Geoffrey Barkway Pegasus Bridge D-Day WW2 LTD TO 66 Hand Signed FDC

STB014 This is rare official hand signed first day cover celebrating the 50th Anniversary of D-Day and Pegasus Bridge and hand signed by Pegasus Bridge hero Sergeant Geoffrey Barkway and which has been fully certified by the publishers (see scan including the large frank of how it is personally autographed by Wally Parr) and is in mint condition. It was a limited edition of only 66 for world distribution and is hand numbered from the series on reverse. You wont source better.

Staff Sergeant Geoff Barkway DFM (18 September 1921 8 June 2006) was a member of the Glider Pilot Regiment who achieved fame as the pilot of the third Horsa glider to land at Pegasus Bridge in the early hours of 6 June 1944. This remarkable achievement was described as "the greatest feat of flying of the second world war" by Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory.  Shortly after the landing he was shot in the arm and later had it amputated when gangrene set in.

The glider that he flew landed in occupied France shortly after midnight. The two previous gliders had occupied much of the landing area and he was forced to swerve left then right to avoid number two flown by Oliver Boland. This resulted in it rotating right by 90 degrees, breaking in half and the nose ending up in a pond. Geoff Barkway was catapulted through the nose and momentarily lost consciousness. Recovering he returned to the aircraft and assisted in releasing some of his passengers who had become entangled. Shortly afterwards he was unloading ammunition when he was shot in the right arm. When he awoke in the café alongside the bridge, his arm was in a sling and he had lost a lot of blood. He was recovered to a Portsmouth hospital, where he was to lose his arm as a result of gangrene.