Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War group of five attributed to Squadron Leader B. Steiner, Czechoslovakian Air Force

Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Czechoslovakia, Medal for Bravery; Czechoslovakia, Military Medal for Merit, bronze grade; Czechoslovakia, War Commemorative Medal 1939-45, all unnamed; together with a set of four related miniature dress medals, good very fine and unusual (9) £300-350

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Old Collection of Medals Relating to The Great War.

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Ex D.N.W. 30 March 2011.

Frederick Steiner, who was born in September 1909 in Czechoslovakia, where he practised in law, reached the United Kingdom in 1941, and enlisted in the Royal Air Force. Shortly thereafter he was appointed to the Interpreter’s Pool in No. 311 (Czech)Squadron at Honnington, Suffolk, gaining advancement to Sergeant in the following year while on attachment to No. 2 Group. Commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer in the R.A.F.V.R. in October 1942, he remained on the strength of 311 Squadron until removing to the R.A.F’s Czech Aviation Candidates Selection Board in June 1943 and thence, as a Flying Officer, to R.A.F. Beaulieu, where he appears to have attended one or two Court Martials as a Defending Officer.

Returning to Prague after the War, Steiner’s civilian occupation as a High Court Judge became untenable under the Communist regime, and he returned to England with his family, gaining appointment as a Flying Officer and First Class Interpreter in the R.A.F’s Secretarial Branch with effect from May 1948. And in this capacity he was involved in one or two investigations into service fatalities and accidents in the 1950s. He retired in the rank of Squadron Leader and settled in Kent, where he died in 2000.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Czech Record of Service (Kmenovy List); Air Ministry letter of appreciation of services rendered, dated 3 June 1946 and Air Ministry letter of appointment, dated 5 February 1949; and an assortment of career photographs (approximately 20), including several that were used in investigations in the 1950s.