The original grant of the squadron badge for ‘No. 59 Army Co-operation Squadron’, hand-illuminated badge and motto, as painted by an artist of the College of Arms, dated January 1939, and signed by the Chester Herald and Inspector of Royal Air Force Badges, J. Heaton-Armstrong, and H.M. King George VI, mounted on card, in excellent condition
£100-150

No. 59 Squadron was formed in August 1916 and saw action on the Western Front before being disbanded in August 1919. Reformed at Old Sarum in June 1937, it went out to France on the renewal of hostilities, equipped with Blenheims, returning to the U.K. in May-June 1940 to continue bombing - and anti-submarine - operations. Converting to Hudsons in July 1941, the Squadron commenced anti-shipping strikes, latterly off the Dutch coast, converting to Liberators in August 1942, and briefly to Fortresses that December. Moving to Northern Ireland in May 1943, the unit remained actively employed on Atlantic patrols to the War’s end. No. 59 was disbanded in 1961.