Orders, Decorations and Medals

An unusual Second World War A.F.M. awarded to Flying Officer S. J. Burton, Royal Air Force, who was decorated for his services as a pilot in Ansons of the Air Despatch Letter Service and elected to the membership of the Goldfish Club on having to ditch in the Solent in December 1944: his aircraft was ‘shot up by Me. 109s and Fw. 190s’ on returning from a similar mission to Brussels a little over a week later

Air Force Medal, G.VI.R. (1586897 F./Sgt. S. J. Burton, R.A.F.), in its Royal Mint case of issue, together with his Goldfish Club embroidered uniform badge, extremely fine (2) £2000-2500

A.F.M. London Gazette 3 April 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘Flight Sergeant Burton is employed as a pilot on Air Despatch Letter Service and has completed 25 flights between the United Kingdom and the Continent, many of them in appalling weather conditions. On 22 December 1944, when flying to Brussels, poor visibility and fog prevented him reaching the French coast and he decided to return to England. The weather was too bad to land and he was forced to alight in the Solent. He ensured that the official mail was safe by placing it in the dinghy and he alighted on the water so efficiently that his Anson aircraft floated and was able to be towed ashore and salved.’

Sidney John Burton, who was born in October 1916, commenced his pilot training at No. 20 E.F.T.S. at Oshawa, Ontario, in April 1943. Returning to the U.K. at the end of the same year, he attended No. 4 E.F.T.S. at Brough and No. 1531 Beam Approach Squadron at Cranage before joining Transport Command’s Air Despatch Letter Service (A.D.L.S.) at Northolt in September 1944. It was in this capacity that he was to be awarded his A.F.M. for the completion of 25 hazardous sorties to the Continent, including the occasion of his ditching in the Solent in December 1944. A little over a week later, as stated, his Anson was ‘shot up by Me. 109s and Fw. 190s’ (his flying log book entry, 1 January 1945, refers). Burton, who was promoted to Flying Officer in June 1945, remained employed on the continental run with the A.D.L.S. until the war’s end.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s R.C.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Book, covering the period April 1943 to June 1945; Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for his A.F.M., together with related inscribed box and registered envelope; Goldfish Club membership card in the name of ‘P./O. S. J. Burton’, dated 22 December 1944, and forwarding letter for his embroidered uniform badge; his R.A.F. identity card, with portrait photograph, dated 10 September 1944, and two photographs from his training days in Canada.