Jacket, Service Dress: Wing Commander, Royal Air Force

Single-breasted Service Dress jacket of blue-grey barathea cloth, featuring an open notched collar, front fastening of four buttons, two pleated breast pockets of patch form with scalloped button flaps, two skirt pockets of bellows form with rectangular button flaps, a small horizontal ticket pocket of slash form to the right waist, an integral waistbelt of matching cloth with a two-pronged brass buckle, and a rear vent. Internally, the jacket is fully-lined with a rayon-type fabric, with a horizontal slash pocket to the inside left chest and an open patch pocket to the lower inside right. All buttons are of the brass RAF officer pattern (King's Crown). Above the left breast pocket is sewn an RAF pilot's brevet (King's Crown), while directly below this are sewn the medal ribbons for the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross (with a single silver rosette denoting a bar to the DFC). Sewn around either cuff are three rank braids of equal widths, denoting the rank of Wing Commander.

Part of the RAF Service Dress uniform worn by Wing Commander Reginald Patrick Mahoney 'Pat' Gibbs DSO DFC & Bar during the Second World War.

Reginald Patrick Mahoney 'Pat' Gibbs, born 2 April 1915 in Penarth, Wales, was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Air Force in 1936. Following a two year secondment to the Fleet Air Arm and a period as an instructor at the Torpedo Training School at Gosport, from October 1940 Gibbs flew anti-shipping operations with 22 Squadron, Coastal Command, in the North Sea as well as bombing raids on the Biscay ports, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in September 1941 (see OMD 8962). On 27 April 1942, he was posted to 39 Squadron at Sidi Barrani, Egypt, a Bristol Beaufort squadron which was heavily depleted following a disastrous raid on an enemy convoy on 14 April, in which 17 of the squadron's aircrew were reported killed or missing. Initially given command of 'A' Flight, his first successful strike on a convoy took place on the morning of 4 June, when his Beaufort's torpedo made contact with the Italian 6,847-ton merchant ship 'Reginaldo Trieste', which subsequently sunk. On 15 June, the squadron was detailed to attack the Italian fleet as part of Operation Julius, which sought to relieve the island of Malta via two convoys sailing from Gibraltar and Alexandria. The squadron were attacked by Bf 109s en route to their target, with two Beauforts being shot down and five more having to turn back owing to damage. Gibbs and the four remaining Beauforts carried on, and attacked the Italian fleet when they located it 250 miles east of Malta. Gibbs sustained damage from heavy anti-aircraft fire during his torpedo strike, and was forced to crash-land on Malta. For his role in both strikes, Gibbs was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross (see OMD 8962). From 22 June 1942, Gibbs led a detachment of five 39 Squadron Beauforts from Malta, having realised that this would put them in closer range to Axis shipping lanes. Operating with Beauforts from 217 Squadron, this composite unit delivered several successful strikes against enemy shipping from late June and into July. On 21 July, Gibbs was promoted to Wing Commander and given temporary command of all Beauforts on Malta, which operated from Luqa aerodrome and now included additional Beauforts from 86 Squadron. Gibbs continued to lead several successful strikes on enemy shipping from Malta into August, flying his final operation on 30 August when he sunk the Italian oil tanker 'San Andrea'. The attacks that Gibbs led and was involved in from June to August 1942 were incredibly dangerous as they were typically carried out from a very low level while under heavy anti-aircraft fire and/or enemy fighter attacks. As a result, 39 Squadron lost several crews and aircraft, while Gibbs himself was forced to crash-land twice. The mental strain from the constant danger he experienced, as well as losing many men under his command, saw Gibbs relieved from flying duties and rested from 11 September 1942. On 18 September 1942, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (see OMD 8963). After working a desk job at the Air Ministry, he was invalided out of the RAF on medical grounds in February 1944. After the war, Gibbs became a film and theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph. He wrote two memoirs of his Second World War service: 'Not Peace, But a Sword' (1943) and 'Torpedo Leader' (1992), of which there are copies of both in the IWM library.

R. Gibbs [?] F.W. 56163-58 23 JUN 1941