Bidspirit auction | Raymond Baxter WW2 pilot Tomorrows

Raymond Baxter WW2 pilot Tomorrows World TV signed Arnhem VC BHC Flags FDC. Raymond Frederic Baxter OBE (25 January 1922 - 15 September 2006) was an English television presenter, commentator and writer. He is best known for being the first presenter of the BBC Television science programme Tomorrow's World, continuing for 12 years, from 1965 to 1977. He also provided radio commentary at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the funerals of King George VI, Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten of Burma, and the first flight of Concorde. In August 1940, during World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and trained as a fighter pilot in Canada. He first flew Supermarine Spitfires with No. 65 Squadron RAF in Britain, based in Scotland. He joined No. 93 Squadron RAF, flying over Sicily in 1943, where he was mentioned in dispatches. He returned to England in 1944 as an instructor and was later a flight commander, returning to active service with No. 602 Squadron RAF in September 1944. On 18 March 1945, Baxter took part in a daylight raid on the Shell-Mex building in The Hague, which was then the German headquarters for V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England. The commander of the raid, Max Sutherland, received a bar to his DFC and Baxter, along with the three other pilots, was again mentioned in dispatches. In an interview about his wartime career,[when?] Baxter described flying over a V-2 site during a launch on 14 February 1945, and his wingman firing on the missile: ”I dread to think what would have happened if he'd hit the thing! ”He later flew North American Mustang and Douglas Dakota aircraft for a year, then worked in Forces Broadcasting Service (FBS) from 1945 to 1949, based in Cairo and then Hamburg, becoming its deputy director. He was demobbed in 1946 as a flight lieutenant. Good condition. Part of Single Vendor collection. We combine postage on multiple winning lots and can ship worldwide.