THE UNIQUE "BATTLE of BRITAIN"



64 Sqd, 71 U.S.A./ R.A.F. "EAGLE SQUADRON",
258 Sqd (Battle of Singapore) & 91 Squadrons.

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS (1942)
Spitfire Casualty group of six.

To:
Flt/Lt ARTHUR 'ART' GERALD DONAHUE. RAF(VR)
A farmer's son from St Charles, Minnesota,

KILLED IN ACTION 11th September 1942.
(Lost without trace in the English Channel after a dog fight with a JU88 off the French coast at Gravelines. The German aircraft was destroyed)

[CITATION]
?London Gazette. 27 March 1942, Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to Flying Officer Arthur Gerald Donahue (81624),
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 258 Squadron.

"This officer has carried out many low level reconnaissance sorties and has successfully attacked enemy shipping and ground objectives. On one occasion, whilst carrying out an attack against enemy troops attempting a landing, Flying Officer Donahue silenced the enemy's fire, thus enabling the rest of the formation to press home their attacks with impunity. He has destroyed several enemy aircraft."

“Art Donahue was a very sharp and poignant example and commentator on the dislocation between America and what was happening abroad during the early part of the war. He said: “America is standing by while democracy is going up in flames.
He felt very angry about the situation and decided to do something about it.


ART' DONAHUE
(Taken in 1942, Wearing his DFC ribbon)
THE FIRST OF ONLY 'EIGHT' AMERICAN BORN PILOTS WHO FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. ART DONAHUE WON ONE OF ONLY TWO D.F.C.'s & WAS THE ONLY DECORATED AMERICAN CASUALTY.


A Man With an Incredible Story of Sheer Guts & Valour.

81624 Arthur Gerald Donahue – No. 64 Squadron**(DFC) killed

Four of Art's equally famous US pilots were the following men who's names are also immortalised in RAF 'Battle of Britain' circles:

81622 Eugene Quimby 'Red' Tobin – 609 Squadron** killed
(From Los Angeles California)

81621 Andrew 'Andy' Mamedoff – 609 Squadron** killed
(From Connecticut)

81620 Vernon Charles 'Shorty' Keough – 609 Squadron** killed
(From Brooklyn N.Y.)

William 'Billy' Meade Lindsley Fiske – 601 Squadron** killed
(From Brooklyn N.Y.)


THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT BATTLE OF BRITAIN FLYING GROUPS EVER OFFERED FOR SALE

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS (1942)
1939-45 Star (Battle of Britain Clasp)


Aircrew Europe Star
Burma Star
Defence Medal
War Medal.

ART DONAHUE's "SPARE" BATTLE OF BRITAIN FLYING GLOVES.

(These are the classic 1933 issue made by STAGG's of AUSTRALIA and used extensively by the pilots of the Battle of Britain)
(The gloves were taken home to the U.S.while on leave as a gift to his father in March 1941. He also took back a piece of a shot down ME109 & a British Mae West life jacket. These two articles are shown in the picture taken sitting with his sister in St Charles.)

[BIOGRAPHY]
P/O Arthur Gerald Donahue was born on 29th January 1913 in the tiny community of Dover, Olmsted, which is situated a couple of miles to the west of St Charles, Minnesota, U.S.A. The Son of Frank P. Donahue and Ada G. Donahue.
He learned to fly privately with the famous MAX CONRAD at Conrad's Flying Services, who himself was a world beating pilot who held several world records prior to WW2, some of which are still unbroken. Max Conrad clearly trained Donahue well as he qualified for his private and commercial pilot's licenses before he was 19. For several years he instructed trainee pilots, gave pleasure flights and did some "Barnstorming" & display flying around the US air display circuit in pre war 'depression' America. By this time Donahue had logged over 1,800 hrs flying time and was a very experienced flyer.
In June 1940 he heard that pilots were being enlisted in Canada for the R.A.F. He immediately went to Canada & claimed to be a Canadian citizen and was accepted for service in The Royal Air Force.

[THE AMERICAN NEUTRALITY ACT]
The legal situation for Americans was however very dire as American citizens were prohibited from serving under the various US Neutrality Acts and if it was found that an American citizen had defied the strict neutrality laws, there was a real risk of losing their citizenship and even imprisonment. It is believed that another four Americans misled the British authorities about their origins, claiming to be Canadian or other nationalities.The RAF officially recognises seven aircrew personnel who were from the United States of America as having taken part in the Battle of Britain.

Ten days after being accepted for the R.A.F. in Canada Donahue sailed for the UK and like so many millions of transatlantic travellers he will have seen the famous Liver Birds atop the Liver Buildings as he landed in Liverpool on 6th July 1940. He then travelled to London from Lime Street Station to London Euston. Just six days after landing he was back in the North taking part in advanced fighter training at the R.A.F. advanced fighter unit at 7 O.T.U. Hawarden near Chester.

