Lot Essay
Sold with a letter of provenance (dated 26.1.1967).
D.F.C. London Gazette 5.3.1943. Recommendation states 'In all his combats this Officer has displayed great determination and resource. During a patrol over this country one night in 1941, he sighted a Heinkel III but, whilst making his attack, his turret became jammed with his guns in the beam position. Despite this, he closed in on the enemy aircraft and, by skilfully manoeuvring his aircraft, he fired his guns from their rigid position and shot the enemy aircraft down. Flying Officer Wagner continued his patrol and sighted another enemy aircraft which he attacked and damaged by similar tactics. This Officer has rendered valuable service in the Middle East and, while in Ceylon, he destroyed two Japanese bombers'.
Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 28.4.1944. Recommendation states 'Since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, this Officer has completed very many sorties at night and has displayed skill, gallantry and devotion to duty of a high order. One night in March 1944, whilst over enemy territory, Flight Lieutenant Wagner engaged first a Focke Wulf 190 and then two Messerschmitt 410s, all of which he shot down. In the last of these flights, Flight Lieutenant Wagner pressed home his attack at such close range that his aircraft was enveloped in burning petrol and oil which obscured the windscreen and the tail unit. Despite this, Flight Lieutenant Wagner intercepted another enemy aircraft which he attacked with damaging effect. He has now destroyed a further four enemy aircraft'.
Flight Lieutenant Alan Derek Wagner, D.F.C., was educated at Laleham Preparatory School, Margate and at Whitgift School. Joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in October 1937 as an Airman for Pilot Training, he was called up in September 1939 and reported to No. 81 (Communications) Squadron in France in May 1940. With the Squadron disbanded on its return to the U.K., Wagner attended No. 6 Operational Training Unit prior to being posted to 151 Squadron at Digby in late September 1940.
Subsequently operationally engaged in the unit's Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain, he went on to claim his first damaged enemy aircraft in a night-fighter role following an engagement over Mildenhall on the night of 9-10.2.1941. Again in action on the night of 8.4.1941, and now piloting a Defiant, Wagner's skilful manoeuvring overcame the handicap of a jammed turret and enabled his Gunner to bring down an He. III and damage another over Coventry.
Commissioned in May 1941, he next joined 30 Squadron in the Western Desert and afterwards sailed for Ceylon, where he downed two Japanese bombers during the enemy's carrier-based attack on Colombo on 5.4.1942. Later in the year, he returned to 151 Squadron in the U.K., and was gazetted for his well-merited D.F.C. in March 1943.
Wagner was posted to 605 Squadron, a night intruder unit flying Mosquitoes, in late 1943, and quickly got to grips with the enemy, the night of 23-24 December being a case in point, when he damaged an enemy aircraft over Chievres. But it was the night of 5-6.3.1944 that proved to be his most memorable, when, in company of his Navigator Flying Officer E.T. Orringe, he accomplished the destruction of two Me. 410s and an F.W. 190 over Gardelegen airfield - one of these was attacked at such close range that his Mosquito was enveloped in burning oil and petrol which damaged the outer skin. Remarkably, these successes were instantly followed up by the damaging of another Me. 410.
On the night of 24-25.3.1944, the gallant Wagner brought down a Ju. 88 over Erfurt and damaged an He. 219, and exactly one month later, in his final night intruder engagement, destroyed another Ju. 88 over Neuburg airfield. A Bar to his D.F.C. was gazetted in the same month and he was posted to the Fighter Interception Unit (F.I.U.).
In June, at Hawkinge, he joined a special detachment of Pilots who had been given the brief of destroying V.1 flying bombs, at night, in Tempests. Once again his skill and marksmanship brought rapid success, two V.1s falling to his guns in July. He had assumed command of the unit on the 5th of the same month. Tragically, on the 18th, while in pursuit of another V.1, he flew into the ground at high speed in fog. Wagner was 29 years old at the time of his death and is buried in Folkestone New Cemetery, Hawkinge.
