Signed First Day Covers from the RAF Museum of Hendon Squadron Series of commemorative covers issued in the early 1970's.

Each cover commemorates a particular RAF Squadron and all are signed

Covers remaining are :

RAF4 - No 4 Squadron
60th Anniversary of the squadron formation 30th August 1972 - Depicting Armstrong Whitworth Atlas & Harrier. Flown by Harrier. From a limited edition of just 50
Signed by Ernest Folley who flew Atlas aircraft and was the first man to crash-land a Blenheim and survive.

RAF8 No 202 Squadron
28th Nov 1972 30th Anniv Operation torch Flown from Gibraltar in Bristol Britannia of 511 Sqn to Brize Norton then to RAF Leconfield in Westland Whirlwind of 202 Sqn. 
Signed by Wing Commander G.P Harger DFC - He commanded No 202 Squadron during WW2 operating out of Gibraltar and Castle Archdale in Northern Ireland. He went onto command the RAF Station @ Spitalgate in 1954.

RAF11 No 230 Squadron
15 Apr 73 60th Anniversary of the Formation of the Squadron. Flown in Puma of 230 Sqn from RAF Oliham via Westland Helicopters Yeovil to Westland Heliport London.
Signed by Air Cdre P H L Scott AFC, British Air Attache Paris and Wing Commander P D A Austin AFC Pilot and Squadron Commander.

RAF15 No 42 Squadron - International Air Day RAF St. Mawgan 8th August 1973.
Signed By : Flt Lt Oliver Philpot MC DFC - Service in the University Air Squadron automatically made Philpot a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) on its formation in 1936. With the approach of the war, Philpot was recalled for service in August 1939 and posted as a pilot officer on probation to 42 Squadron, an 18 Group Coastal Command unit then operating Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers. The squadron re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufort in 1940 and took part in the Norwegian Campaign. Philpot was confirmed in his rank on 15 January 1941 and later in the same year was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Promotion to Flying Officer soon followed and it Philpot took off in Beaufort O - Orange for an attack on a German convoy off Norway on 11 December 1941. During the mission, the aircraft was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire and ditched in the North Sea. Philpot and the other three crew evacuated the plane and took to the dinghy. After two days in the dinghy, they were picked up by a German naval vessel and he became a POW, being moved around camps until he reached Stalag Luft 111 at Sagan. It was here that Philpot took part in the famous ' Wooden Horse' escape on 29th October 1943. He managed to board a Swedish vessel called the Aralizz and arrived in neutral Sweden and was taken to the British Legation in Stockholm on 4th Novemebr 1943. A week later he was reunited with the other 2 escapees, Codner & williams who both followed a similar route to freedom. Philpot returned to the UK just before xmas and was reunited with his family. He did not return to operational flying and was posted to the Air Minisrty as a senior scientific officer/ He was awarded the military Cross on 16th MAy 1944.

RAF21 No 12 Squadron
Operation Jericho dated 16/17 February 1974
Signed By Alfons Klein KC - Served with JG52 and later JG11. Achieved 39 air victories and was awarded the Knights Cross 27/4/1945.
(Note : This is the signed top face of the cover only - It is not a full cover)

RAF23 No 19 Squadron
Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Flown in a Lightning F Mk2A of No 19 Squadron on a radar interception sortie, and signed by its pilot : Wing Commander PC Vangucci.
Also signed by :
Sir Lewis Hodges KCB CBE DSO DFC ADC Royal Air Force - He was shot down over France but managed to escape and rejoin his squadron after which he was involved in parachuting agents into occupied Europe and Asia as the commanding officer of Nos 161 and 357 Squadrons. Post war he saw a varity of posts including Chief Instructor of Valiant OCU ay Gaydon, Commanding Officer of RAf Marham, Air chief Marshall in 1971 and Deputy Commander Allied Forces Central Europe in 1973.
Colonel A Van Oosten Royal Netherlands Air Force - Enlisted as a cadet Officer (Infantry) in the former netherlands East Indies in 1940. He fought the Japanese on Java and became a POW, and was forced to work on the Burma Railroad until his liberation in 1945. Post war he became an Air Traffic Controller and went on to become Assistant Chief Of Logistics Second Allied Tactical Air Force.
Brigadier General ADGJ Ghenne Belgium Air Force - He commenced training as an Army officer in 1940, and was taken prisoner following the German invasion but then released as a Military student. For the remainder of the war he was an active member of the Belgium 'Secret Army'. Post war he joined the Belgium Air force in 1947 and held various posts.

