Dambusters autograph album on show in Newark

An album of signatures by members of the World War Two Dambusters squadron has gone on show.

It was compiled by the fleet's senior medical officer as a ninth birthday gift to his son in 1943.

Autographs include Flight Commander Henry Melvin "Dinghy" Young, second in command of the raid, who was shot down and killed on his return.

The book will be sold at auction in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on November 27 with a guide price of £3,000 to £5,000.

The seller's father collected the signatures at the RAF base at Scampton, Lincolnshire, where Squadron 617 - better known as the Dambusters - was formed in March 1943.

Bombing raids on three major dams in Germany's industrial Ruhr Valley took place in May using Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb technique. Of the 19 planes that went, eight were lost.

Henry Young - known as "Dinghy" because he survived two crashes into the sea in an inflatable boat - flew an Avro Lancaster, codenamed A-Apple, in the first wave, which attacked the Möhne Dam.

There are signatures from members of other squadrons based at Scampton, including Group Captain Robert McFarlane, who later led a Lancaster Bomber squadron at the height of the Battle of Berlin, and Flying Officer Chas Walker, an Australian professional cricketer who was killed in action in December 1942.

Some added illustrations to their signatures, including a detailed drawing of a Lancaster in flight, a picture of a kangaroo by an Australian airman and a pair of cartoon airmen, captioned, "Jolly good show, what?!!"

James Brown, who is selling the album, is also selling a silk map which was rescued from a burnt-out Lancaster bomber and the official warrant appointing his father as flying officer.

The autograph book and map are on show every day until Wednesday at Nicholas Mellors Auctioneers, who have estimated a figure of up to £5,000 when bids are accepted on Friday.