RARE WW2 DSO MEDALS GROUP CAPTAIN HOWIE MIDDLE EAST SERVICE ROYAL AIR FORCE RAF

Offered is a fine Second War D.S.O. group of eight awarded to Air Commodore G. R. Howie, 216 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.I.R., silver-gilt and enamel, reverse officially dated '1942', with integral top riband bar adapted for mounting; General Service (1918-62), 1 clasp, PALESTINE, impressed named SQN. LDR. G.R. HOWIE. R.A.F.; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953 Medal, remainder unnamed as issued. Swing mounted as worn. Comes with copies of London Gazettes, air force lists, 216 Squadron log, copy citation and newspaper articles with pictures.

D.S.O. London Gazette 18/9/1942

The citation stating:

Wing Commander Howie played an active role in five separate campaigns – the Italian, Syrian, Iraq, Greek and the Western Desert – during which he flew some 1200 hours. During the Italian campaign he led many night bombing sorties as far as Benghazi. In the Greek campaign he led the squadron on communication duties. More than 100 sorties between Greece and Egypt were completed. During the evacuation the squadron with Wing Commander Howie again to the fore took off 350 personnel. In the Western Desert in November 1941, his squadron was engaged in ferrying petrol, ammunition and replacement pilots to advanced landing grounds. During the siege of Tobruk, he twice dropped wireless valves on the aerodrome and later transported special personnel there during enemy raids and in the face of heavy defending fire. Supplies were also dropped on two occasions when our troops were surrounded.  

Group Captain Gilbert Ritchie Howie D.S.O. was born on 24/3/1910 at Muswell Hill, Hampstead, his mother Isabella Livingstone Howie (Cullen) died shortly after in April 1910, He was educated at Wellington School and joined the Royal Air Force for training as a Pilot serving with them until retirement in 1960. After he qualified, he remained as an instructor at No. 7 F.T.S. Peterborough for some years. He was posted to Palestine as a Squadron Leader and saw service there in 1939 before the outbreak of the Second World War. He remained in the Middle East and as Wing Commander and Officer Commanding No. 216 Squadron, was awarded the D.S.O. in 1942.

The squadron log records several bombing flights flown by Howie including one on 10/10/1940 when he flew the only aircraft available to bomb an Italian troop concentration.

The Bombay's main service was in the Middle East, particularly with 216 Squadron, which operated most of the Bombays built at some stage. The aircraft was required to be capable of carrying 24 troops or an equivalent load of cargo as a transport, while carrying bombs and defensive guns for use as a bomber.

When the war with Italy began in June 1940, in the absence of more modern aircraft, 216 Squadron's Bombays were used as night bombers as well as in their principal role as transport aircraft. The design bombload of 250 lb bombs under the fuselage was supplemented by improvised bombs thrown out of the cargo door by hand. The aircraft flew bombing sorties against targets in the Western Desert, including Benghazi and Tobruk, and against Italian Somaliland, until the build-up of Vickers Wellington bombers in Egypt allowed the Bombays to concentrate on transport operations.

As transports, they ferried supplies and evacuated the wounded during the Siege of Tobruk, while on 2/5/1941, Bombays of 216 Squadron evacuated the Greek Royal Family from Crete to Egypt. Later that month, Bombay's played an important role in ferrying troops during the Anglo-Iraqi War. Five Bombay's were used by the fledgling SAS in their first official operation in the Middle East, a parachute drop on five forward German aerodromes on 17/11/1941.

Howie returned to the U.K. and assisted in D-Day operations and the occupation of Northwest Europe. After the War he was promoted to Group Captain on 1/1/1952, and in 1956 sent to Ankara as Air Attaché to Turkey. He retired from the R.A.F. in March 1960, on his 50th birthday, and subsequently lived at Thames Ditton.

At the time of Arnhem, Howie was a Station Commander, and one of the pilots under his command was Flight Lieutenant J. K. O’N. Edwards, who won the D.F.C. for Arnhem, but who was later better known in the entertainment word as Jimmy Edwards. In his book Take it from Here he makes several references to Group Captain Howie. In his retirement he was involved in various ex-service charities and died in February 1997 in Surrey, England.