Auction Catalogue

21 September 2007

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 838

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21 September 2007

Hammer Price:
£6,200

A fine M.B.E., Second World War D.F.C. group of eight awarded to Wing Commander C. Warren, Royal Air Force, a Battle of Britain fighter pilot who later transferred to Bomber Command: his Spitfire was damaged in a combat off the Isle of Wight in July 1940, but in the following month he shared in the destruction of a Do. 17 off Portland

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1943’; 1939-45 Star, clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953, together with late claim issuance slip and box for the Pacific Star, R.A.F. Halton sporting awards (2), one of them inscribed, ‘Cpl./A.A. Warren, C.’, a cased Bomber Command commemorative award, and a set of related dress miniatures (excluding the Pacific Star), very fine and better (18) £5000-6000

M.B.E. London Gazette 12 June 1947.

D.F.C.
London Gazette 10 September 1943. The original recommendation states:

‘Following an arduous operational tour on fighter aircraft involving participation in the Battle of Britain, this officer changed to bomber aircraft and during the past six months has, as Flight Commander in his Squadron, displayed considerable skill and courage whilst on a series of operational sorties which have included some of the most heavily defended objectives. In his Flight he has made every effort to increase the efficiency of the aircrews and by his personal example has sustained the high morale and fighting spirit of the Flight.’

Charles Warren was born at Witham, Essex in November 1918 and was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Colchester. Joining the Royal Air Force as an Aircraft Apprentice at Halton in January 1935, he was awarded a Flight Cadetship to R.A.F. Cranwell in January 1938, was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, and was posted on his graduation in October 1939 to No. 152 (“Hyderabad”) Squadron, a Gladiator unit based at Acklington.

In early 1940, however, the Squadron was re-equipped with Spitfires and commenced operational patrols in defence of the north-east, Warren’s flying log book recording many such outings upto the unit’s move South to Warmwell, Dorset in July. Here, 152’s pilots were quickly embroiled in the Battle of Britain proper, Warren notching up around 40 or 50 operational sorties over the coming weeks, among them “Scrambles”, X-raids, sector patrols and convoy patrols - and a combat with Do. 17s off the Isle of Wight at 10.30 a.m. on Thursday 18 July, when his Spitfire (P9440) was hit in the mainframe by a 109 (‘Pilot unhurt, aircraft damaged but repairable’). In fact Warren’s flying log book refers to several dogfights during the period in question - and confirms his half-share in the destruction of a Do. 17 off Portland on 22 August, with Pilot Officer E. S. “Boy” Marrs.

Having participated in his last “Scramble” on 30 August, he was posted as an instructor to No. 12 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.) at R.A.F. Benson, and thence to No. 15 O.T.U. at Harwell, this time as an instructor in Wellingtons, and was among those pilots chosen to bolster Bomber Command’s offensive in September 1942, when he flew a sortie against Dusseldorf. He was also recommended for the A.F.C.:

‘Squadron Leader Warren has served in No. 15 O.T.U. since December 1941 and has been a Flight Commander for the past five months. He has displayed outstanding ability. At all times he has shown the greatest keenness and energy to pass trainees out on schedule, thus keeping up the flow of crews for the Middle East. This officer’s enthusiasm and personal example are of a high order and he shows the greatest devotion to duty.’

In the event, the recommendation was not approved, and in late 1942 he was posted as a Flight Commander to No. 466 (R.A.A.F.) Squadron at Driffield (and later at Leconfield), in which capacity he commenced an operational tour in Wellingtons with a “Gardening” sortie in mid-January (‘Mines dropped from 500 feet’). Thereafter, until ending his tour in late August, he flew further mining sorties in addition to attacking a number of French and German targets, the latter including Cologne, Dortmund and Essen - in a raid on the last named city on 27 May he noted ‘Intense and accurate flak’. He was awarded the D.F.C., the recommendation also noting his earlier services in Fighter Command and the Battle of Britain.

Having then served as an instructor in No. 19 O.T.U. at Forres, a satellite airfield to R.A.F. Kinloss, located on the estate of Lady Gordon Cummings, and No. 2 Overseas Dispatch Unit at St. Mawgan, Warren formed a flight of tour-expired R.A.A.F. aircrew for conversion to Dakotas at R.A.F. Merryfield, the whole eventually joining No. 268 Squadron in Australia, via the U.S.A., Hawaii, Fiji and New Zealand. The role of No. 268 was to support the British Pacific Fleet, which entailed flights throughout the Pacific theatre of war. Shortly before V.J. Day, he was ordered with another Squadron Leader to join the Pacific Fleet at Leyte, for the purpose of taking over Kai Tak airfield in Hong Kong from the Japanese, a mission successfully accomplished with the backing of a Royal Navy landing party drawn from the aircraft carrier
Indomitable; in April 2004, Warren contacted the R.A.F. Medal Office with a belated claim for the Pacific Star, a claim that proved successful.

Warren next took four crews to Iwakuni, Japan - via Hong Kong and Shanghai - to form the British Commonwealth Air Force Communications Squadron of Dakota and Auster aircraft. But his duties at Iwakuni also extended to acting as personal pilot to Air Vice-Marshal Boucher, and V.I.P. pilot for visiting dignitaries, as well as having responsibility for air-sea rescue activities. He was awarded the M.B.E.

On returning to the U.K. in 1947, he joined Transport Command, and in the folllowing year participated in the Berlin Airlift with an appointment at Buckeburg and Luneberg as Air Accidents Officer. He then served for several years at initial Training Schools, was awarded the Coronation 1953 Medal while stationed at Kirton-in-Lindsay (the official roll refers), and ended his career with an appointment as C.O. of Fighter Command’s last piston-engined squadron. He was placed on the Retired List as a Wing Commander in December 1957.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Flying Log Books (3), covering the periods January 1938 to March 1945, March 1945 to January 1952 and February 1952 to September 1957; four photographs, including one of him standing by his No. 152 Squadron Spitfire and another as a Flight Commander, with his aircrew, in No. 466 Squadron; two copies of
Customs of the Service (Aldershot, 1954), one ink inscribed ‘Wg. Cdr. C. Warren’; his Driving Licence (1968-71) and Battle of Britain Association member’s booklet, this last inscribed, ‘Wing Commander Charles Warren, M.B.E., D.F.C., M.I.D.’; a Battle of Britain “The Few” commemorative album, with owner’s label to ‘Pilot Officer Charles Warren, No. 152 (Nizam of Hyderabad) Squadron (Spitfires), later Wing Commander, M.B.E., D.F.C., M.I.D., M.I.P.M., M.B.I.M., R.A.F., Retd.’; and a pair of commemorative pewter tankards, both with related R.A.F. Museum certificates, dated December 1980 and November 1982, the earlier example for the Battle of Britain with impressed inscription, ‘Wg. Cdr. Charles Warren, M.B.E., D.F.C.’, and the later example for Bomber Command and with engraved inscription, ‘Wg. Cdr. C. Warren, M.B.E., D.F.C., M.I.D., M.P.I.M., M.B.I.M., R.A.F., Retd.’