RCAF ETO shoot down vets Caterpillar Club pin
(I will try again to get a better image of the engraving but so far I'm just not getting a good image!)
3/4" enamelled eyes open loop 40's issue Caterpillar Club pin in excellent condition and officially engraved on the reverse to
F/SGT. J. REDMAN
Bought this one with little info and it traced out nicely!  There is muc on the web about Flight Sergeant John Redman RAF and there is a monument in France to the downed aircraft he escaped from.
$SOLD
 More here...

The four-engine Handley Page Halifax BMK2, registration HR 734, had taken off from its base at Lissett in Yorkshire, late in the evening of July 3, 1943. Fully loaded with bombs and carrying the code NP of RAF squadron 158, as well as the individual letter P (P for Peter, as the crews said) it set course for its target of Cologne.
The "stream" (planes following in single file) consisted of 653 aircraft, including 182 Halifax, from 3, 4, 6 and 8 groups of Bomber Command. They reached their target and attacked without significant incident in the beginning of July 4th night. Once the bombs dropped, the stream banked right to return.  It was shortly after the trouble began, as the radars of the dreaded German night fighter found their prey.
Halifax HR734 was detected by German radar on the Belgo-German border and engaged by the Messerschmitt Bf 110C piloted by Oberfeldwebel Reinhard Kollak.
Despite being severely wounded, the Halifax pilot, young Canadian Flight Sergeant Charles Preston, flew the plane until the end in order to avoid the densely populated areas. He was killed in the crash, along with three of the other seven crew members: Sergeant Frederick Walton (machine gunner), Sergeant David Lock (machine gunner) and Sergeant Edward Macintosh (flight engineer). The remaining three crew members were able to parachute to safety: Sergeant John Redman (bomber), Sergeant Cecil Carey (navigator) and Sergeant Victor Moss (radio operator).
Pictured on this web link is the original panel of the back fuselage of the Halifax, recovered by Mr Ernest Lowet in 1943, which was used as a partition in his farm at Awans for 66 years.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick_c/5152173202/in/photostream/

158 Squadron
Halifax HR734 Unit Code: NP/P
Operation: Cologne 3/7/43.
Shot down by nightfighter:  Ofw Reinhard Kollack, 7./NJG4
 Pilot:- F/Sgt. C.W.Preston. Killed.  (It was "the rule" not the exception for bomber command to use "enlisted" men for pilot positions.)
 Navigator:- Sgt. C.E.H.Carey. P.O.W.
 Bomb Aimer:- Sgt. J.Redman. P.O.W.
 Wireless Op:- Sgt. V.G.A. Moss. P.O.W.
 Rear Gunner:- David Lock. Killed.
 Mid Upper Gunner:- Sgt. F.H.Walton. Killed.
 Flight Engineer:- Sgt. E.D.C. Mackintosh. Killed.