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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth B Briars, Ralph

Sgt Ralph Briars DFM

Serving with No.49 Sqn and No.617 Sqn as an Air Gunner, he flew on the Dortmund-Ems Canal raid on 23rd-24th September 1944 with No.617 Sqn as the target was destroyed by tallboy bombs. He had previously been awarded the DFM for an incident with No.49 Sqn in February that year. They had previously been attacked and hit by an enemy fighter when approaching the target of Augsburg, they were hit by friendly fire from an over-eager rear gunner in another Lancaster, causing a fire near the rear turret and several holes in the fuselage and controls. In the cockpit, the crew fought for control of the aircraft while the gunners in the rear tackled the fire with ammunition cooking off around them. They managed to put the fire out and regain control, opting to press on to the target regardless of the damage. The skipper, John Sanders was awarded the DFC while three of the crew (Briars, Machin and Ward) were all rewarded with the DFM.
We have no further information, except that our source for the signature was signed in 1991, and that he appears to have recorded memoirs in 1994.

Distinguished Flying Medal