Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Sold by Order of the Sole Beneficiary of the Estate of the Late Air Commodore E. M. Donaldson, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., A.F.C.

A well-documented C.B., C.B.E., Fall of France 1940 fighter ace’s D.S.O., A.F.C. and Bar group of eleven to Air Commodore E. M. Donaldson, Royal Air Force, who also flew in the Battle of Britain: the winner of a World Air Speed Record in 1946, he was one of three famous pilot brothers, all of whom were awarded the D.S.O. in the 1939-45 War

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its Garrard, London case of issue; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its Garrard, London case of issue; Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R. 1st issue, the reverse of the suspension bar dated 1940; Air Force Cross, G.VI.R., with copy Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross dated 1941, and of the Bar 1947; 1939-45 Star, copy clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Arabian Peninsula (Air Cdre., R.A.F.), engraved naming in a style not untypical of R.A.F. Officers’ G.S.Ms of this period; Coronation 1953; American Legion of Merit, Officer’s breast badge, gilt and enamel, unnamed, together with set of related miniature dress medals, both mounted as worn, contact marks, very fine and better (22) £4000-5000

C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1960.

C.B.E. London Gazette 1 June 1953.

D.S.O. London Gazette 31 May 1940: ‘This officer has inspired such a fighting spirit in his Squadron that, on the first encounter with enemy forces, nine aircraft of his Squadron destroyed six enemy aircraft, and a further five were believed to have been destroyed. Four or five enemy aircraft were accounted for on the following day. His high courage and his inspiring qualities of leadership have made his Squadron a formidable fighting unit. He has himself shot down four enemy aircraft.’

A.F.C. London Gazette 30 September 1941.

Bar to A.F.C. London Gazette 12 June 1947.

American Legion of Merit London Gazette 15 February 1949. The recommendation states: ‘Group Captain Donaldson, Royal Air Force, performed exceptionally meritorious service with the Army Air Force Flying Training Command in the United States from 7 December 1941 to October 1944. Group Captain Donaldson rendered valuable assistance to the Flying Training Command by his instruction in aerial gunnery procedures and training methods for student fighter pilots. At a critical period he devised texts and training aids and developed techniques that formed a basis of instruction in fighter pilot training throughout the Flying Training Command. Through his efforts, the development of air tactics and fighter operational training methods at the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics was greatly advanced and the training facilitated. The results of his work were reflected in the excellent performance of American fighter pilots in combat.’

Edward Mortlock Donaldson was born in Negri Sembilan, Malaya in February 1912, the son of a judge. Educated at King’s School, Rochester, Christ’s Hospital and McGill University, Canada, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force after completing his pilot training in 1931.

Donaldson was posted to No. 3 Squadron at Upavon in June 1932 and quickly established for himself a reputation as a first class pilot and marksman - he won the Brooke-Popham Air Firing Trophy in 1933 and 1934, led the aerobatic displays at Hendon in 1935 and 1937, and at the International Zurich Rally in the latter year. He was also a talented boxer, winning the R.A.F. Wakefield Boxing Championship in 1933 - he had been the runner-up in the previous year.

Having joined No.1 Squadron in July 1936, Donaldson was advanced to Flight Lieutenant and made a Flight Commander, and, after a stint as an instructor at the C.F.S., in November 1938, he was promoted to Squadron Leader and appointed to the command of No. 151 Squadron, a Hurricane unit.

He subsequently took the Squadron to France in May 1940, where, as he would later recall, ‘replacements came for the planes we lost and we lost them too, and more replacements came and we lost them as well. I think we must have lost dozens of planes in our squadron alone in France - burnt out, bombed or shot down. We were in an awful shape by the time we finally got pulled back to England.’

In terms of air-to-air victories in the battle of France, Donaldson notched up a total of 4 destroyed and one shared destroyed, together with three unconfirmed destroyed and one damaged. His first success came on 17 May 1940, in an engagement fifty miles east of Valenciennes, when he claimed two confirmed Ju. 87s and another damaged. On the following day he claimed an unconfirmed Me. 110 over Vitry airfield. Another confirmed Ju. 87 followed on 22 May, after a scrap over Merville, as did one other but unconfirmed. His final victory that month was a half-share in a downed Ju. 88 on the 29th - a little over 24 hours later he was gazetted for the D.S.O. The action now moved to Dunkirk, and the Hurricanes of No. 151 were constantly in action over the beaches, Donaldson gaining a confirmed Me. 110. He also claimed an unconfirmed Ju. 88 on the previous day.