[ART' DONAHUE: THE FIRST OF THE FIRST]
Arthur "Art" Donahue was hence the very first American who volunteered to join the Royal Air Force in the early days of the Second World War. Flying a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain, he became the first American fighter pilot to fly in action in the Second World War, he was the first U.S. pilot to score a German kill, as well as being the first American pilot to be shot down in combat during the war. He was also the first and one of only two of the early American pilots to be awarded the British DFC.


THE OFFICIAL PLAQUE PRESENTED TO THE DONAHUE FAMILY BY THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.





[COMBAT FLYING RECORD, 64 SQUADRON. R.A.F.]


[BATTLE OF BRITAIN] Monday, 5th AUGUST 1940.
Forced down at RAF Hawkinge with serious damage to his Spitfire (K.9991) after combat with Me109's of 1/JG54 off the French coast at 09:00. Aircraft sustained serious damage to the fuselage and internal control cables caused by 20mm cannon shell. Cat. 2 repairable.

Monday, 12th AUGUST 1940 (Approx 17:20).
Shot down by ME109 E-4 during an engagement off the South Coast of England near Folkstone. Art' Donahue baled out with burn injuries to his right ankle and severe burns to his hand. His Spitfire Mk1 (X4018) crashed and burned out at Sellindge near Canterbury at 17:40.

[NOTE] The kill was almost certainly made by Luftwaffe pilot Ltn Hans Werner Regenauer of 1/JG 26, (Adolf Galland's unit.)
Ltn Regenauer's Me109 was then picked up over Folkstone and chased out to sea and shot down by F/O H.J. Woodward of 64 Sqd just East of Dover at 17:35. The enemy pilot was initially posted as missing but after over seven hours in the Channel and in the early hours of the next day he was rescued by a British ship and was made a P.O.W. on 13th August. After that they probably called him "Lucky Hans" .. This was Regenaure's 1st combat mission and this his only victory was almost certainly Art' Donahue's Spitfire.

[TO 71 "EAGLE" SQUADRON R.A.F.]
After recovering from his burns, the then 'Pilot Officer' Art Donahue was then posted to 71 'Eagle' Squadron R.A.F. at Church Fenton, but he only stayed with 71 for a very short time before requesting a transfer back to his original 64 Squadron. Simply, there was no flying whatever going on as they had not a single serviceable aircraft of any type. Morale at the new unit was hence on the floor and he apparently also did not appreciate the unruly behavior of some of the other American pilots. The only aircraft on the unit during his stay was an unserviceable Miles Magister trainer. Their Hurricane fighters had yet to arrive and when they eventually did, the quality of aircraft was poor.




[COMBAT FLYING RECORD, 91 SQUADRON. R.A.F.]
7th MAY 1941.
2 x Me109's , one aircraft 'badly damaged' / 'one probable kill'

17th AUGUST 1941.
Me109 'confirmed kill'

26th SEPTEMBER 1941
Klemm trainer 'confirmed kill' France

SERVED WITH 258, (HURRICANE) SQUADRON DURING 'THE BATTLE of SINGAPORE" FLYING AGAINST THE JAPANESE INVASION LANDING CRAFT.
258 Squadron left the UK en-route to the far East just before Christmas 1941 and via a boring five week delay in Gibraltar the unit finally arrived in Singapore on 29th January 1942. The first sorties began on 31st January. After two weeks of hard combat the unit's Hurricanes & crews were in a war worn and fragile state. The tragic surrender of British forces to the Japanese took place at 6:30 pm on 15th February 1942. But on 16th February, the ever valiant Art' Donahue & his wing man took off in search of the Japanese invasion barges which he quickly found and then seriously shot up during a sustained an ultra low level attack. During one low pass Art' was seriously wounded in the leg by a Japanese anti-aircraft shell.
With great difficulty through loss of blood & shock he flew his Hurricane aircraft back 100 miles to his Singapore base aerodrome with his fist pushed into the hole in his left calf to stem the bleeding and landed using one hand! He escaped the Japanese capture of Singapore by the skin of his teeth as he managed to get onto the last aircraft to leave his base at Singapore before the Japanese troops arrived.
The squadron ops' books & records did not survive the evacuation, but Art's activities in action are superbly recorded & described in great detail in his second book 'Last Flight From Singapore"

RETURNED TO THE U.K. JULY / AUGUST 1942 & POSTED TO 91 SQUADRON R.A.F.]

