, on one occasion being congratulated for a successful approach at Tegel on 30 October 1975, when his Super 1-11 aircraft was successfully landed in Category Two weather conditions, with visual contact established at 100ft on the radio altimeter in a visibility of 800 metres. He retired in 1978. Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Flying Log Books (3), covering the periods August 1941 to August 1962; September 1962 to January 1967 (and July 1975 to August 1978); and April 1967 to July 1975, a complete record of a lengthy and diverse flying career, the war years assiduously annotated; a good quantity of photographs - subjects spanning the recipient’s career - including seven images of the recipient and 185 Squadron in Malta during the winter of 1943/1944; two commission documents - Pilot Officer (20 October 1944) and Flight Lieutenant (21 April 1953); scroll commemorating a successful landing in adverse weather at Tegel in 1975; other career related documentation and ephemera; a framed caricature drawing of the recipient by Pat Rooney, dated 1959, 270mm x 390mm; a wooden shield bearing the Central Flying School coat of arms, 175mm x 260mm; October 1941 copy of Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey, inscribed inside the front cover by Sergeant Liversidge.
Lot 748
The German Luftwaffe Night Fighter’s Salver and Trophy Cups attributed to Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves recipient Leutnant Rudolf Frank, 3rd Night Fighter Wing, who was one of the outstanding German Night-Fighter Aces of the Second World War, with 45 confirmed victories, including five in one day, prior to being killed in action on 27 April 1944 A German Second World War Luftwaffe Night Fighter’s Salver, measuring 225mm in diameter with three legs, engraved ‘ABSCHUSSAELEILIGUNGEN FUR RUDOLF FRANK 1-27’ followed by ‘4.7.41 – 21.1.44’, with either side of the engraving the RAF and Soviet wing insignia, and below the insignia of 1/N.J.G.3 being Frank’s Night Fighter Squadron; together with five German Second World War Luftwaffe Trophy Cups, all marked Abschuss with the appropriate kill number with the date of the kill thus: ‘Abschuss 1, 4.7.41 Wellington,’ ‘Abschuss 4, 26.1.42 Whitley’, ‘Abschuss 7, 14.9.42 Wellington’, ‘Abschuss 14, 4.7.43 Halifax’, ‘Abschuss 23, 18.11.43 Lancaster’, and housed in a later Luftwaffe Honour Goblet box named to the recipient, good condition (6) £1,200-£1,500 --- Rudolf Frank was born in Karlsruhe-Grünwinkel, in what was then the Republic of Baden in the Weimar Republic, on 19 August 1920, and volunteers for the Luftwaffe following the outbreak of the Second World War. Following night-training, he was posted to NachtJagdGeschwader 3 (NJG III, the 3rd Night Fighter Wing) on 5 February 1941. This unit, based at Stuttgart, was equipped with the C-variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter, and Frank was paired with Hans-Georg Schierholz as his permanent radio operator. Frank and Schierholz flew their first operational combat mission on 9 May 1941, without success. Their first victory came on the night of 2-4 July 1941, when they intercepted an R.A.F. Wellington bomber 6 miles north of Oldenburg, and shot it down at 00:54. For this achievement, they were both awarded the Iron Cross Second Class. By 13 August 1941 Frank had flown over 20 night-fighter missions, and was awarded the Front Flying Cross of the Luftwaffe for Night Fighters in Bronze, and was promoted to Unteroffizier (Sergeant). He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class on 15 April 1942 and, two months later, the Front Flying Cross of the Luftwaffe for Night Fighters in Silver on 18 June of that year. On 30 June 1942, whilst attacking a Wellington bomber on his 64th mission, his aircraft was hit by defensive fire, and he and Schierholz were forced to bail out. On 28 July 1942 Frank’s group relocated to Rheine in Westphalia, and were re-equipped with the night-fighter variant of the Dornier Do 217. On 14 September 1942 he claimed a Wellington shot down in the vicinity of Osnabrück, but suffering engine problems was forced to make a forced landing himself. He ended 1942 with 7 confirmed victories to his name. Reverting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110, he claimed his first victory in 1943 on 3 March, when he shot down a Short Stirling out of Delmenhorst. After five more victories in the first half of the year, he claimed his 14th victory when he shot down a Halifax bomber north of Antwerp on 4 July 1943, and for his services was awarded the Luftwaffe Honour Goblet on 9 August 1943. Converting to the Junkers Ju 88, he claimed a further three victories in August 1943, and having completed his 100th mission was awarded the Front Flying Cross of the Luftwaffe for Night Fighters in Gold on 18 August 1943. He claimed his 20th victory on 24 September 1943, and having added two more victories in quick succession was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 17 October 1943. He was shot down again over Berlin by an R.A.F. intruder night-fighter on Christmas Eve 1943, but managed to bail out unharmed, and finished the year with 26 confirmed victories. Frank claimed his first victory of 1944, his 27th in total, on 21 January 1944, when he shot down a Lancaster bomber near Magdeburg, and was promoted to Feldwebel (Staff Sergeant) Reverting once more to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 , the following month he achieved ‘Ace-in-a-Day’ status when, between 1:53 and 5:04 a.m., he shot down five Lancaster bombers on their way to attack Leipzig. He claimed another three victories on the night of 25 March, and then on 30-31 March took part in the Luftwaffe’s most successful night of the entire War, when the night-fighter force was credited with the destruction of 132 enemy aircraft, Frank’s personal contribution being a further three: two Lancasters and a Halifax. For his achievements he was promoted Oberfeldwebel (Senior Staff Sergeant), and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 6 April 1944. His 44th victory came on 23 April 1944, when he shot down a Stirling on a minelaying operation over Lolland. On the night of 26-27 April 1944, Frank and Schierholz, together with air mechanic Feldwebel Heinz Schneider, took off in the Messerschmitt Bf 110 from Vechta. Their mission, Frank’s 183rd of the War, was to intercept incoming bombers heading for the Ruhr. Shortly before 2:00 a.m, they spotted and attacked a Lancaster bomber over Eindhoven. The Lancaster, severely hit by cannon fire, exploded, and became Frank’s 45th victory. Debris from the Lancaster tore off the Messerschmitt’s right wing, and Frank lost control of the aircraft. He gave the order to bail out. Schierholz and Schneider parachuted to safety, but Frank failed to get out in time. He was killed when the aircraft crashed at Heeze, 6 miles southeast of Eindhoven. Frank was posthumously promoted Leutnant, backdated to 1 April 1944, and is buried in the German War Cemetery at Venray, with his crew attending his funeral. He was very popular in N.J.G. III, coming from a modest background, being known for taking his small terrier on flight with him, and married one of the female base staff. He was also known for visiting the surviving crews of aircraft which he had shot down over Holland. For his outstanding services during the Second World War, when he claimed 45 victories, all over the Western Front in the nocturnal defence of the Reich, he was posthumously awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves. Note: The Luftwaffe Trophy Cups were normally given to Luftwaffe pilots as individual unofficial trophies on the shooting down of enemy aircraft.
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