2017 25c Coin - Legends of the Anzacs - DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

The Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded to British and Commonwealth airmen for acts of valour, courage and devotion to duty while flying on active operations during wartime. The award was established in 1918, shortly after the formation of the Royal Air Force, and was bestowed on recipients for service in the First and Second World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.

Squadron Leader Edward Lister Ifould was the most decorated Royal Australian Air Force navigator of the Second World War. He enlisted in 1940 and was commissioned as an air observer then served with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command in England. Gaining a reputation as a skilled navigator and bomb-aimer, he took part in scores of operations in Manchesters, Lancasters and Mosquitos over Nazi-occupied Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after one particularly hazardous low-level daylight raid on a diesel plant, from which only five of the 12 participating Lancaster bombers made it back to England. Clocking up promotions, he then joined the elite Pathfinder Force, guiding heavy bombers in a Mosquito. He was mentioned in despatches, earned a Bar to his DFC and received the Distinguished Service Order, ending the war as a group navigation officer.