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Auction: 25003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 62

A poignant Second World War casualty's group of three awarded to Pilot Officer E. A. 'Taffy' Vagg, Royal Air Force, who was killed in a Hampden of No. 83 Squadron on returning from a sortie to the Ruhr in May 1940, a victim of 'friendly fire' - among his fellow squadron officers was Guy Gibson, who refers to his loss in Enemy Coast Ahead

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, together with his Air Ministry condolence slip in the name of 'Pilot Officer E. A. Vagg', extremely fine (3)

Edward Alan Vagg was born in Swansea on 15 October 1913, the son of a schoolteacher, and attended the local grammar school. He also played for Swansea Uplands R.F.C.

Commissioned as a Pilot Officer in November 1937, Vagg commenced his operational career as a navigator and 2nd Pilot in Hampdens of No. 83 Squadron in April 1940, operating out of R.A.F. Scampton; Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast Ahead gives a vivid description of the squadron's operations in this period, so, too, of mounting losses.

On the night of 14-15 May 1940, with Flying Officer N. 'Johnnie' Johnson as 1st pilot, Vagg was detailed to a 'ploughing' operation in the Ruhr. His Hampden L4069 OL-O took off from Scampton at 2229 hours and, having attacked its target, crashed near Louth, Lincolnshire at 0210 hours, 'after responding correctly to an anti-aircraft battery challenge'.
In Enemy Coast Ahead, Guy Gibson, refers to the fate of Vagg's aircraft in the following terms:

'Three failed to return and Johnnie Johnson crashed in England on the way home, killing the whole crew, including his second pilot, Taffy Vagg, the Welshman. Poor old Johnnie was married. I knew him and his wife very well.'

Aged 28, Vagg was buried in Sketty (St. Paul) Churchyard, near Swansea, where his funeral was attended by 'escorts of an A.A. Regiment', a sure indication of the likely fate of his Hampden; sold with copied research and a picture postcard of a Hampden bomber.


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Estimate
£400 to £600

Starting price
£320