The much battered Squadron now returned to Tangmere, where Donaldson and his exhausted pilots re-grouped for the coming battle. And throughout the second half of June, through to the end of July, he returned to the fray in the skies above England, still courageously shouldering the burden of Squadron command, a burden that included making very difficult decisions:

‘If I thought it was a rest a man needed, I’d give him a fortnight’s holiday. If I felt the war had really got to him, I’d get rid of him. There weren’t many of them. There was one chap who said one day, “I think I’d better stay down today because I’ve got double vision.” He was obviously fatigued; we all were, though we didn’t use that word for it then. I looked at him and his eyes really were pointing in different directions. I said, “Look, the Germans don’t know youv’e got double vision so you’d better come with us. The Germans will see twelve Hurricanes, not eleven with one extra chap who can’t see straight.” Someone said, “Your’e a shit, sir.” But he survived. I saw him not long ago ...’

It was at this juncture, on the 27 June 1940, that Donaldson himself fell victim to a determined Me. 109 pilot:

‘My squadron had been ordered to escort Basil Embry - later to be C. in C. Fighter Command - to destroy a large enemy fuel and arms dump. We did not particularly like the assignment because Basil, absolutely fearless himself, took so long with his positive identification of the target dump. The Germans had so many dummies. Eventually flying home from this, Basil’s squadron was jumped by Messerschmitts low over the sea. It was then that a particularly threatening Messerschmitt arrived and went straight for me. We fought for a good 15 minutes, ending up with head-on attacks on each other. Usually Messerschmitts did not like this for a Hurricane could turn more sharply. My greatest sorrow was that the Hurricane was more than 60 m.p.h. slower than the Messerchmitt 109, which could run away from us at will. On about the fourth head-on attack, shells and bullets started to strike my poor aircraft. The first shell knocked my oil tank clean out of the leading edge of the wing. Then the petrol tank blew up and my clothes caught fire. I climbed on to the wing and then realised with alarm that I was only 800ft. off the sea. I thought this low enough for a safe bale-out, but at this time I fell off. I must have pulled the pulling ring, for as I was about to hit the sea the parachute opened. I disappeared to the full length of its cords and the wind got under the parachute and lifted me like a missile to the surface and started to pull me at about five knots towards the French coast. So I got rid of it. As soon as I had hit the sea I felt my uniform was restricting my swimming so I took it off. The doctor said this was the worst thing I could have done for one loses body heat rapidly. I had no Mae West as I felt it restricted my movements in the cockpit. It was six o’clock in the evening when I saw a black, very fast boat leave Boulogne harbour and head straight for me. It was unmarked. I started to thrash around in the water to attract its attention. Thank God the boat was British. It had been looking for a Swordfish pilot who was shot down the night before, laying mines in Boulogne harbour. I heard the wonderful sounds of real Cockney ...’

Once again, on 12 July, soon after the commencement of the Battle of Britain, Donaldson fell foul of further accurate Luftwaffe gunnery, his Hurricane being badly shot-up by a Do. 17 while on convoy patrol duty. As he later noted, his aircraft was hit in the engine by a least one round and he was covered in oil; with the loss of his rudder control, too, he made an emergency landing at Martlesham just as the engine seized. Unperturbed, he claimed a confirmed victory, an Me. 109, off Dover, just two days later.

Flying his final sortie on 26 July - ‘Flap, take-off, patrol base’ - Donaldson was rested from operations and posted to No. 5 F.T.S. as Chief Flying Instructor. He was gazetted for an A.F.C. for this work in September 1941, by which time he had taken up an appointment in America as a fixed gunnery and pursuit-tactics’ advisor to the United States Army Corps. This latter posting lasted until June 1944, and witnessed his advancement to Group Captain and being awarded the American Legion of Merit - in the meantime, 7,500 copies of his official textbook Notes on Air Gunnery and Air Fighting were distributed.

Donaldson next served in the Fighter Control Unit of 2nd T.A.F., after which he attended the Empire Central Flying School and commanded R.A.F. Colherne and finally R.A.F. Milfield. But whether he flew operationally again remains unknown - some references credit him with unconfirmed sorties with the Polish Wing at Northolt back in 1944, immediately after his return from America.

