Air Crew Europe

[Darrell]

I'm not sure what you mean about the beading "between the crown"...

Mine belonged to Squadron Leader J. W. Kerwin of #1(F) Squadron, RCAF, Battle of Britain Hurricane pilot.

Cheers,

Adam

I think what he means Adam is the 4 1/2 dots that are usually found under the cross on the crown.

P.S. Lucky guy ... do you have the BOB clasp as well?

[Adam H]

The dots are there they are just a bit harder to make out on this one for some reason... I zoomed in just on the crown portion for you all to see. (I'm supposed to be cleaning up the place while the missus is out so finding just about anything to procrastinate here!)

And to answer you other question...yes I do have the rest of Kerwin's group including the BoB clasp, Memorial Cross, etc, etc. Although Air Force really isn't my thing it's a very nice group. I posted it on the forum years ago, a search under Kerwin might bring it up...if not I'll do another someday soon.

Cheers,

Adam

[Darrell]

The dots are there they are just a bit harder to make out on this one for some reason... I zoomed in just on the crown portion for you all to see. (I'm supposed to be cleaning up the place while the missus is out so finding just about anything to procrastinate here!)

And to answer you other question...yes I do have the rest of Kerwin's group including the BoB clasp, Memorial Cross, etc, etc. Although Air Force really isn't my thing it's a very nice group. I posted it on the forum years ago, a search under Kerwin might bring it up...if not I'll do another someday soon.

Cheers,

Adam

Yes ... if i was to clean the house ... id probably find myself sitting down discussing medals on the forum too

I will have to do a search and take a look. Sounds impressive

[MH184]

Hi Lee,

The conventional line of thought and acceptance concerning the ACE Star is that the V of VI is more over the first line of the letter W.

Any substantial difference to this should be treated as highly suspect and dubious. It's the first real trait to note & observe on these, there are similar traits to the other Stars also to note.


This was an unissued set posted to the parents of a Flt Sgt Peter Francis Snape, 78 Sqd RAFVR who was a pilot of a Halifax bomber, he was killed aged 22 on Friday 30th July 1943 on a raid over Hamburg.

Kr

Marcus

[ulrichrudel]

Thanks all for your replies....some nice looking crosses here....does anyone know where the bar to this would be used? ie on a 1939-1945 star for example??? why would there be a bar as well as the medal itself?


Thanks again

Lee

[Darrell]

Thanks all for your replies....some nice looking crosses here....does anyone know where the bar to this would be used? ie on a 1939-1945 star for example??? why would there be a bar as well as the medal itself?


Thanks again

Lee

The AIR CREW EUROPE STAR would be only applicable to the ATLANTIC STAR.

[Adam H]

Darrell is correct and I would just add that a recipient of an ACE star would NOT have been also awarded an ACE clasp so the two could not have come from the same recipient...unless there was some grievous error made by the medal office.

Cheers,

Adam

[ulrichrudel]

Ok great thanks for answering my question....i got the ACE and Bar with a whole collection inc many other stars and other items.....both british and german ww1 and ww2.....i love these stars and before now only collected german items but with this collection i got i must say that british items may now be the focus of my collecting..

Thanks again all

[Darrell]

As an interesting point .... there have been false cases where AIR CREW EUROPE bars have been attached to FRANCE AND GERMANY stars. This is NOT correct as the Air Crew Europe Star was discontinued after June 05th, 1944.

D-Day (June 06th) was the official start to the France and Germany Star. Thus it would be impossible for someone to earn the ACE bar to the F&G star.

However, you could get a France and Germany Bar to the Air Crew Europe Star.

One wonders what the veterans of Dieppe think. They cannot receive either as far as I know

[Adam H]

Dieppe Vets would only qualify for the 39-45 Star unless they saw further action...thus most Dieppe groups to Canadian (army) recipients are : 1939-45 Star, Defence Medal, CVSM+Clasp, War Medal. Although some men sent on the raid never even received the 1939-45 Star...an example I recently saw was a set...just the 3 silver medals to a man who was wounded during the channel crossing (accidentally) and never made it to the beaches...

Of course there is now the "DIEPPE" clasp to the CVSM which at least partly recified this shortcoming of awards, however, the amount of time that passed between the raid and the clasp's inception has meant that many of the survivors did not live long enough to ever wear it. I personally also think it was not the most attractive design and that the government could have come up with something more appealing.

Cheers,

Adam

[Anthony D.]

LEE,

I believe Tony Farrell posted an issued ACE Star that may be similar to yours in an older post back in 2003.

Hope this helps !!!

[Ed Tainton]

Ace

Darrel, you could not qualify after June 5, 1944. As Adam has stated the Dieppe boys and the Legion raised such a stink that the Gov. of Canada gave in (grudgingly)and awarded the Dieppe Bar to those who fought in Dieppe, France. There are variations with the ACE. I have seen at least three variations. One the V over the centre of the W and one on the left of the W and one with a die flaw on top of the large G . These were all original from vets. The one with the die flaw on the large G was aquired (from the Gov.)in the late 5o's by a friend of mine (pilot) who had not applied for his medals until he joined our Pipe Band in the late 50's. I court-mounted them for him.

[Darrell]

Darrel, you could not qualify after June 5, 1944. As Adam has stated the Dieppe boys and the Legion raised such a stink that the Gov. of Canada gave in (grudgingly)and awarded the Dieppe Bar to those who fought in Dieppe, France. There are variations with the ACE. I have seen at least three variations. One the V over the centre of the W and one on the left of the W and one with a die flaw on top of the large G . These were all original from vets. The one with the die flaw on the large G was aquired (from the Gov.)in the late 5o's by a friend of mine (pilot) who had not applied for his medals until he joined our Pipe Band in the late 50's. I court-mounted them for him.

Thanks for the info Ed. I suppose what many are deemed as repros are post 1945 perhaps? I guess there is good reason to believe a few variations exist depending upon when they were issued, either during the war or post war.

[Ed Tainton]

Ace

This is a flawed Atlantic that is similiar to the flawed ACE

[Darrell]

This is a flawed Atlantic that is similiar to the flawed ACE

Ed, are those in your collection? Or from a website? I'd like the link if its one a site.