RNZAF tunis & cap "lost in post"

[wanganui]

This is a long shot as i've now run out of options, i hope the moderators don't mind me posting on this forum. If they do of course feel free to delete or place in a more appropriate section.

I recently sold on UK Ebay a WWII RNZAF Fl/Lt pilots service tunic, cap & copy personal records provided by NZDF. The auction closed on the 18th April 2010 & sold to a buyer in Belgium.

Against my better judgement, on request from the buyer i posted it to his wife's work address using DHL Priority Service. Apparently it never arrived so i refunded the buyer immediately. According to DHL, Priority is not a trackable service & because it was sent out during the period when Europe was effectively closed down due to the ash cloud, the parcel was sent by overland service so could of gone missing anywhere along the route, all i know it left their depot on the 21st April.

So i'm now asking the forum members to keep & eye out for these peices if they can. The tunic was a standard 4 pocket service tunic with attached belt, semi padded NZ pilots wings, standard NZ brass buttons & distictive fade marks to the shoulder where the titles have been removed. The cuffs display wear as expected, the lower P/O tape had been machine sewn on & quite faded, the upper Fl/Lt tape had been hand sewn.

The cap was again a standard item with green underpeak & has been named twice on the leather sweat band to; I. J. SHEARER NZ422325. It also has a distictive thumb mark on the green under peak.

The 20 pages of photocopied paperwork confirm the owner was Ivan Johnston Shearer, a New Zealand pilot who applied to join in 1940 & was finally accepted in 1942.

I've had this uniform group for over 20 years & loath to think it's been stolen ending up in the hands of a person with no regard of it's history. I'll try to attach photos but if not email me at; kgf1964@hotmail.com and i'll forward them. Any information gratefully received & a reward offered for the items eventual return.

Thank you in advance, Kerry Foster