A Classic & Rare RAF, "PATHFINDER" Aircrew Europe Group.
'Battle of Berlin' (Rear Gunner)
Comet Line,(The Secret Army) Belgium 1943
'Evader' Group of Five.
Lancaster MkIII's , 97 Squadron.
1949-45 Star, Aircrew Europe Star (F&G), Defence Medal,
War Medal,
(With Privately issued Bomber Command Medal)
"PATHFINDER POCKET BREVET"
" ALSO NOW ENTITLED TO A 'BOMBER COMMAND' CLASP "
To:
1530086. Flt/Sgt Charles John "Tiger" BILLOWS. R.A.F.
With two log books, the first of which records 29 operational 'NIGHT' sorties to some of the most dangerous and heavily defended targets in Germany.
Excellent extra details of the events over the many targets are also recorded in the main logbook by Flt /Sgt Billows with notes on even the types of German nightfighters which attacked the aircraft.
Also, notes on flak intensity and searchlights.
This man and his fellow crew members really "did the business" .
A TRULY HISTORIC DOCUMENT SHOWING ALL HIS 29 NIGHT RAID SORTIES & MUCH TRAINING. 
This is a wonderful RAF Lancaster squadron 'SECRET ARMY' Belgian Comet Line 'Evader' assembly to a classic:
' Tail End Charlie' / Rear Gunner for the Battle of Berlin. 
On 17th April 1943, the squadron became part of No 8 Group,
"THE PATHFINDER FORCE"
This aircraft's loss was on the first nights opening raid of
'THE BATTLE OF BERLIN' 18/19th November 1943 .
On the return of the squadron's other Lancasters to Bourn, Lincolnshire, all the surviving crews gave their observations on what had happened on the raid, which were then summarised in 97 Squadrons Operations book, as follows:
"17 Lancasters detailed for tonight's operation. BERLIN was attacked in 10/10 cloud [total cloud cover] ... viz. good-hazy. Explosions were reported but raid was scattered and no good concentration achieved. Owing to cloud crews saw little or nothing. Defences weak to moderate ... 16 photos attempted. One a/c failed to return-F/S JOHNSON and crew.
No news received at base, all other aircraft returned safely with little damage.
. 
. Flight Sergeant C.J. 'Tiger' Billows was originally from Cockburn Street, Dingle, Liverpool. Latterly residing in Thornton, near Formby, near Southport, Lancashire. Tiger's Lancaster MkIII with its crew of seven took of from RAF Bourne, Lincolnshire, at 17:30 hrs in the late afternoon of 18th November 1943. (*70 years ago this month) This was a very experienced crew of which at least two members were on their second tour.
Their pilot on this sortie was Flt/ Sgt A.A. Johnson RNZAF who had been substituted at the last minute for their normal skipper 'Snowy' Jones RAAF. Jones had been taken off flying by the medical officer due to a bad sinus infection.
Despite the 'image' of dozens of aircrew successfully and constantly evading capture in occupied Europe, this situation was in reality exceedingly rare with most downed aircrew either being killed or taken prisoner after falling into the hands of the Germans. Indeed, for 97 Squadron, during he whole of 1943, only nine men escaped capture after baling out or crash landing in enemy territory. These eventually made their way back to England. Four of these men were from this crew alone.
Their Lancaster MkIII JB367 OF-S ('S'for Sugar) was shot down by flak on the way home from a Berlin operation. The aircraft fell from 20,000 to 6,000 feet before Johnson regained sufficient control to allow the rest of the crew time to bail out. In doing so, he sacrificed his own life, as did so many of the bomber pilots. The Belgian report states that Johnson was still at the controls at 1800 to 1200 feet. Albert Andrew Johnson was only 27 years old at the time of his death.
[Amended & Corrected Extract from "Bombers over Berlin" by Alan Cooper]
Flight Sergeant A.A. Johnson of 97 Squadron was killed when his aircraft crashed in Belgium. All of his crew of six successfully baled out,two were taken prisoner, while the other four evaded capture and reached England by March 1944. They had taken off from their base at Bourn at 5.30pm, and on take off their H2S set seemed all in order but after crossing the English coast the navigator decided it had gone u/s. He left his seat to see if, when it had warmed up a bit, the set would be working, but it did not. At the same time, the bomb aimer reported one of the front guns was out of action. The 'omens' began to increase when over Hanover, the mid-upper Gunner reported that his turret had gone u/s, so Johnson ordered him to the front turret. The bomb aimer was throwing out Window from the nose and Johnson ordered the W/Op into the astrodome to look out for fighters. The navigator set a straight course for Berlin and on arrival they dropped their bomb load, not on the Ti's, but on salvo, making use of the red markers. The navigator then worked out the wind speed and direction and they set off on the return route to England. Near Aachen they were badly shot up by flak which hit one of the port engines although it did not catch fire. Johnson put the aircraft into a dive and descended to 10,000 feet, but it was still being hit by gunfire for perhaps four to five minutes, with the sound of shrapnel clattering against the wings and fuselage. The Rear Gunner Flt /Sgt Billows was injured in the hand, and had partially lost consciousness due to his oxygen supply being cut.
