Medals of RAF pilot and D-Day hero up for auction in Yorkshire
The medals of an RAF pilot who flew over the the D-day Normandy landing beaches at just 50ft laying smoke to cover the invading forces is to go under the hammer this week.
Flying Officer Leslie Valentine, 24, flew his Boston bomber so low that it was shot at by the enemy and UK forces who did not realise it was on their side.
Two of the aircraft on the mission were lost but miraculously Flying Officer Valentine got his plane back to his squadron’s base in Hampshire unharmed.
The mission was immortalised in Friendly Smoke; a painting by the aviation artist Michael Turner (1934-2025.)
The medals are being sold by the officer’s son, Dudley Valentine of Huby near York, a former bomber crewman, who said that now in his eighties and with no-one to pass them on to, he wanted his father’s collection to go to someone who will treasure them.
The collection includes Flying Officer Valentine’s wartime logbooks, pilot notes for the Boston aircraft, associated Croix de Guerre paperwork, photographs and other ephemera.
It will be sold David Duggleby’s in Scarborough on Thursday (Oct 1).