MAJOR GEN. CALEB VANCE HAYNES PRESENTATION 216 SQUADRON BRASS MESS GONG

Brass mess gong used to call officers to mess, 9 in. diameter, ornately engraved with the emblem of RAF 216 Squadron incorporating a crown and an eagle carrying a bomb in its talons. Except for a single attack on the airfields of El Adem and Tobruk, the unit was principally a transport squadron, operating the Vickers Type 264 Valentia, Bristol Bombay, de Havilland DH86, Lockheed Hudson and Douglas Dakota. It spent a lengthy time deployed to Cairo from November 1942 to July 1945. According to our consignor, a direct linear descendant, this memento was presented to Haynes by 216 Squadron in 1941. With our letter of provenance. CALEB VANCE HAYNES (1895-1966) was a U.S. Air Force major general and one of the most important and talented military aviators and commanders of World War II. Haynes organized the Assam-Burma-China Ferry Command and evacuated Burma with the Chinese and RAF. He then went to China to organize and command the Bomber Command of the China Air Task Force under Gen. Claire Chennault. He later returned to India to organize the India Air Task Force of the 10th Air Force.