Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Eight: Air Commodore A. D. Pryor, Royal Air Force, late Cambridgeshire Regiment and Royal Flying Corps, who was wounded in combat during the course of his operational tour in No. 57 Squadron in 1917

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. A. D. Pryor, R.F.C.); India General Service 1908-35, 2 clasps, Mahsud 1919-20, Waziristan 1919-21 (F./L. A. D. Pryor, R.A.F.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; France, Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, possible official corrections to surname on the first three, the earlier awards a little polished but generally very fine or better (8) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Coldstream Guards, R.F.C., R.N.A.S. and R.A.F. formed by the late Tom Baugh.

View
Collection

Arthur Deen Pryor, who was born in April 1895, was commissioned in the Cambridgeshire Regiment in July 1915, but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in the summer of 1916 and, after qualifying as a pilot, was posted to No. 57 Squadron out in France in March 1917, flying F.E. 2 Ds (and later still R.E. 8s).

Remaining actively employed in that capacity until September 1917, he completed numerous operational patrols, some of them including close encounters with enemy aircraft. Thus a nerve-wracking combat over the Arras-Cambrai sector on 8 April, in which he and his Gunner were wounded and compelled to make a forced-landing back at base, 57’s records reporting that his aircraft and engine were ‘riddled with bullets’. And yet another close encounter followed on 16 August, Pryor’s combat report stating:

‘Whilst on a bombing raid over Courtrai, D.H. 4 A-7424 which was right rear machine of the formation, was attacked by one single-seater E.A. at 13,000 feet. The first burst of fire from the E.A. wounded the Gunner in the right arm and pierced the main tank. The Gunner, however, got one drum off at the E.A., but his shooting was naturally bad. Pilot got 25 rounds at E.A. with fixed gun. The E.A. spun twice, flattened out and flew eastwards apparently in control. D.H. 4 A-7424 reached Droglandt on the service tank.’

Appointed a Flight Commander the following day, Pryor ended his operational tour in September, when he was recommended for the Croix de Guerre (London Gazette 18 April 1918).

Advanced to Captain in April 1918 in the newly established Royal Air Force, Pryor witnessed further active service as a Flight Lieutenant in No. 27 and 99 Squadrons out in India, including the Mahsud and Waziristan operations of 1919-21, following which he returned to the U.K. and joined No. 207 Squadron in April 1921.

Advanced to Squadron Leader in July 1925, he next served as Private Secretary to the Chief of the Air Staff, “Boom” Trenchard, and as a Flying Instructor at Queen’s Ferry, before being posted to No. 1 Indian Group at Peshawar in October 1928. Then in January 1933, he took command of No. 60 (Bomber) Squadron, a Wapiti unit based in Kohat, but was posted to Lahore on being advanced to Wing Commander a few months later.

Pryor returned to the U.K. in early 1934 and successively commanded Station H.Q., Upavon, R.A.F. Eastleigh, R.A.F. Bicester and R.A.F. Linton-on-Ouse, latterly in the rank of Group Captain. Having then been advanced to Air Commodore in December 1940, he was placed on the Retired List in November of the following year; sold with a file of research.