C30a - C39

RAF Laarbruch Weeze

Crew signed

13 7 74 Weeze Freedon of Weeze Special Postmark . Commemoratring the granting of the Freedom of Weeze to RAF Laarbruch 13th July 1974. Blue flown cachet. Carried in Phantom FGR2 XV485 the leader of a formation of RAF Laarbruch Aircraft in a flypast of Weeze. Personally Signed Station Commander Gp Capt M.W.P.Knight and the Mayor of Weeze Laurenz Pannen Certified Copy No 909 of 1000. Backstamped Headquartes RAF Station Laarbruch 13 jul 1974 RAF Germany British Forces Post Office 43. .

Maiden Flight of the Panavia 200 Multi - Role Combat Aircraft 1974

Pilot signed

Special.Signed by Capt.Millett Test Pilot who Flew the maiden flight.

1st Flight of the Hark Signed Chief Test Pilot Simpson.
21 Aug 74 FPO 965 Commemorating First Flight of the Hark First Development Aircraft XX154 . Black flown cachet. Flown on maiden flight of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk XX 154 Piloted by Mr D M S Simpson. Personally Signed by Mr D M S Simpson Chief Test Pilot H S A ( Kingston ) Certified Copy n of 1879.

60th Anniv of No 201 Sqn.RAF.

Pilot signed

RAF FDC 201 Signed Signed 7 including WW1 Pilot
16 Oct 74 Guernsey Post Office 60th Anniversary 201 Squadron RAF 1914 to 74 Special Postmark. 60th Anniversary 201 Squadron RAF 16th October 1974. Cover depicts 201 Squadron Nimrod XV247 flying over St Peter Port Harbour Guernsey, also 201 Squadron and Gernsey badges. 201 Squadron was officially affiliated as Gernsey Own on 5 May 1939 by the Secretary of State for Air when opening Guernsey Airport. Two Victoria Crosses have been awarded to 201 Sqn Pilots Flt Sub Lt Warneford in 1915 for shooting down a Zeppelin & Major Barber in 1918 for shooting down 4 aircraft whilst gravely wounded. Flown in Nimrod XV244 from RAF Kinloss Pilot Sqn Ldr Clegg. Personally Signed
Mr.L.H.Riddle 2O1 Sqn.pilot 1917 shot down 8th August 1918 became POW. Gp.Capt.Abrams 201 Sqn .Southampton - flying boat pilot 1927 Squadron Commander 201 Sqn 1941 MRAF Sir Denis Sportwood.2O1 Sqn.London flying boat 1937 to 44 served mostly on Flying Squadrons including 201.Later became Chief of the Air staff. Wg.Cdr.Roberts During WW11 completed two bomber tours of Europe and N Afica between which he served as a flying instructor with RCAF.OC 201 Sqn.1958 to 59.Wg.Cdr.Harris Present CO 201 Sqn in 1974 ( when Cover was issued.Signed on the back by Sqn Ldr M A Glegg.In 1972 converted to the Nimrod and has served on 120 & 201 Sqn, Flt Lt R J Pickering as a graduate in 1970 and having completed his flying training was posted on to Nimrods. He completed the conversion course at ST Mawgan in 1973 and has since served on 201 Squadron. The photograph with this cover , is a Russian Foxtrot Class Submarine taken by a 201 Squadron Crew whilst on a North Atlantic Operational Sortie.Certified Copy No 335 of 601 issued. Signed R J Pickering Project Officer. RAF Ref No C34c

RAF Gliding & Soaring Association 25th Anniversary.Flown in Glider RAF Scampton to Swinderby

as above but flown by Flt Lt J.S. Williamson.

Pilot signed Lee

Pilot signed.Williarnson

Special Signed Flown in Glider Signed Pilots Kearon & Kirby
15 Dec 74 BFPS 1481 25th Anniv The Formation of the RAF Gliding & Soaring Association Special Postmark. Blue Flown cachet flown in a two seater Glider Schieicher Ka 13 from the Eagle Gliding Club at Detmold Germany flight time 12 minutes. Then cover was subsequently flown from RAF Gutersloh to Luton Airport on the 16th December 1974 and then delivered to the RAF Gliding & Soaring Association Centre at Bicester.Personally Signed by the Pilots Air Commodore N W Kearon CMG, CBE, RAF and Chief Technician G Kirby. Backstamped RAF Post Office Gutersloh 16th Dec 1974 and No 71 M.N. RAF Bicester 17 Dec 1974. Certified Copy No of 1250.

29 Dec 74 BFPS 1488 Joint Services Expedition to Danger Island. Christmas 3½p stamp.

As above But Christmas 4½p stamp. Only 66 issued. ( see Ref Book note.

Signed by Expedition leader Cmdr Ken Baldwin with 3½p stamp.

Signed by Expedition leader Cmdr Ken Baldwin with 4½p stamp.

Special 29 Dec 74 BFPS 1488 Departure of Joint services Expedition to Danger Island .Red Flown cachet, Flown in VC 10 of British Airways from Heathrow to Mauritius and then taken by RFA Resurgent to Eagle Island. From there by Ketch "four friends" and inflatable craft to the Three Brothers Island, Sea Cow and Danger Island.On completion of the expedition,taken to Addu Atoll in the Maldive Islands then to RAF Gan from where the cover was flown to RAF Brize Norton by RAF VC10. Personally Signed by Dr David James Bellamy,PH.D,B.Sc,F.L.S.He was Chief Scientist on this Expedition.He is well known to the public for his T.V. appearances. Commander E.A.Baldwin O.B.E. Royal Navy.Leader of this Expedition and Mr Warren Blake owner and skipper of the Ketch "four Friends". 3 Backstamps and Certified Copy No 791 of 911 Personally Signed by W.S.O.Randle RAFMWW11 Wellington Pilot..

