Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A presentation wall plaque of the Central Treaty Organization (Combined Military Planning Staff) appertaining to Group Captain J. A. Hemingway, D.F.C., Royal Air Force, comprising a wooden shield bearing the organization’s crest, with lower wooden plaque and gilt plate, attached by two chains, bearing the inscription, ‘Presented to Group Captain John Allman Hemingway, R.A.F., by the Chief of Staff and Officers of the Combined Military Planning Staff, CENTO, upon Completion of his Tour of Duty with the Combined Military Planning Staff, October 1968 - June 1969’, in good condition £20-30

John Allman “Paddy” Hemingway, who was born in Dublin in July 1919, was appointed to a short service commission in the Royal Air Force in April 1938 and joined No. 85 Squadron in December of the same year.

He subsequently served in that unit - part of the Advanced Air Striking Force - out in France, and claimed a “share” in a Do. 17 on 11 May 1940, but was compelled to make a forced-landing on the same day, when he was slightly wounded after his Hurricane was hit by flak. As it transpired, this was not to be the only occasion on which Hemingway’s aircraft was hit by enemy fire, and during the frantic days of the Battle of Britain he was twice compelled to take to his parachute - firstly on 18 August 1940, when his Hurricane was hit by the return fire of Ju. 88s over the Thames Estuary and again on the 26th, when shot down by a Me. 109 over Eastchurch. On the former occasion he was fortunate to be fished out of the sea by a passing ship, 12 miles east of Clacton.

Later that year, and still under the leadership of Peter Townsend, No. 85 converted to a night fighter role in Havocs, and Hemingway added to his score with a brace of He. 111s damaged in engagements over Dunwich and Mildenhall in early May 1941. He was awarded the D.F.C. His final wartime appointment was as C.O. of No. 43 “Fighting Cocks” Squadron, another of Peter Townsend’s old units, out in Italy in 1945, where he had the misfortune to undertake his third parachute descent when his Spitfire was hit by ground fire on 23 April. Hemingway eventually rose to the rank of Group Captain and was placed on the Retired List in September 1969.