An emotive Great War Observer and Gunner’s campaign pair awarded to Sergeant E. A. Deighton, Royal Air Force, late Royal Flying Corps, who was awarded the D.C.M. for shooting down five enemy aircraft ‘in little more than a fortnight’ while serving in No. 20 Squadron in 1918: he then raised his score to 15 before being invalided home after a flying accident

British War and Victory Medals (67051 Sgt. E. A. Deighton, R.A.F.), extremely fine (2) £800-1000

Ernest Arthur Deighton was born at Masham, Yorkshire in May 1889, but was a resident of Cheltenham at the time of his enlistment in the Royal Flying Corps in March 1917. Having gained advancement to Corporal in February 1918, he shortly thereafter joined No. 20 Squadron, a Bristol Fighter unit, out in France, and quickly won acclaim for his ‘remarkable marksmanship and coolness’ as an observer and air gunner.

His first notable combat was with Lieutenant L. H. T. Capel at the helm, just south of Armentieres on 11 April, when with 25 rounds he compelled an enemy two-seater to crash land in a field. In the following month, on the 9th, with an American, Captain W. Beaver, M.C., as his pilot, he downed an enemy aircraft which crashed near the canal east of Warneton, while on the 16th, with Lieutenant D. J. Weston as his pilot, he fired a burst of 80 rounds that sent another enemy aircraft into the canal bank near Wervicq. But more impressive results were to follow, for on the 19th, in a combat in the vicinity of Armentieres and Merville at 15,000 ft., and again as observer to Lieutenant Weston, Deighton notched up a brace of victories in a single sortie - having fired at one enemy aircraft with 150 rounds, and another with 60 rounds, he saw the former burst into flames and go down in a slow spin and the latter crash into the ground just north of Frelinghem crossroads.

Then on 27 May, with Captain Beaver at the helm, he gained yet another brace of victories, this time on an offensive patrol at 12,000 ft. north-east of Armentieres. The relevant combat report states:

‘They then flew N.E. for a short time and saw more enemy aircraft below them (Tri-planes) and immediately dived into them. Four of them got on the tail of their Bristol Fighter and the observer was able to get in about 50 rounds at one of them at very close range (about 30 yards). It went down completely out of control. He then opened fire on another enemy aircraft on his tail and after firing about 200 rounds into it, it went down and crashed north-east of Perenchies. By this time their aircraft had lost the rest of the formation, the observer had run out of ammunition and it was with great difficulty that the remaining enemy aircraft were shaken off. Captain Beaver’s machine was badly shot about.’

Notwithstanding such close calls, Beaver and Deighton added an enemy Tri-plane to their tally 48 hours later, although on this occasion it was the former’s gunnery that sent the aircraft crashing into the ground near Bac-Sur-Maur. Then on the last day of May, with Lieutenant E. Lindup, M.C., as his pilot, Deighton managed to send another enemy aircraft down in a vertical nose dive, both observing ‘the planes eventually falling off’. In the following month, on the 7th, Deighton was recommended for the D.C.M. (11th Wing D.R.O. No. 158 refers), the following citation appearing in the London Gazette of 3 October 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. In little more than a fortnight he has shot down five enemy aircraft. He has shown remarkable marksmanship and coolness in action, and is a valuable asset in his squadron.’

But Deighton was not finished, for on 16 June - following an unconfirmed victory with Captain Beaver on the 13th - he returned to the fray in a combat north of Comines, this time with Lieutenant Capel: having fired long bursts into a Pfalz Scout that had been attacking another No. 20 Squadron aircraft, he had the satisfaction of seeing it crash north-east of Gheluvet. Again with Capel, on the 23 June, in a scrap over Laventie, he managed to get in a 40 round burst on another Pfalz Scout, the latter going down vertically and breaking-up into several pieces.

Indeed published sources list Deighton as having claimed 15 victories by the time he was seriously injured in a flying accident in mid-July 1918, when he was admitted to No. 83 General Hospital at Boulogne. Invalided home to a hospital in Huddersfield a few days later, he returned to duty immediately following the Armistice and was placed on the R.A.F. Reserve in October 1919.

He later served as a Major in the 21st Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion, Home Guard in the 1949-45 War, following which he became a hotelier at Dean Park Lodge Hotel in Bournemouth, where he died in December 1957; his D.C.M. was gifted to the Imperial War Museum by his widow in 1975.