Orders, Decorations and Medals

The original Great War pilot’s flying book appertaining to 2nd Lieutenant R. Littlejohn, Royal Flying Corps, the front cover ink inscribed, ‘Littlejohn, R., 2/Lieut., General List’, being the white cover edition with entries from training flights in November 1916 through to his final operational entry in March 1917, water damage to lower covers but contents generally good; together with his Gunnery Card and Transfer Card, and Royal Flying Corps Loose-Leaf Note Book, this last with a mass of handwritten notes and diagrams from his training courses; and printed works Manual of Physical Training (1914) and Field Service Pocket Book (1914), the latter with ink inscription, ‘Robert Littlejohn, Q.M.S., 1/3rd Scottish Horse’, these last three in good overall condition (Lot) £200-250

Robert Littlejohn commenced pilot training in No. 39 (Reserve) Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, in November 1916, going solo in January 1917. Posted to No. 52 Squadron, a BE2e unit out in France in March 1917, he made his first operational patrol on the 19th, followed by two similar sorties over the Peronne sector on the 22nd and 23rd - during both of which his aircraft was engaged by ground fire. On the 25th, however, with 2nd Lieutenant A. D. Collins as his Observer, his aircraft was engaged by six Halberstadts and badly shot up, pilot and observer being wounded. No doubt as a result of these wounds, Littlejohn ended the War as a Flying Officer employed in the Director-General of Aircraft Production’s Department, and is believed to have been awarded an M.B.E. in the mid-1920s.