Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The mounted group of six miniature dress medals attributed to Captain A. G. Forsyth, Royal Flying Corps

1914 Star, with clasp; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Serbia, Kingdom, Order of the Star of Karageorge, with Swords, Officer’s badge, silver, silver-gilt, and enamel; Egypt, Kingdom, Order of the Nile, Knight’s badge, silver, gold appliqué, and enamel; Serbia, Kingdom, Bravery Medal, silver, mounted as worn and housed in an A. H. Baldwin & Sons, London leather case, very fine (6) £300-400

Archibald G. Forsyth ‘entered the aircraft industry in 1912 after an engineering apprenticeship with D. Brice Peebels in Edinburgh, and after two years with Wolseley’s experimental aero-engine department, he joined the Royal Flying Corps and was commissioned as a pilot, flying with No. 14 Squadron. In 1916 he was awarded the Serbian Silver Star and the Cross of Karageorge for outstanding service in the Balkans. He spent the first two post-war years on designing racing car engines before joining the Air Ministry in 1921 as a permanent civil servant. The ten years that followed were among the most fruitful and eventful of the British aircraft industry, for they covered the period of the Schneider Cup aeroplanes and engines. From 1926 to 1931, working with designers such as R. J. Mitchell and H. P. Folland, he was responsible for the development of engines used in Britain’s Schneider Cup machines. [The Schneider Cup competition ended in 1931 after Great Britain won the trophy outright by virtue of winning the Cup three years in a row, 1929-31.]
Captain Forsyth went to Fairey’s as Chief Engine Designer in 1931. In the following years his experimental engine department at Hayes produced the Fairey P.24 H-engine with contra-rotating propellers, each of which could be operated independently. He began work on rotating-wing aircraft in 1946, resulting in the production of the Fairey Gyrodyne, and for the next ten years specialised in rotating-wing aircraft. He retired as Faierey’s Chief Helicopter Engineer in 1957’ (The Aeroplane Magazine, 20 December 1957 refers).

Sold together with a Serbian Military Order of the Star of Karageorge Silver Cross, reverse dated 1914-16, with neck riband; a Serbian Bravery Medal, 36mm, silver-gilt; and the following documentation:
- Air Ministry Letter address to the recipient, dated 28 October 1927, thanking him for his services in connection with the preparation of the Royal Air Force machines for the Schneider Trophy Race
- Invitation to the recipient and Menu card for a Luncheon held at the Ritz Hotel, London, for the competing teams at the Schneider Trophy Contest, 11 September 1929
- Invitation to the recipient to a Dinner at the House of Commons to meet Air Vice-Marshal Scarlett and the Schneider Cup Team
- Various newspaper cuttings, including a photograph of the recipient, and other photographs.