Auction Catalogue

8 December 2016

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 693

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8 December 2016

Hammer Price:
£150

Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air Badge, silver, reverse impressed ‘R.D. 847363’, extremely fine £60-80

Attributed to Wing-Commander Raymond Colin Osward Lovelock, D.F.C., a Captain with the civilian airline Airwork, ‘for selfless devotion to the safety of passengers when making a forced landing’ (London Gazette 16 December 1952).

The airline Airwork, which was formed in 1928 and, following various mergers and take-overs, is now part of British Airways, only reported one Air Accident in 1952, when a Hermes on a trooping flight from Blackbushe aerodrome to the Canal Zone crashed near Orleans, France, due to an engine failure on 23 July 1952. All on board survived. Given the citation, and the subsequent award, it is therefore likely that Lovelock was in command of this flight.

Sold with some copied research.