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Lot Essay
Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including a fine array of Navigator's operational 'route plotter' sheets, detailing 19 sorties to German targets between September and December 1944, the whole in Mosquitoes of No. 128 Squadron; the recipient's Caterpillar Club membership card (see notes below); American 'Eagle Club' membership card; R.A.F. Service and Release Book; a good selection of wartime photographs, including a number of target scenes; two or three 'Certificates of Post-War Credits', and much besides.
D.F.C. London Gazette 19.10.1943. Recommendation states 'Pilot Officer Harbottle has completed 24 sorties against most of the heavily defended Ruhr targets and also against such objectives as Berlin, Pilsen, Stettin and l'Orient. This Officer has proved himself to be an outstanding Air Bomber of exceptional merit. He has at all times displayed undaunted fortitude and an admirable tenacity of purpose under the most trying conditions which has been an inspiration to his crew and the Squadron [No. 158]. It is recommended that his fine record of courage and devotion to duty be recognised by the award of the D.F.C.'
Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 16.2.1945. Recommendation states 'This Officer has now completed 66 sorties, 24 of which were with Halifax aircraft in 158 Squadron, 4 Group, between 1942-43, seven with Lancasters and 35 with Mosquitoes in 8 (Path Finder Force) Group (405, 692 and 128 Squadrons). An award of the D.F.C. was made to Flying Officer Harbottle on 4 October 1943, since when he has completed a further 42 sorties, 35 against German territory. He has had a most successful series of operations'.
Flight Lieutenant John Harbottle, D.F.C., enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in May 1941 and commenced his remarkable operational career with No. 158 Squadron in late 1942, initially flying two 'Gardening' sorties while attached to Coastal Command.
Posted back to 158 for more regular operations that December, his very first outing resulted in Caterpillar Club membership, his Halifax having been badly hit by flak over Mannheim and the entire crew compelled to bale out over the U.K. By the time Harbottle had been transferred out of 158 in July 1943, he had completed 25 sorties against a wide variety of French and German targets, his Halifax once more being hit by flak on a raid over Stuttgart ('Successful, returning with bomb doors open due to flak damage'), and attacked by night fighters on at least two occasions, namely during outings to Essen on 5.3.1943 ('Aircraft sustained two bullet holes in leading edge of tail plane') and to Berlin on 27.3.1943. A well-merited D.F.C. was gazetted in October 1943.
Harbottle resumed his operational career in Lancasters of 405 Squadron, 8 (Path Finder Force) Group in June 1944, going on to complete seven sorties against mainly French targets prior to transferring to 692 Squadron, also of the Path Finder Force, in the following month.
By now having attended a Mosquito Training Unit, he joined up, as a Navigator, with a Canadian, Pilot Officer B.D. McEwan, the pair of them going on to complete 19 operations against an array of heavily defended German targets, Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg, Mannheim and Stuttgart among them.
In September, they were posted to the newly formed 128 Squadron, as part of 8 Group's Light Night Striking Force, an awesome tally of 31 sorties being completed by December 1944, once again against a string of heavily defended German targets. It is interesting to note that Harbottle survived a total of 11 trips to Berlin in his operational career, although one such such outing on the night of 6-7.10.1944 nearly ended in disaster, his Mosquito being coned in searchlights for a terrifying 15 minutes - the Squadron's O.R.B. notes that the aircraft's starboard flap was shot away, in addition to further damage to the rear-spar. Indeed the hazards of operational flying were all too often made apparent, right up until the gallant duo flew their last sortie in late December - detailed to attack the oil refinery at Scholven, their Mosquito was compelled to return from the target area on one engine.
The gallant Harbottle was gazetted for a long overdue Bar to his D.F.C. in February 1945 and finally released from the Service in July 1946.
D.F.C. London Gazette 19.10.1943. Recommendation states 'Pilot Officer Harbottle has completed 24 sorties against most of the heavily defended Ruhr targets and also against such objectives as Berlin, Pilsen, Stettin and l'Orient. This Officer has proved himself to be an outstanding Air Bomber of exceptional merit. He has at all times displayed undaunted fortitude and an admirable tenacity of purpose under the most trying conditions which has been an inspiration to his crew and the Squadron [No. 158]. It is recommended that his fine record of courage and devotion to duty be recognised by the award of the D.F.C.'
Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 16.2.1945. Recommendation states 'This Officer has now completed 66 sorties, 24 of which were with Halifax aircraft in 158 Squadron, 4 Group, between 1942-43, seven with Lancasters and 35 with Mosquitoes in 8 (Path Finder Force) Group (405, 692 and 128 Squadrons). An award of the D.F.C. was made to Flying Officer Harbottle on 4 October 1943, since when he has completed a further 42 sorties, 35 against German territory. He has had a most successful series of operations'.
Flight Lieutenant John Harbottle, D.F.C., enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in May 1941 and commenced his remarkable operational career with No. 158 Squadron in late 1942, initially flying two 'Gardening' sorties while attached to Coastal Command.
Posted back to 158 for more regular operations that December, his very first outing resulted in Caterpillar Club membership, his Halifax having been badly hit by flak over Mannheim and the entire crew compelled to bale out over the U.K. By the time Harbottle had been transferred out of 158 in July 1943, he had completed 25 sorties against a wide variety of French and German targets, his Halifax once more being hit by flak on a raid over Stuttgart ('Successful, returning with bomb doors open due to flak damage'), and attacked by night fighters on at least two occasions, namely during outings to Essen on 5.3.1943 ('Aircraft sustained two bullet holes in leading edge of tail plane') and to Berlin on 27.3.1943. A well-merited D.F.C. was gazetted in October 1943.
Harbottle resumed his operational career in Lancasters of 405 Squadron, 8 (Path Finder Force) Group in June 1944, going on to complete seven sorties against mainly French targets prior to transferring to 692 Squadron, also of the Path Finder Force, in the following month.
By now having attended a Mosquito Training Unit, he joined up, as a Navigator, with a Canadian, Pilot Officer B.D. McEwan, the pair of them going on to complete 19 operations against an array of heavily defended German targets, Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg, Mannheim and Stuttgart among them.
In September, they were posted to the newly formed 128 Squadron, as part of 8 Group's Light Night Striking Force, an awesome tally of 31 sorties being completed by December 1944, once again against a string of heavily defended German targets. It is interesting to note that Harbottle survived a total of 11 trips to Berlin in his operational career, although one such such outing on the night of 6-7.10.1944 nearly ended in disaster, his Mosquito being coned in searchlights for a terrifying 15 minutes - the Squadron's O.R.B. notes that the aircraft's starboard flap was shot away, in addition to further damage to the rear-spar. Indeed the hazards of operational flying were all too often made apparent, right up until the gallant duo flew their last sortie in late December - detailed to attack the oil refinery at Scholven, their Mosquito was compelled to return from the target area on one engine.
The gallant Harbottle was gazetted for a long overdue Bar to his D.F.C. in February 1945 and finally released from the Service in July 1946.