Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War A.F.C. group of three awarded to Squadron Leader H. A. Marsh, Royal Air Force, who flew Sopwith Snipes with 1 Squadron in Iraq, 1924-26, and commanded 529 (Rota) Squadron, 1941-45 - a pioneer of rotating wing aviation, he later became Chief Test Pilot of the Cierva Autogiro Company and a founder member of the Helicopter Association of Great Britain and its first Chairman; he was killed while test flying the experimental Cierva Air Horse helicopter in 1950

Air Force Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1945, in Royal Mint case of issue, together with Buckingham Palace forwarding letter in the name ‘Squadron Leader Harry A. Marsh, A.F.C.’; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in card box of issue, address label removed; and a Helicopter Association of Great Britain, Henry Alan Marsh (1901-1950) Medal, obverse, bust left; reverse inscribed ‘Replica of the Alan Marsh Medal presented to Ida Marsh in affectionate memory of her husband, a great pioneer pilot and founder of this association 1956’, 87mm, silvered bronze, in case of issue, extremely fine (4) £1,200-£1,600

A.F.C. London Gazette 1 January 1945.

Henry Alan Marsh was born at Stratton, Dorchester on 29 January 1901. After leaving school he became an engineering apprentice before joining the Royal Air Force as an Air Mechanic in 1918. Having qualified as a Sergeant Pilot, with special distinction, in 1923 - he was the first N.C.O. pilot to gain this award - he served at home with 41 Squadron for a short while before spending the next two years flying Sopwith Snipes with 1 Squadron in Iraq. It was on a Snipe, while he was proceeding on a detachment with pay on board, that Marsh had an engine seize completely while flying between Baghdad and Kirkuk. A forced landing was brought off safely and a second aircraft landed alongside and took off the money, but Marsh had to wait in the desert until a new engine arrived and was fitted. A second engine failure which might have easily had more serious consequences occurred over Kurdistan where Marsh was lost in the desert for two days in a temperature of 120 degrees in the shade. And as Marsh could testify ‘there wasn’t any’.

Posted back to England in 1926, Marsh was sent to 111 Fighter Squadron, equipped with Armstrong-Whitworth Siskins and represented the squadron in the R.A.F. display for both 1927 and 1928, being responsible for the show of individual aerobatics.
Joining the Central Flying School in 1929 as a Flight Sergeant Instructor, he transferred to the Reserve in 1930. During the next two years he was occupied as a civil instructor with the Hampshire Aero Club, and for a few later months with the Scarborough Aero Club.

In April 1932, Marsh joined the Cierva Autogiro Co. Ltd. as an assistant pilot and it was here that he really made his mark. He became Chief Instructor to the Autogiro Flying School, and also, in 1933 began to assist as a test pilot, subsequently, after Senor de la Cierva’s death in 1936 assuming responsibility for all prototype testing. During this period he added the Navigator’s (2nd Class) License to his other professional qualifications, and he was appointed a Member of the Guild of Air Pilots’ Panel of Examiners and an Observer for the Royal Aero Club.

Having been commissioned in the R.A.F.V.R. in 1936, Marsh was called up in January 1940, and posted to the Royal Aircraft Establishment. In April 1941, he assumed command of the Autogiro Radar Calibration Squadron, later known as No. 529 (Rota) Squadron which appointment he held until its disbandment in 1945. The squadron was unique in that for some time it was the only rotating-wing unit in the service. For his services he was awarded the Air Force Cross.

On leaving the Service early in 1946 with the rank of Squadron Leader, Marsh rejoined the Cierva Co. as a General Manager and Chief Test Pilot. About this time he took a prominent part in founding the Helicopter Association of Great Britain, and became its first Chairman. It was whilst flying the world’s biggest helicopter, a research project - the Cierva Air Horse - near Southampton, Hants., on 13 June 1950, that Alan Marsh met his death. Altogether he had accumulated 6500 hours as a pilot, of which 3500 were on rotating-wing aircraft. He had flown 70 aeroplane types, 22 autogiro and 5 helicopter types. In addition to many other prototype ‘firsts’ he put the Bristol 171 through its initial flight trials.


Sold with a letter written by Jack Richardson of the Helicopter Association of Great Britain, to the recipient’s widow, dated 14 June 1956, regarding the design of the Henry Alan Marsh Medal.