Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

The Air Force Cross group of seven medals to Squadron Leader Harold Quittenden, R.A.F., comprising: A.F.C., George VI, reverse dated 1944 (L.G. supplement 36544, 8th June 1944); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Italy Star; Burma Star; 1939-45 War Medal; Coronation Medal 1953; mounted for wearing and offered with mounted miniature group; Czechoslovak Observers Badge, cased and with certificate; two log books; and a collection of photographs and other associated ephemera. Medals good very fine, Czechoslovak badge extremely fine..

The recipient was born in London, 11th November 1907. He held Aero club certificate 19883, dated 28th August 1939. His commission as Acting Pilot Officer (R.A.F.V.R.) came 13th December 1939 and he then trained under No 1 Air Armament School at R.A.F. Manby, qualifying as Air Gunner, 3rd February 1940. He next joined 608 Squadron R.A.F., flying, among other types, Hudsons and Bothas; as well as undertaking a further round of training to qualify as Gunnery Leader in October 1940. February of the following year saw a move to 68 Squadron,where his career as a Radio Observer in night fighters began. The role of a Radio Observer was to operated the radar equipment that enables night fighters (in this case, initially Blenheims; latterly Beaufighters) to home in on their targets. On the 29th August 1942 he was in action against the Luftwaffe during the 'Norwich Blitz' - one of Germany's notorious 'Baedeker Raids', in which sites of cultural interest were deliberately targeted by bombers in revenge for the destruction of Lubeck. On this occasion he appears, with his pilot Sqn Ldr Howden, to have damaged a Heinkel He III. During this period he evidently showed great aptitude as an instructor: 68 Squadron included a significant proportion of Czech airmen, and Quittenden's diligence in schooling them in the work of Radio Observers was recognised by the honourary award of the Czechoslovak Observer's Badge by Air Vice-Marshal K. Janousek in October 1942. Another notable night time sortie was the early 'Ranger' operation against the Dortmund-Ems Canal, 16th February 1943, in which he and his pilot, Wg Cdr Dotteridge, straffed canal barges and lorries with their Beaufighter. Following service in the Mediterranean and the Far East, Quittenden returned to England, where October 1944 found him in command of Mk X Conversion Flight, a unit dedicated to instructing U.S. and British crews in the use of the latest radar equipment. His A.F.C. had been gazetted in a supplement to the Birthday Honours in June of that year. The post-war period took the recipient to R.A.F. Habbaniya, in Iraq, where his off duty time was devoted to equestrian pursuits.