Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant A. E. Steel, Royal Air Force, killed in action after his D/H 9 was shot down in flames over northern France by the German ace Karl Pech, 3 May 1918
British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. E. Steel. R.A.F.) nearly extremely fine

Pair: Airman First Class H. Hoing, Royal Naval Air Service
British War and Victory Medals (F.29439 H. J. Hoing. Act. A.M.1 R.N.A.S.) good very fine (4) £200-240

Arthur Edward Steel a native of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was born on 8 May 1899, and joined the Royal Flying Corps on 23 May 1917. Commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant, 1 August 1917, he served with No. 103 Squadron, before transferring as a pilot to No. 206 Squadron, Royal Air Force, on 15 April 1918- his arrival with the Squadron was not without incident, as flying a D/H 9 he crashed on landing at Drionville, owing to landing on ploughed ground, and although he escaped uninjured his aeroplane did not. He flew various bombing raids with his new squadron over the next two weeks over northern France, accompanied on each occasion by his observer Second Lieutenant A. E. Slinger, and on 3 May 1918, having taken off in their D/H 9 at 17:41 on a bombing raid over Armentieres, they were shot down in flames shortly over Vieux Berquin by the German ace Karl Pech. Neither pilot nor observer survived, and they are commemorated on the Arras Flying Service Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.

Herbert James Hoing was born at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on 20 August 1888, and enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service on 21 May 1917. He served during the Great War afloat in 1917 on the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Campania, from 4 September until 31 October 1917, and then on H.M.S. Icarus, 1 November 1917 until 31 March 1918, before transferring to the Royal Air Force Scapa Flow Seaplane Station on 1 April 1918. He transferred to the reserve on 15 June 1919, and was finally discharged on 30 April 1920. He died on 26 June 1975.