RAF25 No 100 Squadron (No inserts)
Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of First Flight of the Canberra 13th May 1974 and flown by Wing Commander Roland P Beamont in a 100 Squadron Canberra T Mk4 from British Aircraft Corporation's Warton Airfield on the 13th May 1974.
Signed by Wing Commander Roland P Beamont CBE DSO DFC - He was a fighter pilot who flew in the Battle of France and the Battle Of Britain following which he joined Hawkers where he tested the new Typhoon fighter aircraft and saw it through its trials and tribulations into operational service and flew it in combat. He later flew Tempests and had success against the German V1 flying bombs, developing the idea of tipping them over with his wing tip and forcing them down. He was shot down on the 13th October 1944 and spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W. Post war, he became an experimental test pilot with the Gloster Aircraft Company then moved to De Havilland as a demonstration pilot followed by another move to the English Electric Company. Beamont managed all the prototype tests on the Canberra, establishing two Atlantic records. He then undertook the P.1 Lightning test programme during which he became the first British test pilot to fly at the speed of sound in a level flight and the first pilot to fly a British Aircraft at twice the speed of sound

RAF29 No 10 Squadron
To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the formation of the Squadron 1st January 1975. Cover depicts a Longhorn S7 1915, Handley Page No 10 Sqn 1930 & VC 10 1975. Flown from RAE Farnborough on a special training flight to RAF Brize Norton in VC 10 of No 10 Squadron registration XV103 Edward Mannock VC.
Signed by A.C.M. Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman DFC AFC - WW1 & WW2 - Born in British Guiana to a successful merchant, he came to England with his parents in 1903 and attended Cheltenham College. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and served as a Bristol Fighter pilot on the western front with No 10 Squadron for the last eleven months of the war. In January 1929 then a flight-lieutenant in the RAF, he participated in the Kabul Airlift, a successful evacuation of the British Legation in Kabul amidst a civil war and a bitter winter. On 27 January a Kabul-bound Vickers Victoria, piloted by Ivelaw-Chapman, was forced to make an emergency landing in the mountainous Surobi District. Rescued by an Afghan royalist officer, Ivelaw-Chapman was awarded the Air Force Cross for his handling of the incident.
At the outbreak of the Second World War and now a Wing Commander, he was part of the operations staff of RAF Bomber Command headquarters. In June 1940 he was promoted to Group Captain and was appointed station commander at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, a 4 Group bomber station near York. In 1941 he returned to a staff job at the Air Ministry involved in D-Day planning. In 1943 he was again appointed a station commander at RAF Elsham Wolds, a 1 Group bomber station. On the night of the 6/7 May 1944 Ivelaw-Chapman was flying as second pilot of a 576 Squadron Avro Lancaster on a mission to bomb an ammunition dump at Aubigne in France. His aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and Ivelaw-Chapman went on the run. Because of his experience and knowledge, Churchill ordered the French resistance to do all they could to help him return to England, he was to be killed if he was in danger of being captured by the Germans. He was captured by the Gestapo on 8 June 1944, the most senior Bomber Command officer to have been. Churchill's fear was unfounded as the Germans did not realise his importance and he was treated as an ordinary prisoner of war. After the war he was promoted to Air Vice Marshal and took command of No. 38 Group at Marks Hall, Earls Colne, Essex. In 1950 he became an Air Chief Marshal and accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief of the newly formed Indian Air Force. On his return to the UK he became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Home Command in March 1952, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in November 1952 and Vice-Chief of the Air Staff in 1953 before he retired in 1957.

RAF38 No 56(F) Squadron
Honouring No 56 (F) Squadron and flown in 4 F6 Lightings. Cover depicts 56 Squadron SE5 in France in 1917, Hawker Typhoon in 1943 and a BAC Lighting F6 XR761 at RAF Wattisham in 1975 with 56 Squadron badge .These covers were franked at the nearest town to the air battles fought by No 56(F) Squadron in the First World War. They were then flown from Luxeuil to Wattisham.
Signed by Mr. R.C. Newman -  RAF 1915 to 1919. WW1 fighter pilot. Compatriot of Albert Ball VC, and who served at Vert Galand 5 Apr 1917 on the arrival of 56(F) sqn on the Somme.

See photos for contents and condition.

All my covers are shipped in padded envelopes with plastic or cardboard inserts.

UK : Royal Mail 1st class standard
International : Royal Mail International Standard.

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