He was being attended by the Wireless Operator who was about to take his place in the rear turret, when the Lancaster was hit again and another engine had to be shut down and feathered. With this, Johnson ordered the crew to prepare to abandon the aircraft. He continued to fly it until they reached Liege when the flak opened up again and the mid-upper Gunner was wounded in the knee and the bomb aimer grazed by shell fragments. Still losing height, Johnson finally ordered the crew out. All got away except Johnson himself who was last seen with his parachute clipped on but was later killed when baling out. The navigator, Flight Lieutenant Pepper, bomb aimer Pilot Officer Williams, mid-upper Flight Sergeant Hesselden, despite being wounded, and the rear gunner, Flight Sergeant Billows, who was also wounded, all evaded capture and returned to England via Spain and Gibralter. Pepper was on his 38th trip, Williams his 37th, Hesselden his 28th and Billows his 29th.
THE EVASION ------- Flt/Sgt Billows landed in a field less than two miles from Tongeren and hid his parachute. He then walked a short distance to Tongeren which he reached at 3:00 am. At first light he made contact with a farm worker driving a horse and was taken to a farm where he was put into a small room. The farmer began to question him and he was then hidden in a barn for the rest of the day. In the evening, a man came and provided him with a civilian suit and got rid of his uniform before taking him by bicycle to a nearby village. They then took a tram to Liege where in a local safe house his escape was organized. Billows and his crew mate Hesselden lodged during November 20 to 25 with Marie GILARD, and the wife of Armand ANTOINE Robertmont at 8 Rue de Liege. They were then led to another address in Liege by two members of the resistance belonging to the Liberation Army (AL) named Marcel JOURDONNEIX (who was shot on September 6, 1944) and Hubert HEUVENEERS. Billows, was then taken to the home of Mr & Mrs HOSDIN at 75 Rue Sainte Croix Liege. Billows was billeted with the HOSDINs until 4th December when he was taken to yet another house where a man wearing a coat brought him an forged identity card. The next day, the same man led him to the Liege railway station where he met a woman of 25 who was to guide him on the train to Brussels. They arrived at Brussels at 12:30 pm and Billows wad then passed to a small girl called "Lilly" (Aline Dumont).
She then took him by tram to the home of an engineer who had worked in the Belgian Congo. He and his wife were called Thibaut. They had a small child, Ines , and were living at 134 Avenue du Diamant in Schaerbeek. On December 27th Billows was then escorted by two men (Jacques de BRUYN and Henri MALFAIT) through Mons to the French border and onward via the route of Beaumont-Maubeuge, via Dr. Verstraeten. A young girl called (Monique HANOTTE?) then took up his escort at a small local station where they travelled through France by train to Paris. From December 28 to January 01, Billows still in an apartment and it was on this first day of the year that he met Donald McGillivray who he had in fact met in Beaumont. They travelled together to Madrid. Billows, meanwhile, is included on the list of nine airmen billeted on Robert ONIMUS and Fernande PHAL at 84 Rue des Rondeaux twentieth Paris, near the Avenue Gambetta and the Père Lachaise cemetery. 
Arriving in the South of France, he stayed at the Inn Sutar Larre, owned by Jeanne and Marthe Mendiara,at Anglet ( near Biarritz ) (* Café Larre was in the Sutar neighborhood of the town of Anglet and many airmen spent a night there before being taken across the Pyrenees.) Note: The arduous climb and trek across the Pyrenees mountains was always a very challenging procedure and many evaders who I've spoken to who did this for real during the war never forgot the cold and constant exhaustion, and they all mentioned the foot blisters sustained from wearing the famous rope climbing sandals provided by the mountain guides.
*This NCO has a full MI6 'evader' debrief file at the National Archive. Ref:GSP 3318/1711
THE GUIDES. This was the 87th successful passage by the Comet line with guides Pierre ELHORGA, (pictured left) and Juanito BIDEGAIN (pictured right) through the well worn Larressore / Jauriko route in Spain. Billows left Madrid on January 7th 1944 for Seville. He boarded a ship on 8th January and arrived at Gibraltar on 9th. He left Gibraltar by air on January 16th 1944 and arrived the next day in London for his debriefing by MI-9 18 The Pilot, Flight Sergeant Johnson was on his 23rd operation.
The W/Op, Flight Sergeant John Sansam, landed safely and was helped by some Belgium people was eventually captured. During his captivity he made one escape attempt but was re-captured, being finally liberated by the Russians in April 1945. Flight Sergeant Jackson, the engineer, was also captured and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp with Sansam.
THIS ASSEMBLY REPRESENTS JUST ABOUT THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF A "COMET LINE" EVADER GROUP YOU COULD EVER WISH FOR.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ENJOYED THE BBC TV SERIES
"THE SECRET ARMY" (The Cafe Candide)
THIS MAN'S STORY FULLY REPRESENTS NOT ONLY THE BRAVERY SHOWN BY THE BELGIAN "COMET" ESCAPE LINE WORKERS BUT ALSO THE EXTREMELY CLEVER AND GALLANT METHODS USED TO CONVEY OUR DOWNED AIRMEN RIGHT FROM THE TOP OF NORTHERN EUROPE WAY DOWN THROUGH FRANCE AND INTO SPAIN.
£2750 ( SOLD )