Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Flight Lieutenant W. I. D. England, a long served Flight Engineer who was killed at the Empire Test Pilot School at Farnborough in October 1962, when his Canberra nose-dived into the main runway and exploded in a ball of fire

1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Malaya, Arabian Peninsula (577045 F. Sgt., R.A.F.); Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (577045 F. Sgt., R.A.F.), mounted as worn, very fine and better (5) £400-500

William Ivor Douglas England, a native of Yiewsley, Middlesex, was educated at Bishopshalt Grammar School prior to enlisting in the Royal Air Force on the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. Trained out in Canada, where he qualified as a Flight Engineer in 1944, he went on to serve in Coastal, Bomber and Transport Commands, the latter appointment witnessing his participation in the famous Berlin Airlift. Active service ensued with No. 48 Squadron in Malaya, and in the Arabian Peninsula, the latter after he had been commissioned as a Pilot Officer in September 1955, and by the time of his death at the Empire Test Pilot School in October 1962, he had amassed over 6,500 flying hours, 150 of them in Canberras. On that fateful day, he was on his second test flight in Canberra WJ. 730, piloted by Flight Lieutenant D. Oldham, A.F.M., their task being to carry out a low-level sweep of the airfield at 800 feet with one engine shut down but, as confirmed by several eye-witness statements at the subsequent inquiry, WJ. 730 lost power and nose-dived into the runway, exploding into a ball of fire. England, who was 39 years of age, was buried with full military honours at Ship Lane Cemetery, Farnborough.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including approximately 40 letters or cards written by the recipient to his parents, the earliest from training days in Canada in 1943, but the majority from the 1950s while on overseas postings; his commission warrant for the rank of Pilot Officer, dated 22 September 1955; around 25 photographs, the majority of his funeral at Farnborough; his Driving Licence, dated October 1946; his card and related printer’s plate, ‘Mr. W. I. D. England, Royal Air Force’; and several newspaper cuttings relating to the demise of Canberra WJ. 730 and the subsequent inquiry.