WW2 Victoria Cross Leonard Cheshire VC signed Bomber cover, biography on back. Typed career details with cover ...

WW2 Victoria Cross Leonard Cheshire VC signed Bomber cover, biography on back. Typed career details with cover fixed with corner mounts to the page. A4 size overall. Assigned to Bomber Command, Leonard became one of the RAF's youngest commanding officers. His legendary war career included eight months leading No. 617 Squadron the Dambusters. He became the most highly decorated bomber pilot when awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944. Born: 7 Sept 1917, 65 Hoole Rd, Chester, Cheshire. Family: s of Prof Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire, Bursar of Exeter Coll, Oxford, svd WWI, and Burella Primrose Eleanor Barstow; his brother Flt Lt Christopher Chevalier Cheshire svd WWII in 76 Sqn RAF, shot down over Berlin 12-13 Aug 1941 and 4 yrs POW Stalag Luft III. Educated: Dragon Sch, Oxford; Stowe Sch; Merton Coll, Oxford (Law). Married: (1) 15 July 1941 Montreal, Canada to Constance (née Binney), American actress (div 1951); c -;(2) 5 Apr 1959 Bombay, India to Margaret Susan (née Ryder) CMG (1976) OBE (1957), founder of Sue Ryder Homes in UK and abroad, WWII svd FANY and mem of Polish Section SOE, 1978 Baroness Ryder of Warsaw in Poland and Cavendish in Norfolk; one s, one dau. Career: svd Univ Air Sqn; 8 June 1937 flew solo in Avro Tutor; 16 Nov 1937 comm P/O RAFVR; Oct 1939 mob; to No 9 FTS, Hullavington, Wilts for further svce trg; 15 Dec 1937 received 'Wings'; 7 Apr 1940 FO; final trg at No 10 OTU Abingdon, Berks; 6 June 1937 posted to 102 Sqn Driffield, Yorks (flying Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers); 3 nights later flew first sortie; then flew in raids on Berlin, Kiel, Essen, Bremen and Cologne; June 1940-July 1944 VC actions over Europe; night of 12-13 Nov 1940 DSO action over Wesseling nr Cologne, Germany; Jan 1941 completed first op tour; to 35 Sqn at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorks; 7 Mar 1941 awarded DFC; Apr 1941 awarded Bar to DSO for 'outstanding leadership and skill on operations'; 7 Apr 1941 Flt Lt; flew ferry work to USA and Canada; 15 Oct 1941 T/Sqn Ldr; completed second op tour; 22 Jan 1942 instr No 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF Marston Moor, Yorks on 'non-operational duties' but still flew four sorties over Ruhr and Berlin; 1 Mar 1942 T/Sqn Ldr; Aug 1942 began third tour A/Wg Cdr and CO 76 Sqn (his brother's sqn) Linton-on-Ouse, Yorks; Apr 1942 second Bar to DSO; 1 Apr 1943 Gp Capt Sta Comd, RAF Marston Moor; 30 Sept 1943 began fourth tour 617 Sqn at Woodhall Spa, Lincs having reverted to Wing Cdr; trg in high level bombing techniques of which he was highly sceptical; 8 Feb 1944 led 617 Sqn personally on every sortie, always undertaking the most difficult and dangerous task of marking targets alone from low level, resulting in sqn becoming specialist at precision bombing; July 1944 AOC 5 Gp, AVM Ralph Cochrane, told him he was to be rested from ops but did not reveal that he had recommended him for the VC; 10 Sept 1944 as Gp Capt emb for Eastern Air Comd HQ, Calcutta, India; by end of 1944 British Joint Staff Mission, Washington, USA to study tactical developments; selected as a British observer on second USAF atom bomb raid on Japan; late July 1945 to Guam, then Tinian Is, base for B-29 Superfortresses flying this mission; 9 Aug 1945 one of two UK observers of dropping of atom bomb on Nagasaki, Japan; in consequence leaned towards pacifism and, briefly, unilateralism; 22 Jan 1946 invalided out of RAF with psycho-neurosis; embarked on several unsuccessful ventures in community welfare for ex-servicemen; lived as woodcutter in BC, Canada; 1952 contracted tuberculosis; 18 months in hospital at Midhurst, Sussex (had lung removed); converted to Roman Catholicism; after failure of his last community scheme, left in debt with large empty house, Le Court, Greatham, Hants; 1948 accepted there an incurable cancer patient and war veteran, Arthur Dykes, thus beginning first Cheshire Foundation Home for the incurably sick; by 1987 Cheshire Foundation Homes, together with Family Support Services, numbered some 270 in 47 countries; 1975 awarded Humanitarian Award by Variety Club of GB; 6 Feb 1981 Order of Merit; 1989-92 Chmn, World War Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief; 15 June 1991 Life Peer. Final rank: Gp Capt (RAF). Died: 31 July 1992 Sue Ryder Home, Cavendish, Suffolk of Motor Neurone Disease. Buried: Cavendish Churchyard, nr Sudbury, Suffolk. Commemoration: headstone; plaque at Horndean Brewery, Hants; name on RAF Memorial, St Clement Danes, London; Cheshire House, St Ignatius Coll, Riverview, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Other awards: OM (1981); DSO** (1940, 1941, 1943); DFC (1941); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star with clasp Atlantic; Burma Star; Defence Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45 with MiD; Coronation Medal 1953; Jubilee Medal 1977. VC Investiture: 13 Nov 1945 by King George VI, Buckingham Palace. Good condition Est.