Original British Royal Air Force Named Grouping – Missing in Action Original Items

Original Items: One-of-a-kind grouping. This grouping were the belongings go WWII pilot Flight Lieutenant Henry DeLandre Watson (148537). Watson flew in WW2 from 1943-1945 and then stayed on with the RAF in order to fly in South East Asia. On the 10th of March, 1947 his parents located in Northern Ireland received a letter from Wing Commander J.R. Gordon-Finlayson of the R.A.F. AIR COMMAND, FAR EAST. It reads in part:

“Your son was Captain of an aircraft detailed to carry out a scheduled airline run from Changi Airfield. Singapore to Hong Kong. The aircraft took off from Changi at 10.10 fourth on 26th February 1947, gave its last position at 10.49 hours and its last radio transmission at 11.02 hours. A thorough search was initiated but to no avail, and covered the whole area of the route along which aircraft was briefed.”

This amazing grouping consist of the following:

– RAF tunic with embodied wings named to H. WATSON
•- Pilot’s flying Log Book with entries from 1943-1947. Watson flew mostly the Douglas C-47 Skytrain (known as Dakota in British service) which was the main transport aircraft for the allies during World War II.
•- Over 50 photos of wartime and post war operation in the Far East.
•- Over 20 personal correspondence items in letters and telegrams to and from his family.
– Pages upon pages of official documents regarding Watson going missing in action and the subsequent declaration that he was killed.

A wonderful grouping of a pilot that survived the European theatre during World War Two only to go missing in the Pacific theatre after the war.