A Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) awarded to a brave Epsom airman during the Second World War will be going under the hammer next month.

Flight Sergeant Dennis Axtell was awarded the DFM in April 1943 just days after he was killed when his bomber was shot down during a raid on the Skoda armaments factory in Czechoslovakia .

Reporting on his award the 23-year-old radio operator was described as "fearless and skilful" in the London Gazette.

He had been recommended for the medal in Feburary that year.

The citation noted that he had flown on 34 bombing sorties and four convoy escort patrols on two tours of duty and said: "Throughout both his tours of operations he has displayed unusual initiative and his resourcefulness and skill has proved a big asset to the completion of many successful sorties. His cheerful courage, unselfishness, and sacrifice well deserve recognition by the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal."

The attrition rate for bomber crews was very high and his luck ran out over France on April 17 when his plane, a Handley Page Halifax Mk. II, was atttacked by a German night fighter.

A witness saw the plane burst into flames at 4.36am, break into three sections and crash to the ground at St Sulpice on the Somme.

Only one crew member survived after he managed to jump out of the doomed bomber with a parachute, despite being wounded.

Flight Sergeant Axtell was born in Epsom in June 1920. Later in life, he moved to St. Helens on the Isle of Wight and was based in Snaith, Yorkshire, during the war as part of 51 Squadron RAF.

He was buried in Maucourt Cemetery, France, and is commemorated on the St. Helens Church Memorial on the Isle of Wight.

The DFM was awarded to airmen below the rank of commissioned office "for exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy". A total of 6,637 men were awarded the honour during World War 2.

Flt Sgt Axtell's DFM and his other medals will be auctioned by Baldwin’s and Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions in London on November 6 and are expected to fetch between £1,800 and £2,200.

 

TODAY'S HEADLINES IN EPSOM AND EWELL