11th SEPTEMBER 1942
(Art' Donahue's Final Sortie)
JU88 'confirmed kill'
Having taken off from RAF HAWKINGE at 05:50am in Spitfire Mk5b (BL511) for the first recce sortie of the day, to Ostend, Art Donahue was patrolling the coastal area between Flushing & Gris Nez. At about 06:30 he intercepted a Ju88 and engaged it. The German aircraft which was based at Schiphol was heard to transmit a message reporting that an engine was on fire, that the rear gunner had been killed and that it was attempting to return to Brussels. However, the enemy aircraft had already returned fire during the combat and had clearly hit the cooling system piping or the radiator of Art's Spitfire which had caused his engine to quickly overheat. He actually managed to report back to base on the aircraft's radio that he was about to ditch as he was too low to bale out. A weak three second R/T 'Mayday' message was received from Art' and as he was apparently well below parachute safe hight, ( probably under 600 feet ) he ditched the Spitfire in the Channel off Gravelines which is a few miles west of Dunkirk.

He was flying in very poor conditions with visibility of less than 500 yards and falling. Despite an extensive motor launch & aerial search by his fellow pilots who spent all day until dark going out over the channel looking for him (Ten search & rescue sorties are recorded in the squadron ops' book with two pilots going out twice to search in the ever deteriorating conditions.) His body was never recovered.

[REPORT FROM AIR RAID PRECAUTION DEPARTMENT AT AARDENBURG, HOLLAND.] (The fate of the damaged JU88 )
Police-sergeant Domise reported at 09.30 hours on 11th September 1942 that a German plane had made an emergency landing close to Aardenburg. Research confirms that a crash landing had taken place at 07.30 hours.

" I immediately went to the spot and I noticed that it was a German bomber, type unknown......
( * further research has confirmed that it was a JU88 A-5 of 3(F).33 Luftflotte 3, Werk No.10603, (5J +??) flown by Uffz Wilhelm Jung.)....
which had crash landed near the Aardenburg municipal sports field at Sir Drive on some farmland owned by a Mr. Buyck.
The landing gear and one of the props were damaged whilst the other prop was torn off. The frontsite and the belly of the plane were also heavily damaged.

No damage was caused to the farmland or it was negligible but the wires of the radio station were brought down by the crash-landing. There were four crew, one slightly hurt.
( *an earlier radio transmission from the aircraft reported one Gunner as killed.)
When I arrived there were already German soldiers guarding the area and one of them told me that the crash-landing had taken place at 07.30 hours"

(Note) It is also known that the Germans painted out the Luftwaffe markings on this aircraft and substituted British markings in an attempt to hide the fact from the local community that a German aircraft had been destroyed.

KILLED-IN-ACTION. 11th September 1942.
Art' Donahue DFC is Commemorated on The Runnymead Memorial to the Missing Men of the RAF

SUBSEQUENT TO OUR PRIVATE TREATY PURCHASE DIRECT FROM ART' DONAHUE's FAMILY WE ARE NOW PROUD TO OFFER HIS MEDALS FOR SALE.

THIS SUPERB GROUPING INCLUDES
1) Art's spare Battle of Britain flying gauntlets.
2) The original commemorative plaque presented to his family by The Battle of Britain Historical Society.
3) Also, included are the original 'wartime' family copies of Art Donahue's two books:
(a) TALLY HO (A FIRST EDITION, 1941)
&
(b)LAST FLIGHT FROM SINGAPORE (A FIRST EDITION, 1943)
This second book is dedicated on the front interior flyleaf "To Mr, Mrs C.A. PHELAN", a couple who were friends of the Donahue's.

This second book was completed from a manuscript discovered in Art's personal effects after his death in 1942)

Art's original RAF flying log books were, as normal, in the case of all deceased aircrew of the period sent to the RAF Central register in 1942. We are informed by the Donahue family, that some original note books & diaries as pictured in Alex Kershaw's fine book "THE FEW" are held in a dedicated historical institution in the United States.


[THE FLYING RECORDS OF ART' DONAHUE]
We have therefore compiled a totally complete record of all Art's operational UK flying with 64 Squadron & 91 Squadron from the extensive & complete operations book records held at the National Archive here in London. This fascinating 'line by line' reconstruction of Art's day-to-day U.K. operational flying log book, records his 208 sorties (206 in Spitfires) which run from 5th August 1940 to 11th September 1942, fills 16 pages and includes the separate pages from the Operational Summaries which record the combats & kills of Art. (The Singapore flying is summarised as the ops' books for his time with 258 Squadron did not survive the Japanese invasion)

This reconstructed log which has been a great labour of love by myself will be included with the group. Also included are over 100 photocopy pages of the actual squadron daily ops' books & monthly summaries used in the reconstruction.

"UNIQUE" SERIOUS OFFERS ARE INVITED. Call us today on ....01342-870960 Or email: DRAGONBRIT77@GMAIL.COM