Beschreibung:

The highly important Great War ‘Airships’ A.F.C. group of ten awarded to Air Chief Marshal The Honourable Sir Ralph ‘Cocky’ Cochrane, [G.B.E., K.C.B.] Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force. A pilot who had worked with Barnes Wallis during the Great War, flying his experimental airships and testing the world’s first airship mooring mast, which Wallis had designed. Cochrane’s ability was recognised early in his career, and after some sound advice from ‘Boom’ Trenchard - “Young man, you’re wasting your time. Go and learn to fly an aeroplane’, he joined the Royal Air Force. A rising star, Cochrane was seconded to the New Zealand Government to advise on air defence, shortly after which became the first Chief of Air Staff of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in April 1937. With the outbreak of the Second War, a string of important appointments followed - AOC No. 3 (Bomber) Group, September 1942 - February 1943, and AOC No. 5 (Bomber) Group, February 1943 - February 1945. Under the aegis of the latter Cochrane was to preside over, and plan, some of the most important air operations of the war. Just two days after being installed as AOC No. 5 Group, Cochrane was tasked by ‘Bomber’ Harris with the planning of Operation Chastise - the Dams Raid. Cochrane ‘had perhaps the most incisive brain in the RAF... His god was efficiency and he sought it so uncompromisingly.’ What was to follow was the recruitment of Guy Gibson, the painstaking formation of ‘X’ or 617 Squadron, and the legendary raid itself. After the success of the Dams Raid, Cochrane went on to play a pivotal role in the development of 617 Squadron as a specialist precision bombing squadron. A brilliant and meticulous planner of raids, he oversaw the transition of leadership of the Squadron from Gibson to Leonard Cheshire whilst all the time identifying new possible targets for attack. For the remainder of the war Cochrane worked closely with both Barnes Wallis and Cheshire (and subsequently Willie Tait), helping to develop special target marking techniques, and incorporating the huge ground penetrating bombs - ‘Tallboy’ and ‘Grand Slam’ into 617 Squadron’s precision bombing role. Leonard Cheshire, V.C. later paid tribute to him thus: ‘In tracing the evolution of our low-level bombing technique don’t underestimate the contribution of Cochrane. He is the only senior officer with a really clear, unbiased brain that I have met. He followed our course with great attention to detail, was remarkably quick to grasp the fundamentals and was seldom hoodwinked. If I ever asked for anything and he refused, he always gave me clearly his reasons. If we ever needed anything we usually got it immediately. I used to think that if I asked him for an elephant I’d get it by return of post.... It was much the same with everything else, and we should have been lost without someone as strong and critical as Cochrane behind us. He is, of course, a strict disciplinarian, ruthless in dealing with inefficiency, and there is no doubt that he was the key figure behind all that 617 achieved.’ Cochrane struck up a similar relationship with Willie Tait, and together they masterminded the eventual sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz in 1944 Air Force Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (Sub. Lt. R. A. Cochrane. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Flt. Cr. R. A. Cochrane. R.N.A.S.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Kurdistan (F/L. Hon. R. A. R. A. Cochrane. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1937, mounted for display, generally nearly very fine or better (10) £6,000-£8,000 Footnote G.B.E. London Gazette 8 June 1950. K.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1945. C.B.E. London Gazette 2 January 1939. K.C.B. London Gazette 10 June 1948. C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1943. A.F.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919. The Honourable Sir Ralph Alexander Cochrane was born in Springfield, Fife, in February 1895, and was the youngest son of Thomas Cochrane, 1st Baron of Cult