D.F.C. London Gazette 5.3.1943. Recommendation states 'In all his combats this Officer has displayed great determination and resource. During a patrol over this country one night in 1941, he sighted a Heinkel III but, whilst making his attack, his turret became jammed with his guns in the beam position. Despite this, he closed in on the enemy aircraft and, by skilfully manoeuvring his aircraft, he fired his guns from their rigid position and shot the enemy aircraft down. Flying Officer Wagner continued his patrol and sighted another enemy aircraft which he attacked and damaged by similar tactics. This Officer has rendered valuable service in the Middle East and, while in Ceylon, he destroyed two Japanese bombers'.
Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 28.4.1944. Recommendation states 'Since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, this Officer has completed very many sorties at night and has displayed skill, gallantry and devotion to duty of a high order. One night in March 1944, whilst over enemy territory, Flight Lieutenant Wagner engaged first a Focke Wulf 190 and then two Messerschmitt 410s, all of which he shot down. In the last of these flights, Flight Lieutenant Wagner pressed home his attack at such close range that his aircraft was enveloped in burning petrol and oil which obscured the windscreen and the tail unit. Despite this, Flight Lieutenant Wagner intercepted another enemy aircraft which he attacked with damaging effect. He has now destroyed a further four enemy aircraft'.
Flight Lieutenant Alan Derek Wagner, D.F.C., was educated at Laleham Preparatory School, Margate and at Whitgift School. Joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in October 1937 as an Airman for Pilot Training, he was called up in September 1939 and reported to No. 81 (Communications) Squadron in France in May 1940. With the Squadron disbanded on its return to the U.K., Wagner attended No. 6 Operational Training Unit prior to being posted to 151 Squadron at Digby in late September 1940.
Subsequently operationally engaged in the unit's Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain, he went on to claim his first damaged enemy aircraft in a night-fighter role following an engagement over Mildenhall on the night of 9-10.2.1941. Again in action on the night of 8.4.1941, and now piloting a Defiant, Wagner's skilful manoeuvring overcame the handicap of a jammed turret and enabled his Gunner to bring down an He. III and damage another over Coventry.
Commissioned in May 1941, he next joined 30 Squadron in the Western Desert and afterwards sailed for Ceylon, where he downed two Japanese bombers during the enemy's carrier-based attack on Colombo on 5.4.1942. Later in the year, he returned to 151 Squadron in the U.K., and was gazetted for his well-merited D.F.C. in March 1943.
Wagner was posted to 605 Squadron, a night intruder unit flying Mosquitoes, in late 1943, and quickly got to grips with the enemy, the night of 23-24 December being a case in point, when he damaged an enemy aircraft over Chievres. But it was the night of 5-6.3.1944 that proved to be his most memorable, when, in company of his Navigator Flying Officer E.T. Orringe, he accomplished the destruction of two Me. 410s and an F.W. 190 over Gardelegen airfield - one of these was attacked at such close range that his Mosquito was enveloped in burning oil and petrol which damaged the outer skin. Remarkably, these successes were instantly followed up by the damaging of another Me. 410.
On the night of 24-25.3.1944, the gallant Wagner brought down a Ju. 88 over Erfurt and damaged an He. 219, and exactly one month later, in his final night intruder engagement, destroyed another Ju. 88 over Neuburg airfield. A Bar to his D.F.C. was gazetted in the same month and he was posted to the Fighter Interception Unit (F.I.U.).
In June, at Hawkinge, he joined a special detachment of Pilots who had been given the brief of destroying V.1 flying bombs, at night, in Tempests. Once again his skill and marksmanship brought rapid success, two V.1s falling to his guns in July. He had assumed command of the unit on the 5th of the same month. Tragically, on the 18th, while in pursuit of another V.1, he flew into the ground at high speed in fog. Wagner was 29 years old at the time of his death and is buried in Folkestone New Cemetery, Hawkinge.