A rare North Russia 1919 operations M.C. group of five awarded to Group Captain M. C. W. C. Flint, Royal Air Force, late Gordon Highlanders and Royal Fusiliers

Military Cross, G.V.R.; British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. M. C. W. C. Flint); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Lieut. M. C. W. Flint); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1925 (F./O. M. C. W. C. Flint, R.A.F.), mounted as worn, together with a set of related dress miniatures and assorted R.A.F. prize medals, these last in silver (4) and bronze (2), the former dating from 1924-29 and representative of competitions in India, Iraq and the U.K., generally very fine (16) £1800-2200

M.C. London Gazette 21 January 1920:

‘For a gallant attack on one of the enemy strong points, which he captured with the support of very few men, in spite of very heavy machine-gun and rifle fire; and also for the manner in which he handled his platoon during the subsequent counter-attack by the enemy. He set a fine example to his men.’

Maxwell Charles William Craig “Max” Flint, who was born in Edinburgh in September 1898, enlisted in the Royal Scots in March 1917 and was appointed to a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders in June 1917. First embarked for the French theatre of war in the following year, on attachment to the 7th Battalion, he was afterwards employed in North Russia as a Lieutenant in the 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, in which capacity he won his M.C. for gallant deeds in Murmansk Command. Having then been demobilised in December 1919, he was appointed to a commission on the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, in which role he witnessed further active service in the Iraq operations of December 1919 to November 1920.

Flint then appears to have applied for employment in the Colonial Service, but in June 1922, he was actually appointed to the Royal Air Force in the rank of Pilot Officer. Advanced to Flying Officer & Observer in December 1923, in which latter month he joined No. 5 (Army Co-operation) Squadron) at Kohat, a unit of No. 1 Indian Wing, he served in the same capacity during the Waziristan operations of March-May 1925, under Wing Commander R. C. M. Pink, C.B., thereby qualifying for his rare India General Service 1908-35 Medal - one of just 260 such clasps issued.

Following these operations, Flint was transferred to the aircraft depot at Karachi, but in July 1928, he gained an appointment in No. 6 (Army Co-operation) Squadron in Mosul, Iraq, and was advanced to Flight Lieutenant a year later. Returning to the U.K. in the early 1930s, he was next appointed - in March 1933 - to No. 4 (Army Co-operation) Squadron at Farnborough, which unit was commanded by Squadron Leader M. F. “Freddie” West, V.C. And in April 1937, on West being posted to a special assignment in Finland, he himself was appointed to the command of No. 4 in the rank of Squadron Leader.

Flint was advanced to Wing Commander in the General Duties Branch in March 1940, and to Group Captain in June 1941, and was finally placed on the Retired List in May 1946.