Sold with the recipient's original Flying Log Books (4), the first covering the period September 1937 to January 1940; the second the period March 1940 to July 1943, with extensive operational entries for No. 61 and No. 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadrons; the third the period August 1943 until November 1945, including closing operational entries with No. 97 Squadron until posted missing over Berlin on 31.8.1943; and a pre-War Pupil Pilot Flying Log with largely pencilled entries for September and November 1937.

D.S.O. London Gazette 24.9.1943. Recommendation states 'This Officer has completed 47 operational sorties, 32 of them with this Squadron, 16 of which were as Marker. During his tour with this Squadron, Wing Commander Burns has never turned back early from an operation despite somtimes meeting heavy odds. On one occasion his aircraft was hit by flak and his airspeed indicator rendered unserviceable, but again he went on. Once when he was returning from the target he was attacked by three single-engined Fighters and after evading them and although the machine sustained heavy damage, he landed the aircraft safely back at base. Also the success of this Officer's attacks is consistent and he regularly obtains photographs of the aiming point and his failure to do so is an exception. This has resulted in him being regarded as the most reliable Captain in the Squadron, with the result that he is often selected for the most difficult tasks. The last such occasion was when he was chosen to act as Deputy Master Bomber on Berlin on 23 August 1943. This Officer at all times shows an unfailing keenness to operate and displays tenacity and determination which are most commendable. He is an excellent Pilot and Captain and a valuable Flight Commander'.

D.F.C. London Gazette 16.2.1943. Recommendation states 'In a short tour of 13 sorties with this Squadron, Flight Lieutenant Burns has built up an enviable reputation as a successful Captain. He has always displayed exceptional courage, determination and leadership in seeking out and destroying the enemy. His courage is exemplified by a reconnaissance of Turin carried out at 500 feet; his determination by an aiming point photograph of Essen in the face of extremely heavy flak; his efficiency by a target photograph of Berlin when he approached and bombed without the aid of the P.F.F. This Officer's cheerful offensive spirit has been an inspiration and model for all Captains and his work in all respects so outstanding as to merit a very strong recommendation for the immediate award of the D.F.C.'

Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 8.6.1943. Recommendation states 'On the night of 4-5 May 1943, this Officer was detailed to attack Dortmund. On the way to the target one of his engines became unserviceable. Squadron Leader Burns pressed home the attack on the three remaining engines at reduced speed and height, obtaining a picture of the aiming point. On the night of 13-14 May 1943, he was detailed to attack Pilsen. His aircraft was hit by flak at Kassel and airspeed indicator was rendered unserviceable. Without this almost essential instrument, Squadron Leader Burns decided to continue to the target which was still over two hundred miles away. On arrival at the target he pressed home his attack with vigour and obtained a perfect night photograph showing his objective, the Skoda Works. He was then faced with the difficult task of flying a further 700 miles back to base which he reached within three minutes of his estimated time of arrival. The skill and determination displayed by Squadron Leader Burns on these two operations is in keeping with the high tradition of the Royal Air Force'.

Wing Commander Kenneth Halstead "Rabbie" Burns, D.S.O., D.F.C., was born in Portland, Oregon, and entered the R.A.F. on a Short Service Commission in September 1937. He gained his 'Wings' in 1938, and was posted via an Instructors' Course to a Flight at Cranwell. On the closure of the College in 1940 he was posted to Australia, where he served successively as Instructor at the C.F.S., New Camden, N.S.W.; No. 1 S.F.T.S., Point Cook, Victoria; and No. 3 S.F.T.S., Wogga Wogga, before returning to the U.K. in 1942, and gathering together the members of his long term Lancaster crew at No. 19 O.T.U., Kinloss. At the end of October 1942 Burns and crew became operational on posting to No. 61 Squadron at Syston and on the night of 13-14 November flew their first war operation. Three nights later they were briefed again for Italy, and over the Alps lost an engine. A second engine failed over the Turin Fiat works, and it was clearly impossible to fly back over Alps so Burns ordered that they would return via the South of France and the Rhne Valley. As soon as they left the target area all unnecessary equipment was jettisoned to maintain height, and at daybreak they crossed the Normandy coast, finally scraping into Tangmere on the last dregs of fuel. On Burns' return to Syston he was informed by Group Captain Gus Walker of the award of his first D.F.C. Later, when receiving the Decoration, a Senior U.S.A.A.F. Officer approached him and asked, since he had been born in the U.S.A., if he would consider transferring to the U.S.A.A.F. Burns' reply was "I'm an Englishman and prefer to fly at night - it scares me stiff to fly in the daytime."

In January 1943 Burns completed six more operations against targets in Germany and Italy, including a two large scale P.F.F. Target Indicator operations against Berlin. On the first of these on 16.1.1943 he carried an American journalist, and on the second on 17.1.1943 he took with him a W.A.A.F., who was serving with a 'Cloak and Dagger' outfit which required that she should undergo some operational flying to qualify for a particular mission. Unfortunately Burns was unable to return to his own base on this occasion and was forced to land at Coltishall where the outraged Station Commander accused Burns and his crew of 'swanning'. An ugly scene ensued an it was some hours before the matter was sorted out by 5 Group Headquarters. Shortly afterwards Burns and crew were transferred to 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa, where he was promoted Squadron Leader and a Flight Commander. On the night of 1-2 March during a trip to the 'Big City' (Berlin) his Lancaster was struck by a lightning which cut the mid-upper turret in half and rendered useless all the instruments. He was forced to return home by the North Star. At the end of the month, he was over a target in Northern Germany, when a malfunctioning engine threatened to shake itself right out of the aircraft. He accordingly dropped the Lancaster II to tree-top height to remedy the problem, and ended up flying so low that the flak towers around Lbeck Bay were shooting down at him. On April 13 Burns and his men completed their Tour of 30 operations with a milk run to Italy.

