Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Royal Aeronautical Society, British Silver Medal for Aeronautics awarded to Group Captain P. W. S. Bulman, C.B.E., M.C. and Bar, A.F.C. and Two Bars, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. An extremely successful Great War Sopwith Camel pilot with 46 and 3 Squadrons, he went on to be employed as an Experimental Test Pilot at R.A.E. Farnborough, and to be appointed as Chief Test Pilot at Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Bulman served during the Second War as Head of Air Test Branch, British Air Commission in Washington, 1941-42

Royal Aeronautical Society, British Silver Medal For Aeronautics, by A. G. Wyon, silver, 50mm., edge inscribed ‘Awarded 1950 To P. W. S. Bulman For His Work On Aircraft Flight Testing’, in case of issue with named enclosure slip, nearly very fine £500-£700

Paul Ward Spencer Bulman was ‘the son of the Reverend Thomas Bulman, Canon Emeritus of St. Albans, and Mrs Bulman, he was born in Luton on 8 April 1896. Educated at Bedford School. He enlisted as a Private soldier into the Honourable Artillery Company (TF) on 15 March 1916, serving with a Reserve Battalion in the UK, until he was gazetted Second Lieutenant to the RFC on 2 May 1917. Gained his Royal Aero Club Certificate (Number 4727) on 25 May 1917. After completing his formal training he was given his ‘Wings’ and sent out for his first tour to the Sopwith Camel-equipped 46 Squadron. Wounded in action on 29 January 1918, he returned to the UK to recover. As soon as he was fit enough, he next joined the Camels of 3 Squadron at the front. He appears to have become a highly successful ground-strafing specialist, an art he had ample opportunity to practise throughout the fraught days of the German spring offensive which commenced on 21 March 1918. His MC was announced in the London Gazette of 4 February 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On five occasions, in most difficult weather conditions, he dropped bombs and fired on enemy infantry from a low altitude, inflicting heavy casualties. During these flights he frequently obtained valuable information, and twice drove off enemy machines, which attempted to interfere. He showed the greatest initiative and resource.’

The Bar to his MC was announced in the London Gazette of 22 June 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On four successive days, when on low bombing patrol, out of a total of sixteen bombs dropped on enemy troops and transport, he obtained eight direct hits and seven others within ten yards of his objective, inflicting the most severe casualties on the enemy. Within the last fortnight, he has shot down out of control two enemy planes and has forced two others to land. He has displayed the utmost skill and gallantry and his courage and efficiency have afforded a splendid example to his squadron.’

After completing his tour with ‘3’, he was employed in a succession of instructing and testing posts for which he received the first of his Air Force Crosses, London Gazette of 2 November 1918. Bulman was employed as an Experimental Test Pilot at the RAE, Farnborough, from 1919 to 1925.... The award of a Bar to his Air Force Cross came in the London Gazette of 12 July 1921 and the value of his work was so exceptional, that he was given a second Bar in the following year, London Gazette of 3 June 1922. Bulman held a series of increasingly important positions in the aviation world, including Chief Test Pilot at Hawker Aircraft Ltd. In the Second World War, he was given the rank of Group Captain and appointed as Head of Air Test Branch, British Air Commission, in Washington, from 1941 to 1942. Created CBE in 1943, he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He lived at ‘Lyedale’, Woodham Road, Woking, Surrey. Group Captain Paul Bulman died on 6 May 1963.’ (The Military Cross to Flying Personnel of Great Britain and the Empire 1914-1919, by H. Giblin and N. Franks refers)