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Auction archive: Lot number 36

A superb Pilot and Observer family

Estimate
£6,000 - £7,000
ca. US$7,818 - US$9,121
Price realised:
£7,000
ca. US$9,121
Auction archive: Lot number 36

A superb Pilot and Observer family

Estimate
£6,000 - £7,000
ca. US$7,818 - US$9,121
Price realised:
£7,000
ca. US$9,121
Beschreibung:

A superb Pilot and Observer family group: The well-documented Great War Observer’s M.C. group of four awarded to 2nd Lieutenant T. A. M. S. Lewis, Royal Flying Corps, late Royal Fusiliers and Royal West Kents, who shared in the destruction of several enemy aircraft, including that flown by the famous German ace Leutnant Karl Emil Schafer: his M.C. was an immediate award for bringing down two enemy aircraft on 27 July 1917, when he was ‘severely wounded but continued to work his gun lying on his back’ Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘2nd Lt. T. A. M. Lewis, 20th Sqdn. R.F.C., July 27th 1917’; 1914-15 Star (1136 Pte. T. A. M. S. Lewis. R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. T. A. M. S. R.F.C.), mounted as worn, good very fine or better The Great War campaign group of three awarded to 2nd Lieutenant G. T. W. Burkett, M.C., Royal Flying Corps, Lewis’s Australian pilot who was decorated for the same action on 27 July 1917, and who was also wounded: it was during a subsequent hospital visit that he was introduced to Lewis’s sister Charlotte, whom he afterwards married 1914-15 Star (4346 Gnr. G. T. W. Burkett. 1/A.D.A.C.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. G. T. W. Burkett. R.F.C.), good very fine or better (lot) £6000-7000 Footnote Provenance: DNW, June 2005. M.C. London Gazette 26 September 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Whilst acting as Observer his patrol engaged a superior force of enemy scouts. His pilot was wounded, but they continued to fight, destroying one enemy machine. He was then severely wounded, but continued to work his gun lying on his back. By this means they were able to destroy a second enemy machine. Afterwards, when returning to our lines with their machine badly damaged, he and his pilot drove off two machines which were pursuing them, having displayed the greatest gallantry and presence of mind.’ Thomas Archibald Mitford Stuart “Tam” Lewis originally enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers and served in the 19th Battalion out in France during the winter of 1915-16, a period of active service that is well recorded - like his Royal Flying Corps days - in his letters home to his mother, and in his pocket diary (see below). In contrast to the famous Christmas truce period of 1914-15, Lewis states that his Battalion saw-in the New Year under heavy fire - ‘At 11 ‘o’clock, which is the German midnight, they opened fire with rifles and machine-guns and we received a hail of lead over our heads, such as we had never had before. This went on for 10 or 12 minutes and then ceased and all was quiet’. But as described in another of his letters home, written in February 1916, other dangers were ever present: ‘I had a narrow escape from a sniper’s bullet while on sentry duty. It hit a sand bag by my head and scattered the dirt in my face. Another time, just after I had passed along a communication trench, a big shell landed but did not explode, just on top of the trench and threw lots of debris into it ... ’ Subsequently commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in August 1916, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, trained as an Observer and, in March 1917, joined No. 20 Squadron, then operating out of St. Marie-Cappel in F.E.2Ds: it was not to be long before he discovered the true meaning of the Squadron’s motto “Action Not Words”, a motto that ideally suited the Royal Flying Corps’ highest scoring scout unit, and, no doubt, prompted him to carry his pocket edition of the Testamant in his ‘left hand pocket over my heart, and my brandy flask in the other’. By mid-April, or certainly according to a letter sent home to his mother, Lewis was showing all the signs of being an enthusiastic combat airman, a tendency displayed by many aircrew before the true horrors of protracted active service became apparent: ‘I still love flying, dear, its simply glorious, the only annoying part is when on a job having to dodge Archie and scrap Fritz. I have d

Auction archive: Lot number 36
Auction:
Datum:
19 Jul 2017 - 20 Jul 2017
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
Beschreibung:

A superb Pilot and Observer family group: The well-documented Great War Observer’s M.C. group of four awarded to 2nd Lieutenant T. A. M. S. Lewis, Royal Flying Corps, late Royal Fusiliers and Royal West Kents, who shared in the destruction of several enemy aircraft, including that flown by the famous German ace Leutnant Karl Emil Schafer: his M.C. was an immediate award for bringing down two enemy aircraft on 27 July 1917, when he was ‘severely wounded but continued to work his gun lying on his back’ Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘2nd Lt. T. A. M. Lewis, 20th Sqdn. R.F.C., July 27th 1917’; 1914-15 Star (1136 Pte. T. A. M. S. Lewis. R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. T. A. M. S. R.F.C.), mounted as worn, good very fine or better The Great War campaign group of three awarded to 2nd Lieutenant G. T. W. Burkett, M.C., Royal Flying Corps, Lewis’s Australian pilot who was decorated for the same action on 27 July 1917, and who was also wounded: it was during a subsequent hospital visit that he was introduced to Lewis’s sister Charlotte, whom he afterwards married 1914-15 Star (4346 Gnr. G. T. W. Burkett. 1/A.D.A.C.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. G. T. W. Burkett. R.F.C.), good very fine or better (lot) £6000-7000 Footnote Provenance: DNW, June 2005. M.C. London Gazette 26 September 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Whilst acting as Observer his patrol engaged a superior force of enemy scouts. His pilot was wounded, but they continued to fight, destroying one enemy machine. He was then severely wounded, but continued to work his gun lying on his back. By this means they were able to destroy a second enemy machine. Afterwards, when returning to our lines with their machine badly damaged, he and his pilot drove off two machines which were pursuing them, having displayed the greatest gallantry and presence of mind.’ Thomas Archibald Mitford Stuart “Tam” Lewis originally enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers and served in the 19th Battalion out in France during the winter of 1915-16, a period of active service that is well recorded - like his Royal Flying Corps days - in his letters home to his mother, and in his pocket diary (see below). In contrast to the famous Christmas truce period of 1914-15, Lewis states that his Battalion saw-in the New Year under heavy fire - ‘At 11 ‘o’clock, which is the German midnight, they opened fire with rifles and machine-guns and we received a hail of lead over our heads, such as we had never had before. This went on for 10 or 12 minutes and then ceased and all was quiet’. But as described in another of his letters home, written in February 1916, other dangers were ever present: ‘I had a narrow escape from a sniper’s bullet while on sentry duty. It hit a sand bag by my head and scattered the dirt in my face. Another time, just after I had passed along a communication trench, a big shell landed but did not explode, just on top of the trench and threw lots of debris into it ... ’ Subsequently commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in August 1916, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, trained as an Observer and, in March 1917, joined No. 20 Squadron, then operating out of St. Marie-Cappel in F.E.2Ds: it was not to be long before he discovered the true meaning of the Squadron’s motto “Action Not Words”, a motto that ideally suited the Royal Flying Corps’ highest scoring scout unit, and, no doubt, prompted him to carry his pocket edition of the Testamant in his ‘left hand pocket over my heart, and my brandy flask in the other’. By mid-April, or certainly according to a letter sent home to his mother, Lewis was showing all the signs of being an enthusiastic combat airman, a tendency displayed by many aircrew before the true horrors of protracted active service became apparent: ‘I still love flying, dear, its simply glorious, the only annoying part is when on a job having to dodge Archie and scrap Fritz. I have d

Auction archive: Lot number 36
Auction:
Datum:
19 Jul 2017 - 20 Jul 2017
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
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