A toy panda taken by an RAF hero as his ‘lucky’ mascot during the infamous Dambuster raids during WW2 has made a triumphant return to its home airbase.
Dambusters pilot William Gordon Radcliffe tucked the panda into his flying boots while on more than 60 perilous bombing missions including the Dambuster raids.
After the end of the war the lucky mascot was passed it on to his daughter Dorothy Bailey.
Dorothy took the priceless heirloom which ‘kept her father safe’ to RAF Coningsby for an Antiques Roadshow event.
The bear’s features were also copied onto the nose art of several of the crew’s planes.
The toy panda was examined by arms and military expert Mark Smith along with photographs and items of Sergeant Radcliffe’s uniform, including his RAF tunic featuring his Distinguished Flying Cross.
Mr Smith said: “He is priceless. He was priceless to your dad, he is priceless to you, he is priceless to the RAF as a member of the Dams crew.”
The Dambusters, known as Operation Chastise, were targeted attacks on German dams using the bouncing bomb in May 1943.
Sgt Radcliffe, born in Canada, survived the war and married an English WAAF Joyce Palfreyman and had three children.
After the war he returned to Canada where he became a customs and excise officer.
After Sgt Radcliffe’s death in 1952 as a result of a car crash, Joyce returned to the UK with her children to be nearer her own family.
The value of other items belonging to flight engineer Radcliffe will be revealed on the programme due to air this Sunday(20/9).
