Some wartime stories are preserved in medals. Others survive in logbooks, photographs, papers and personal mementoes, each adding detail to a life shaped by service. The medal group and archive of RAF Flying Officer Leslie Valentine DFC CdeG does both, bringing together decorations, documentation and first-hand records from one of the most remarkable low-level flying missions of the Second World War. We are proud to present the collection as lot 3139 in our Militaria, Medals & Sporting Guns auction ending 1 October.
Valentine was the pilot of Douglas Boston “E Easy” on D-Day, 6 June 1944, when he flew at just 50 feet above the Normandy beaches to lay smoke and help shield Allied invasion forces from enemy fire. The International Bomber Command Centre records that Valentine later described the experience as flying “through the gates of hell”.
Highland Light Infantry & The RAF
In 1939, Leslie Valentine was called up for military service and joined the Highland Light Infantry, spending ten months in France before returning to Britain. He later volunteered for RAF aircrew, beginning a new chapter that would take him from infantry service to pilot training.
Valentine trained at Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, before returning to Britain for operational training at RAF Bicester and RAF Finmere, where he learned to fly Blenheim and Boston bombers. His first flying logbook, now also recorded by the International Bomber Command Centre, documents his training between October 1941 and August 1943, with stations including RAF Theale, Clyffe Pypard, Medicine Hat, Shawbury, Stradishall, Bicester and Lyneham.
By 1944, Valentine had been posted to No. 88 Squadron, 2nd Tactical Air Force, Bomber Command. The squadron’s operations were mainly flown in daylight and close formation, targeting roads, railway yards, bridges, transport routes and other key supply lines as Allied forces worked to disrupt German reinforcements.