Closure of RAF Oakington.

Pilot Signed with 3½p stamp.

Pilot Signed with 4½p stamp.

Special Signed by Varsity , Bulldog & Wessex Crews. 100 Numbered & Certified. with 4½p Northern Island definitive stamp.

Special Signed by Varsity , Bulldog & Wessex Crews. 100 Numbered & Certified. with 4½p Scottish definitive stamp.

Personally Signed by Odette Marie Céline Hallowes GC, MBE, Chevalier de la légion d'honneur, (28
April 1912 - 13 March 1995) was an Allied heroine of World War II.
Odette Marie Céline Brailly was born in Amiens in the Somme département of France. Her father was
the First World War hero Gaston Brailly who was killed at Verdun in 1918 when she was six years old.
She met the Englishman Roy Sansom in Bologna and married him in 1931, moving with him to
England. Her husband enlisted in 1940. When the War Office requested all French-born residents of
London to supply them with photographs of their home towns, Odette volunteered her family album,
which contained many useful depictions of the Channel coast. She joined the First Aid Nursing
Yeomanry (FANY), and was later asked to train under Colonel Maurice Buckmaster of the Special
Operations Executive and return to Nazi-occupied France to work with the French underground. She
left her three daughters in the care of her husband.
She made a landing near Cannes in 1942, where she made contact with her supervisor, Peter
Churchill. Using the code name Lise, she brought him funds and acted as his radio operator.
Churchill's operation in France was betrayed by a double agent, and Odette and Churchill were
arrested on 16 April 1943 and imprisoned. Under torture by the Gestapo at Fresnes prison in Paris,
Odette stuck to her cover story that Churchill was the nephew of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and
that she was Peter's wife. The hope was that in this way their treatment would be mitigated.
Odette was condemned to death in June 1943 and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She
survived the war and testified against the prison guards at a 1946 war crimes trial.
Odette's husband had died during her imprisonment and she married Peter Churchill in 1947. They
were divorced in 1956.
Her third husband was Geoffrey Hallowes.
Odette Hallowes was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and was the first
of three World War II FANY members to be awarded the George Cross (gazetted 20 August 1946).<Actinic:Variable Name = '1'/>
She remains the only woman to have received the George Cross whilst alive, all other female GC
awards to date being posthumous. She was also appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for her
work with the French resistance.<Actinic:Variable Name = '2'/>
In later life Odette's house was burgled and her GC was stolen but after an appeal it was returned with
a note saying 'You, madam, appear to be a dear old lady. I am not all that bad- it's just circumstances.
Your little dog really loves me. I gave him a nice pat and left him a piece of meat. Sincerely yours, A
Bad Egg
RAF Oakington at the end of 19 43 Stirlings were taken off Main Force Ops, but used in small
numbers for small diversionary attacks until August ‘44. It still however had a role to play, namely as
the principle glider tug on the D-day landings, supply dropper for partisans and SOE agents, and later
carrying fuel supplies for the advance across Germany.

As C37a but Added red reflown cachet 2nd April 1976 in Vickers Varsity.RAF Finningley – Leconfield-Leuchars-Newcastle-Leeming-Linton Finningley Signed by Wessex Pilot Reflown flight details with list of 8 crew members. Personally Signed by all 8 crew Members Flt Lt G P Craig,M Sig N Silk, Flt Lt D A Stallan, Flt Lt G Evans, Wgr Cdr G S Goodsell, Plt Off S D Norrie, Plt Off M R Hanton & Flt Lt F W Waters. Certified Copy of 150 signed project officer.

As above but with added incert with Reflown flight details with list of 8 crew members. Personally Signed by all 8 crew Members Flt Lt G P Craig,M Sig N Silk, Flt Lt D A Stallan, Flt Lt G Evans, Wgr Cdr G S Goodsell, Plt Off S D Norrie, Plt Off M R Hanton & Flt Lt F W Waters. Certified Cover No 4 of 20 issued. Signed by the Project Officer.

Closure of RAF Oakington Double Signed Mayor & Commanding Officer.
7 Mar 75 BFPS 1494 Closure of RAF Oakington Special Postmark on 10p Unversal Postal Union Imperial Airways Flying Boat Stamp. Closure of RAF Oakington 7th March 1975. No 5 Flying Training School Royal Air Force Oakington. Picture Cachet of Short Stiring, D H Vampire T11, N A Harvard 2B and Vickers Varsity T1, also 5 Flying Training School and City of Cambridge badges. RAF Oakington opened in 1940 and thoughout the WW11 was used by Bomber Command.Blue flown cachets flown in Bulldog and Wessex. Backstamped with Black RAF Museum Hendon Museum 10 3 75, Blue RAF Postroom & Red Cambridge University Air Squadron. Personally Signed Councillor P J Warren Mayor of Cambridge & Gp Capt MacCorkindale Officer Commanding Oakington. Certified Cover No 77 of 900 issed, Signed by Project Officer

25 th Anniversary of tha Radio Engineering Unit RAF Henlow .

Pilot signed 7p stamp.

Special signed by Air Marshal Sir R E W Harland.Air Officer Commanding in Chief Support Command.

6 June 1975 Dover First Cross Channel Flight, 1st Kite Mail Flight Cover carried from the Cliffs of Dover to a beach near Calais Signed by the Pilot R Bickel