CC36 Battle of Britain RAF cover signed WW2 WWII Evader NEWTON

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Seller: aviationcollectables ✉️ (21,982) 99.8%, Location: Littlehampton, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 173289809003 CC36 Battle of Britain RAF cover signed WW2 WWII Evader NEWTON.             
  CC36 Battle of Britain Biggin Hill cover signed Sergeant Jack Newton WW2 RAF Evader

JS(CC)36 RAF cover produced for the September Battle of Britain Biggin Hill Air Show in 1997 and marking the 57th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight ( BBMF ) . The cover artwork by Tony Theobald depicts the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel Le Ferne near Folkestone Kent with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight overflying the monument in the form of Avro Lancaster B1 PA474 along with Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire in No 72 Squadron markings.
Cover bears Avro Lancaster 26p stamp cancelled with Biggin Hill Westerham postmark.


Cover has been signed by
 
Group Captain Bill Randle - WW2 Wellington Evader
 
and

 
Sergeant Jack Newton
RAF Evader - 1st Escaper Comete Line
 
Newton was one of the first Airmen to evade from Belgium using the Comete line. Newton was on a Wellington whose mission was to bomb the railway goods yard at Aachen 5.8.1941 The raid was successful but on their way home they were hit by flak and the starboard Merlin engine caught fire. Newton who on this mission was front Gunner noticed an airfield below so the pilot landed the blazing aircraft on the German occupied airstrip. The crew then piled up anything flamable and set their Wellington alight with twelve Very cartridges and upon leaving the airfield split into 3 man groups. Jack was with the skipper & wireless operator. They were spotted by a Belgian who told them to stay put and who would return in the evening whcih he did. The group were taken to a safe house and given change of clothing and then they were moved through a series of safe houses in Antwerp Liege Spa and Brussels. The three men were split up and Jack was to meet Andree de Jongh (Dedee) leader of the Comete line. Dedee took Jack out of Brussels to the South where Elvire de Creef would pass them over the Pyrenees. De Creef kept records of all evaders who were passed over the Pyrenees and Newton was the first RAF aircrew member to evader through this route. Newton was led into Spain and was taken to the Britsih Consulate in Bilbao then onto La Linea and finally Gibraltar where he was a 'tail end charlie' gunner in a Short Sunderland flying boat of 202 Squadron finally arriving in UK 13.1.1942 in the UK he was informed that he was the only member of his crew to evader capture as the others had been regstered as POWs and the fist returned by Comete
 
Comete Line
 
This escape route was one of the most successful during WWII operating from 1940 until the Allied advance reached Brussels in 1944. It began at the time of Dunkirk when Mme Andres de jongh and M Arnold Depee undertook to hide Belgian and Allied soldiers trapped on the continent and then lead them to freedom across France and over the Pyrenees. Before crossing the mountains evaders were held near Bayonne where Madame De Greef controlled operations.
The Comtete line had a severe setback when Arnold Depee was arrested in 1941 with the 13 airmen he was guiding. Andree de Jongh avoided arrest and went to Spain where help was sought and obtained from British sources. From that time the Line was fully operational , although it should be mentioned that it never depended on the British, French or Belgian Governments but guarded its independence and individual patriotism.
The Line organised its own searches for shot down aircrew and then hid them, got them well fed, clothed and transported then and equipped them with the necessary documents for travel. Evaders were accompanied along the entire escape route which led from Brussels to Paris via Lille, on to Anglet near Bayonne and finished at San Sebastian in Spain.
The Comete Line rescued 770 aircrew and in doing so lost 216 of their members who were shot or dies in concentration camps. At least another 700 were arrested and held in prison camps until the Liberation

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