[BURNS STEPHEN]: (1921-1943) British Flight Sergeant, Rear Gunner of Lancaster ED936/G AJ-H of 617 Squadron on the Dambusters Raid, 16th May 1943. A most emotive original wooden painted model of an Avro Lancaster bomber, made by Richard MacFarlane and given by him to his friend and colleague Stephen Burns as a gift. The model features four engines with propellers (one now missing) and windows for the crew, bomb aimer, mid gunner and rear gunner, the wings and tail fins featuring painted Royal Air Force markings and with the squadron code DX-X to each side. The model measures 8" in length and has a wingspan of almost 12" and stands on a plain wooden plinth loosely attached by a piece of thin metal. Some light overall age wear, minor damage to one tail fin and the paint scratched in places (most notably to the underside of the aircraft and the plinth), G

Provenance: Accompanied by a copy of a typed inventory of the Burns Archive prepared by a previous owner in 2001 when he acquired the material from Dorothy Mundon, the sister of Stephen Burns. The present model aeroplane is listed on the inventory, and also included in the lot is a copy of a handwritten letter from Mundon to the previous owner explaining that she has been through the inventory and that it is correct. Also included is a copy of a newspaper article written about Burns, prior to his involvement in the Dambusters Raid, in a provincial newspaper in which it states that the Rear Gunner has returned home to Dudley on leave with a model of the Lancaster in which he regularly flies.

Richard MacFarlane (1921-1943) Scottish Flight Officer, Navigator of Lancaster ED936/G AJ-H of 617 Squadron on the Dambusters Raid, 16th May 1943.

MacFarlane joined 57 Squadron on 9th December 1942 where he met up with Rear Gunner Stephen Burns (who had been attached to the Squadron a month earlier) as well as wireless operator Bruce Gowrie, bomb aimer John Thrasher, flight engineer Edward Smith and air gunner William Maynard. The crew were without a pilot until Geoffrey Rice arrived in February 1943. MacFarlane, Burns and their colleagues flew on nine operations before being posted together from 57 Squadron to the new 617 Squadron being formed to undertake training for a special mission.

Whilst at 57 Squadron Burns flew in the Avro Lancaster DX-X W4252 upon which the present model is based. Included in the lot is a copy of a page from his log book recording his flight, as a mid-upper gunner, on 5th February 1943 from RAF Wyton to RAF Scampton, piloted by Flight Sergeant Langley.

Avro Lancaster DX-X W4252 remained with 57 Squadron although was shot down in an operation over Kiel on 4th/5th April 1943 whilst being piloted by Squadron Leader S. N. T. Wallace. He and the six crew members all lost their lives and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (Source: RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1943, edited by W. R. Chorley, Volume IV, 1996)