Auction Catalogue

2 April 2004

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 1145

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2 April 2004

Hammer Price:
£1,700

Six: Squadron Leader R. W. Barton, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, late Gloucestershire Regiment, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, who flew 25 sorties in the Great War

1914-15 Star (3422 Pte., Glouc. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut., R.A.F.); Defence and War Medals; Air Efficiency Award, G.VI.R. (Sqd. Ldr., R.A.F.V.R.), all in card boxes of issue, practically in mint state (6) £600-700

Reginald W. Barton, who was born at Bishopston in Bristol in November 1896, originally enlisted in the Gloucester Regiment. Transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in October 1917, he underwent pilot training with No. 198 and No. 190 (Night) Training Squadrons, before gaining his “Wings” on 7 May 1918. Soon afterwards he went to France with No. 38 Squadron, then operating with F.E. 2bs, and safely completed his ‘first show’ during a bombing attack on Dechy on 28 August 1918. No. 38’s pilots were kept very busy right up until the end of October, carrying out 47 night raids and dropping nearly 50 tons of bombs, Barton flying on three sorties against Ercourt St. Quentin on 1 September, and another three against the Dechy-Lewarde Road on the 15th, and by the end of hostilities he had flown at least 25 sorties.

In 1923 Barton returned to uniform when he became a Flying Officer on the Reserve of Air Force Officers, and he regularly attended courses at Hendon in the inter-war years. For much of the Second World War he was employed at the Central Gunnery School, where he flew regularly, his aircraft types including Battles, Spitfires, Defiants, Lysanders and Wellingtons. He retired from the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in the rank of Squadron Leader, having notched up well in excess of 2000 hours flying time.

The lot is sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Flying Log Books (4), the first an Army Book 425 type, with entries covering the period January 1918 to January 1919, including all the above mentioned Great War sorties; the second a Royal Air Force Book 425 type, covering the period July 1923 to July 1939, the entries after 1934 minimal; the third a Royal Air Force Form 414 type, covering the period May 1937 to October 1944; and the fourth another Royal Air Force Form 414 type, covering the period October 1944 to June 1945; together with his R.F.C. Training Transfer Card; R.A.F. Graduation Certificate, dated 7 May 1918; R.F.C. Home Defence Brigade Transfer Card; Gunnery Card; and Aerial Navigation Card; R.A.F. commission warrant, dated 1 April 1918; Air Ministry Private Pilot’s Certificate and Licence, valid until 4 July 1940; embroidered R.A.F. Wings; and later uniform flash; and campaign medal forwarding slip and similar letter for the Air Efficiency Award, this last dated July 1949.