Fine Interiors - Two Day Sale - Live Online (A918) Wed, 9th Dec 2020 Viewing: VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT Due to current social distancing restrictions, we will be offering viewing by appointment only. One hour time slots will be available from: Fri 4 December, 9am - 5pm; Sat 5 December, 10am - 4pm; Sun 6 December, 10am - 4pm; Mon 7 December, 9am - 5pm Book Appointment REMOVAL OF LOTS Please note that all lots should be removed by 5pm on Monday 4 January 2021. Furniture lots remaining after this date will be removed to Perry Removals, Chapel End, Broxted, Essex CM6 2BW. Removal will be at a cost of £20 +VAT per lot and storage will be charged at £2 +VAT per lot, per day. Lot 804 Estimate: £800 - £1200 + Fees An Elizabeth II RAF dress sword, scabbard and ribbon, An Elizabeth II RAF dress sword, scabbard and ribbon, with a gilt brass guard bearing the RAF insignia, 110cm long The property of Wing Commander Leonard Fitch Ratcliff, DSO, DFC and Bar, Croix de Guerre Alec Palme and Lêgion d'honneur. During WWII, Wing Commander Ratcliff flew night- time bombing raids over Germany where Allied casualty rates were astonishingly and tragically high. He then transferred to the 161 Special Duties' Squadron, responsible for dropping secret agents and equipment into Nazi-occupied Europe under cover of darkness, to aid resistance movements across the Continent. The total strength of 161 Squadron was about 200; during its wartime activities casualties amounted to 600. In other words, the whole Squadron was wiped out entirely three times - an extraordinary price to pay. Ratcliff took part in a remarkable 70 moonlight missions, flying Halifax Havocs, Hudsons and Lysanders. Most famously, he dropped Yvonne Cormeau, codename 'Annette', whose work with the French Resistance was immortalised in Sebastian Faulks' best-selling book 'Charlotte Grey' and the subsequent film. Yvonne Cormeau (1909-1997) was an agent and wireless operator for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and a wireless operator for the 'Wheelwright' network led by George Starr in South-West France from August 1943 until the liberation of France in September 1944. She was acclaimed for the quality of her transmissions and cryptography. She survived an extraordinary length of time working behind enemy lines - wireless operators were especially vulnerable to detection and capture. She was awarded an OBE from the UK and the Lêgion d'honneur and Croix de Guerre from France, as well as later being immortalised in print and film..