Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Serjeant T. Whiteman, Royal Flying Corps, a pilot, wounded in action with enemy aircraft, 30 April 1917

1914-15 Star (6678 2 A.M., R.F.C.); British War and Victory Medals (6678 Sjt., R.F.C.) nearly extremely fine (3) £200-250

Air Mechanic 2nd Class Thomas Whiteman, Royal Flying Corps, entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 7 November 1915. He gained his Aviators’ Certificate on 6 October 1916. In April 1917 Sergeant Whiteman was serving with No.18 Squadron in France. On 30 April 1917, at 8.20 a.m. he took off as pilot of a F.E.2b, with 2nd Class Airman J. Wynn flying as his observer, on escort to photography. He was forced to land at 22 Wing Advanced Landing Ground after combat with hostile aircraft and crashed on landing owing to the undercarriage collapsing. Both were wounded in the aerial combat, Wynn later dying of his wounds. A report on the condition of the aircraft states, ‘Steel framework of nacelle shot through, .... Tail plane shot through main spars. Tail booms badly strained & shot through. Undercarriage completely crushed. Engine shot through in many places’. Unsurprisingly the recommendation was that the plane be ‘struck off’. Sergeant Whiteman was discharged from the R.F.C. on 10 August 1917 as a result of his wounds and was a recipient of the Silver War Badge. Sold with copied research.