The John Chidzey Collection

A rare Second World War M.B.E., D.S.C. group of five awarded to Commander N. K. Cambell, Royal Navy, a Fleet Air Arm pilot who was decorated for his gallant deeds in Swordfish operating out of Malta up until his capture after ditching off North Africa in May 1941: his subsequent work in sending back valuable coded messages to the U.K. from assorted P.O.W. camps in Italy and Germany resulted in the award of his M.B.E.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1941’, hallmarks for London 1940; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The John Chidzey Collection.

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Provenance: an original accompanying letter from the recipient to John Chidzey, dated 29 February 1980, states, ‘We had some correspondence three or four years ago after you had purchased my medals from Rothery’s’; see below, too, further accompanying correspondence and the recipient’s hand written memoir.

M.B.E. London Gazette 19 February 1946:

‘For outstanding services whilst a Prisoner of War.’

D.S.C. London Gazette 12 August 1941.

Neville Kenneth Cambell entered the Royal Navy as a cadet at Dartmouth in 1925, among his fellow students being Guy Burgess, afterwards the infamous spy - ‘He was a most amusing person. I had been at Prep School in Southsea with him’ (Cambell’s hand written memoirs refers).

Appointed a Midshipman in May 1929, after serving in the mighty Hood, and in common with his brothers, Dennis and Brian, he afterwards opted for pilot training, and was posted to R.A.F. Leuchars in September 1933. Duly qualified, and advanced to Lieutenant, he joined the carrier Courageous in May of the following year, flying Fairey Seals, and, in 1936, joined the Cumberland off China, flying Walrus aircraft - here, then, the occasion that he ‘walked through an armed Chinese camp at 2 o’clock in the morning, in a dinner jacket, with my hands above my head’ (his memoirs refer).

By the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, however, Cambell was serving aboard the carrier Argus and, with the entry of Italy into the War, he was ordered to join No. 830 Squadron, a Swordfish unit based at Hal Far, Malta, in the summer of 1940 - ‘Soon after getting to Malta, we did a raid on Augusta and then one on the airfield at Catonia but as these produced even more raids on Malta (with only the three Gladiators Faith, Hope and Glory to oppose them), it was decided to stop and instead we carried out sea searches hoping to come across some Italian warships.’

Cambell continues:

‘At the start of 1941, we were allowed to become more aggressive and went to attack shipping in Palermo, Sicily; a memorable flight. We went round the coast to get there but came back across the island in brilliant moonlight and still air; it was really most exhilarating.

Sunderlands were operating from Kalafeona in Malta and did recces and one day spotted a convoy of three ships travelling south off the coast of Tunisia - between Sfax and the island of Lampedusa. We took four Swordfish - I was leading with two bombs the others had torpedoes - and we found the convoy and sank one ship. It was then decided we should do sweeps along this convoy route which was also being watched by submarines. Having no fighter cover we flew at night and because the majority of the aircraft - in fact I think all except mine - had no artificial horizon instruments (and were equipped with little more than aircraft were in the 1920s), we only flew during periods of moon rise. We also did a raid on Tripoli (Libya), where most of the convoys went.

So our programme then became searching for convoys or dropping mines in the entrance of Tripoli harbour. For the latter I used to fly behind the harbour at three or four thousand feet and drop flares, and the others came in from the sea to drop their mines. The excitable Italians opened up a sizeable barrage, mainly firing at the flares and our losses were not heavy - one complete loss and one damaged who made his way to French Tunisia.’

Having then been afforded a spectacular view of the naval engagement fought on 12 April 1941, when a flotilla of destroyers under Captain P. J. Mack, D.S.O., R.N., wiped out an entire enemy convoy - ‘there cannot be many other pilots who watched such a decisive night action from the air directly above the battle’ - Cambell and his fellow pilots returned apace to mining operations in Tripoli. And it was on one such mission, on 6 May 1941, that he was compelled to ditch his Swordfish (P 4232 A) in the sea off Bone, an incident described in his own words:

‘We took off at 2015 hours. I was leading three or four mine-layers and on this occasion, because I was getting a little tired of all the flak at 5,000 feet, I thought I would see if the flares would operate from 8,000 feet - well clear of visible flak, which, of course, contained plenty of tracer.

The flares worked perfectly but suddenly, on the starboard wing, I saw oil pouring out. Whether the pipe connection had broken again or whether the external oil cooler had been hit by a stray piece of flak I shall never know, but it was obvious we couldn’t attempt the long sea flight to Malta, so we set off for Tunis. After a few miles the engine faltered and we landed in the sea just off the coast, 40 yards or so away. We took a coffee thermos and swam for the shore in no panic, even waiting a moment while my Observer pulled his flying boot up. But instead of the sandy beach we expected there were several small cliffs, 12 to 15 feet high; we could get on a ledge at their foot but as we started to scale them a wave would come along and sweep us down. My Observer was lucky and on one occasion, being a little higher than I on the cliff, got swept up further and made the top. My unfortunate Air Gunner was found drowned the next day with his chest severely damaged, presumably on the rocks. I was swept up and down the cliff several times and almost gave up and then noticed the tail of the aircraft from about the cockpit - the Observer’s cockpit - was sticking up at an angle of 60 degrees or so, presumably the engine was on a rock. At all events, I swam back to it and with my keys cut holes in the fabric so that I could climb up and sit on the tail plane which I did for some five hours or so, until it got light and I swam ashore and Italians pulled me up the cliff. Throughout the night a large wave would almost tip the aircraft over but we stayed upright and I even went to sleep!’

Having been held in captivity in Libya, he was embarked for Naples, and spent the next two years in camps near Piacenza and at Padula. Following the Italian capitulation, Cambell was transported by cattle truck to Southern Germany, and spent time in Madamar Castle before being moved to Oflag 12 B at Hadamar near Bremen. And throughout much of this period, he was engaged in sending coded messages home, via his mother and an attractive sounding female pen friend (actually, much to his disappointment on returning home, the latter transpired to be a Major from the War Office with a big bushy moustache!).

Advanced to Commander in June 1948, Cambell was appointed Commander (Air) in the newly commissioned carrier Eagle in 1951, but, tiring of ‘flying though rain, cloud and hail’, was at his own request placed on the Retired List in 1959. Post-Navy, he became a Preparatory School teacher in Hampshire, where he died at Liss in July 1996.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s hand written memoir, 19pp., being a fascinating and often amusing account of his Naval career, and a 3pp. summary including reference to the sale of his Honours & Awards (‘Why did I sell my medals? I have a thing about those who parade on November 11th or whenever it is, displaying the medals they won for killing Germans or Japs’), together with related forwarding letter, dated 11 February 1977; and a similar document with additional recollections, 10pp., and covering letter dated 10 March 1980.

Also see Lot 1679 for the Honours & Awards awarded to his brother, Rear-Admiral D. R. F. Cambell, C.B., D.S.C.