Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant D. E. Stevens, No. 20 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, late 2/5th Manchester Regiment, who was killed in an aerial combat over France in March 1918

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. D. E. Stevens) together with Bronze Memorial Plaque (Donald Eustace Stevens), mounted with bronze officer’s R.F.C. cap badge in a contemporary oak frame inscribed with the motto of the R.F.C., some damage to frame, otherwise extremely fine (3) £300-£400

Donald Eustace Stevens was born in 1898 in Liverpool and educated at Liverpool Collegiate College. On the outbreak of war he volunteered and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 2nd/5th Manchester Regiment, T.F. In 1917 Lieutenant Stevens transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, joining the elite No. 20 Fighter Squadron at St Omer, France, as an observer. This was arguably the highest scoring and possibly most decorated British fighter squadron on the Western Front, with 613 combat victories and numerous decorations including a posthumous Victoria Cross won by Sergeant Thomas Mottershead. Its ranks included over forty flying aces.

Lieutenant Stevens was killed whilst on patrol in a Bristol F2b fighter on 13 March 1918, when his flight was attacked by a superior force of nine German aircraft, one of which was shot down. It was during the ensuing fight that Stevens was shot and killed. He is buried in Longuenesse Souvenier British Cemetery, St Omer, France.