A POIGNANT collection of items belonging to an RAF flight engineer killed in the Second World War are going up for sale.

Medals, photographs and letters for Sgt Douglas Timms are included in the Charterhouse two-day auction on August 31 and September 1.

Sgt Timms was an engineer flying in a Lancaster when he was killed in action near Stuttgart on January 2, 1945.

Charterhouse founder Richard Bromell said: “The Lancaster was caught by German fighters and hit in the fuel tanks which caught fire and within seconds the plane blew up in mid-air.

“The pilot, navigator and bomb aimer were blown clear out the Landcaster and survived only to be captured when they landed by the Germans, but Sgt Timms and three crew from the plane lost their lives immediately.”

The lot includes his RAF jacket, logbook noting flight operations and training, medals, black and white photographs, a telegram to his family advising them he was missing in action and a subsequent letter of condolence.

Visit charterhouse-auction.com for more information about the auction.