Beschreibung:

A well-documented Second World War campaign group of four awarded to Squadron Leader B. R. Murphy, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a long-served fighter pilot who evaded capture via the famous “Pat O’Leary Line” in 1943, only to suffer serious burns after baling out of his flak-damaged Spitfire over Cologne in December 1944 - in the interim, according to contemporary sources, he had claimed three “kills” and inflicted much damage on enemy transport and communications 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, clasp, France and Germany; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf, together with his Caterpillar Club membership badge, gold, with “ruby” eyes, the reverse engraved ‘F./L. B. R. Murphy’, R.A.F. Escaping Society membership badge, gilt and enamels, an attractive Baroda Squadron sweetheart’s brooch, silver and enamel, hallmarks for Birmingham 1943, his wartime St. Christopher lucky charm, silver, the reverse engraved ‘B. R. Murphy, 119286’, and a set of related dress miniature medals, generally good very fine (12) £1800-2200 Footnote Basil Robert Murphy was born in Midhurst, Sussex in April 1915, the son of a Private in the Rifle Brigade who was later killed in action. Educated at the Royal Masonic School at Bushey, Hertfordshire, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and commenced training as a pupil pilot out in Canada in September 1941, where he attended an elementary flying training school in Calgary and qualified for his “Wings” in January 1942. Embarked for the U.K., he next attended R.A.F. Ternhill and No. 52 Operational Training Unit at Aston Down, following which, in the summer of 1942, he commenced his operational career with a posting to No. 124 (Baroda) Squadron, a Spitfire unit based at Gravesend - according to operational demand, the Squadron would subsequently operate from Debden, Tangmere, North Weald and Westhampnett. Having completed his first sortie over the Channel on 17 August, Murphy flew three further missions on the 19th, the whole in support of the famous Dieppe raid, his log book entry noting, ‘Gigantic Crystal Palace show. Tracer very close ... one continuous dogfight with Fw. 190s ... What a show!!’ And between then and November-December 1942, when he was attached to Boscombe Down, he participated in around a dozen more “Rhubarbs” or “Circuses”. Back with “Baroda” Squadron by the new year, Murphy flew another sortie to France on 16 February, but was compelled to make a crash-landing near Calais after an engagement with Fw. 190s on the very next day. German troops were quickly detailed to search the relevant area, around the village of Attaques, and Murphy was fortunate indeed to meet-up with a member of the Resistance, who hid him in a duck hide for two days before the “Pat O’Leary Line” could be contacted. A journey by truck to Calais ensued, where he met a member of the famous escape line in a cafe, was given false papers in the name of “Jean David” and moved thence to Lille some 10 days later. But here his onward journey came to a grinding halt, the recent infiltration of the “Pat O’Leary Line” by a traitor - and the arrest of its leader, actually Lieutenant-Commander Albert-Marie Guerisse, G.C., D.S.O. - leading to the Line’s temporary closure. In fact Murphy had to remain hidden in Lille for over four months, the Gestapo raiding numerous addresses and arresting one of his helpers - the latter was tortured over a period of 20 days, but gave away no information. In due course, however, and thanks to the bravery of such resistants as Dedee de Jongh, the Line was re-established, and Murphy was guided onwards to the Pyrenees via Arras, Paris and Bordeaux - most probably by Baron Jean-Francois Nothomb, one of de Jongh’s able assistants. Finally, in early August 1943, after crossing the Pyrenees disguised as a shepherdess - and with a badly infected finger - he reached the British Embassy in Madrid, was smuggled over the border to Gibraltar, and flown home to Hendon in a Hudson a few day