At the end of April 1943, 97 Squadron was split with half going to the Path Finder Force and half to form the nucleus of 617 Squadron. Burns and his crew joined the P.F.F. at Bourn but flew their first operation as a 'Supporter Crew', arriving over the Dortmund target immediately behind the Path Finders and opening 'the show' for the Main Force. Burns then graduated to 'Backing up' and finally 'Primary Vision Marking' on his 33rd trip. On the latter operation he lost his airspeed indicator to heavy flak over Kassel, but nevertheless arrived 15 seconds early over the target. The Navigator gained the D.S.O. and Burns a Bar to the D.F.C. Homeward bound from Cologne a month later, his Lancaster Mark III was severely damaged by three F.W.190 Night Fighters - 'the port inner tank was badly holed, the fuselage on fire and the cockpit full of smoke and flames. Then the bomb doors fell open ... The fire inside was extinguished and in due course some semblance of order reappeared. Burns had just settled back on course when Sergeant Keddie reported an Me. 110 making a frontal attack ...' In the last week of July 1943 in the teeth of some of the strongest night fighter opposition yet Burns participated in the week long assault on Hamburg, and on the 27-28 was part of the Main Force which raised a fire storm for the first time.

In an attack on Nuremburg on 27 August he was appointed the third ever Master Bomber. The first had been employed ten days earlier in the historic attack on Peenemunde. It was generally agreed, however, that at this stage of the bomber offensive that Main Force crews had too much opposition to contend with to listen to a 'Master of Ceremonies', and the post was suspended for further evaluation. Burns' next trip, to Berlin, was to prove his last. The raid opened successfully at 11.30 p.m. but by midnight the flames were spreading downwind from the target and the Main Force crews were bombing short. Burns was accordingly called in to re-centre the attack for the last wave with specially coloured markers. A few minutes later he was flying down the lane of flares, which showed the bomber stream the way in and out of the target, when he was attacked head on and set ablaze by an F.W.190. He ordered his men to bale out and all but one, who apparently fell victim to an angry crowd of Berlinners, landed safely. He meanwhile fought with the aircraft in an attempt to send it together with its 9000lb bomb load into the target area before baling out. But at that moment, with his right hand on the throttle controls, a blinding flash, probably caused by the explosion of a 250lb magnesium flare, blew him and his armoured seat clean out of the Lancaster.

'I woke up on the ground, and found I was still wearing my parachute pack and I had to stand up to take it off. The rip cord was still intact, a piece of a side panel had been ripped and a few yards of silk pulled out. This, and this alone, had been sufficient to slow my fall from 18,000 feet, and if I had landed in the pine trees around me together it had saved my life! My back ached and as I was getting up realised my right ankle was badly strained, so I put my right hand down to feel how bad it was, only to find I hadn't got a right hand! I then looked at my left hand - this was OK! I still had my watch which showed 3.30 a.m. It slowly dawned on me that I had been out for three and a half hours and with a severed arm must have lost a lot of blood! So I decided then and there that I had to get help'.

The capture of 'Wing Commander Burns of Blackheath' was swiftly broadcast by the infamous "Lord Haw-Haw", and after extensive treatment at the Herman Gering' Luftwaffe Hospital, north Berlin, Burns was sent to the Dulag Luft near Frankfurt for interrogation. In early 1944 his treatment was continued at Obermassfeld by New Zealand Army Doctors who had remained behind at the fall of Crete. Burns was thereafter held in a number of camps including Stalag Luft III, Sagan, but owing to the severity of his wounds was repatriated via Sweden in September 1944. On his return to the U.K. he was appointed 'Air 1' to the S.A.S.O. at P.F.F. H.Q. Staff, where one of his additional duties was to prepare the 'blurb' for Honours and Awards. 'I can tell you, quite honestly', he recalled, 'that getting the right text for the Victoria Cross was by far the hardest job I have ever done in my life. It had to be vetted, revetted, and vetted again ... The Station Commanders used to send the originals to H.Q. but these were often, of little use at all, so it was a case of having to start again from scratch'.

Despite the loss of his lower right arm Burns returned to flying in early 1945 and after the German surrender was appointed to the command of 7 Squadron which was then earmarked for a 'Cab Rank' bombing role in the invasion of Malaya. The dropping of the atomic bomb on 6 August however, brought the Japanese war to an end, and, having failed to obtain a Permanent Commission, Burns reluctantly left the R.A.F. on 21.1.1946. He spent the next two years working in Uganda and Kenya and in 1948 accepted an offer to rejoin the Service as a Squadron Leader at H.Q. East Africa. He subsequently served in the Canal Zone and the U.K. in the Equipment Section, finally retiring with the lowering the Ensign at 3 Maintenance Unit, Milton, in 1961.

Reference sources: Into the Silk, True Stories of the Caterpillar Club, Ian Mackersey, 1956; Burns Night Over Berlin, Ken Spargo, 1995.