ES16c ACM Sir Basil E. Embry 13th Ann Signed by 3 V-Presidents of the RAFES (A)

15 Sep 76 BFPS 1547 30th Anniversary Royal Air Force Escaping Society. Cover depicts Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil E Embry in a Blenheim 4 leading 107 Squadron over Pas de Calais in May 1940 RAFES badge and 12th Region Militaries logo.. In 1940 ACM Sir Basil Embry then a Wing Commander and OC 107 Squadron was shot down in a Blenheim near St Omer in France. Sir Basil Embry and his navigator Wg Cdr ( then Plty Off)whiting survived the crash and were taken prisoner. Wg Cdr Whiting remained a POW in various camps including Stalag Luft 111 Zagen ( The Great Escape Camp ) until released in 1945. Sir Basil Embry was interrogated by Gen Guderian two days later he escaped and with the help of the French people made his way through the Pyrenees to Spain and Gibraltar. As Air Officer Commanding 2 Group he was responsible for the famous Mosquito raids on Gestapo prisons and under the alias of Wg Cdr Smith flew on the epic raidon Shell Mex House Copenhagen. Cover flown in a Mosquito from Hatfield to Hawarden. It was in an aircraft of this type that Sir Basil Embry flew. Personally Signed by ACM Sir Lewis Hodges KCBCBEDSODFC shot down over France managed to re-join his Squadron later Commanding Officer of 161 and 357 Squadron and Air Chief Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw – Chapman GCB KBE DFC FC Vice President of the RAF Escaping Society and 10 Squadron Pilot in 1918 actually airborne over France at the time of the WW1 Armistice at 11am on 11 November 1918 who as an Air Commodore in 1944 flew his only WW2 sortie over France in a Lancaster was shot down evaded for 5 weeks with the help of the French and then arrested and held by the Gestapo until Liberated by the Allies in 1945.Mr W Brazil DFM Navigator on Wellington 150 Sqn shot down and baled out walking for 10 days until he found a village that offered him shelter. After six weeks recuperation from a broken leg got to Gibraltar with the help of the resistance and flew back to England. Details enclosed. Numbered and Certified Signed