Certainly, however, he was back in the cockpit by 1946, when he took command of the R.A.F. High Speed Flight at Tangmere. And on 7 September of the same year, he won the Britannia Trophy for capturing the World Air Speed Record at 610 m.p.h. in a modified Gloster Meteor 4, an achievement that attracted unprecedented publicity, not least for the simple fact the record was made at ‘the limits of controllability, a few feet above the Channel.’ A well-merited Bar to his A.F.C. was gazetted in the following year.

During the early 1950s, Donaldson served in Germany and commanded Fassberg and Wunstorf airfields, gaining appointment to C.B.E. in June 1953 and advancement to Air Commodore in July 1955 after attending the Joint Services Staff College. And from 1956 to 1958 he served as Deputy Commander of Air Forces in the Arabian Peninsula. The Air Commodore’s final appointment was as Commandant of the R.A.F. College, Manby, and he retired in 1961, having been created a C.B. in the previous year.

Donaldson, who became a long served Air Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, died at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar in June 1992 and was buried at Tangmere.

Sold with a substantial archive of original documentation and several related presentation pieces, including:

(i)
The recipient’s Flying Log Books (3), covering the periods July 1931 to March 1934; April 1934 to April 1938; and May 1938 to February 1943, with many blank pages thereafter, the operational entries for the period May to July 1940 with good additional commentary.

(ii)
Warrants for the C.B. (and related copy of the Order’s statutes), C.B.E. and American Legion of Merit, the latter dated 15 September 1948, and with related citation, signed by Truman; together with M.I.D. certificate, dated 19 May 1940 and certificate for the Coronation Medal 1953.

(iii)
Warrant for appointment to a commission as Pilot Officer, dated 20 September 1932.

(iv)
A fascinating scrap book, commencing with Donaldson’s aerobatic display days in the 1930s, through the war years to his record flight in 1946, and beyond, with a mass of associated newspaper cuttings, letters and other memorabilia, including numerous photographs, etc., much of it remaining to be ordered and entered, but among the more notable items being a congratulatory letter on the award of his D.S.O. from the Chief of Air Staff, dated 31 May 1940; Buckingham Palace investiture telegram, dated 7 June 1940; Air Ministry D.S.O. warrant forwarding letter, dated 11 July 1940; Empire Central Flying School graduation certificate, dated 22 November 1944; a ‘secret’ (and ineffective) letter from the Ministry of Supply asking Donaldson to ground himself while C.O. of the High Speed Flight at Tangmere, dated 22 June 1946; a congratulatory note from Air Marshal Sir James Robb on the award of the Bar to his A.F.C., dated 11 June 1947, and much further official correspondence spanning the recipient’s distinguished career.

(v)
Certificate for Honorary Title of Command Pilot in the U.S.A.F., with Washington D.C. seal; together with related “Wings” and other memorabilia from Donaldson’s time in the U.S.A., including a copy of his Notes on Air Gunnery and Air Fighting.

(vi)
Presentation silver cigarette box, the lid engraved with a flight of R.A.F. biplanes and the inscription ‘E. M. D. / 1937 / Hendon / Zurich’.

(vii)
Royal Aero Club presentation silver plaque for the Britannia Trophy, officially inscribed to ‘E. M. Donaldson, 1946’, and attached to original black pastic base; together with related certificate signed by the Secretary-General of the Club, with typed inscription, ‘This is to certify that Group Captain E. M. Donaldson, D.S.O., A.F.C., flew a Gloster Meteor IV aircraft over a 3 kilometre course on the 7th September 1946 at a timed speed of 1001.9 kilometres per hour. This flight was officially timed and observed in accordance with the regulations of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. It is believed that this was the first occasion that a pilot had achieved a timed speed in excess of 1000 kilometres per hour’, faded, framed and glazed; and another, more formal certificate, large format, with appropriate inscripiton, seals and signatures, including the Club’s chairman, this also framed and glazed.

(viii)
British Airways Concorde “supersonic flight” certificate inscribed to ‘Air Commodore E. M. Donaldson’, for ‘London-Washington 24th May 1976’; together with another issued by the British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale France on 1 June 1971 for a ‘Paris-Atlantique’ flight; and a Sud Aviation France - British Aircraft Corporation Concorde pen-stand.

(ix) A draft manuscript script for The Teddy Donaldson Story, by Neil Potter, with assorted annotation by the Air Commodore, 340 pp.

N.B.
Despite certain numismatic anomalies in the above described Honours and Awards, none of which can be readily explained by provisional investigation, they are patently as worn by the late Air Commodore E. M. Donaldson; however, the Lot is sold not subject to return.