Sunday 20 November 2022 08:11 PM Medals awarded to teenage WW1 ace who took on a dozen German planes at once are ... trends now
The military medals of a teenage WWI pilot, who later became the first person to fly non-stop from Britain to India, are expected to fetch £30,000 at auction next week.
Squadron Leader Arthur Gordon Jones-Williams was awarded the Military Cross in July 1917, aged just 18, for attacking 12 German aircraft all at once and succeeding in destroying one and driving down another.
Showing 'utmost dash' and 'the finest offensive spirit', he repeated the act again weeks later, for which he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross.
The citation for the award read: 'On several occasions he attacked enemy formations although they were in superior numbers, fighting them in more than one instance single-handed, and showing the finest offensive spirit.
'He drove several machines down completely out of control, fighting until his ammunition was expended.'
He would later go on to become the first pilot to fly non-stop from Britain to India in 1929- a flight that took more than 50 hours.
Squadron Leader Arthur Gordon Jones-Williams (pictured) was awarded the Military Cross in July 1917, aged just 18, for attacking 12 German aircraft all at once and succeeding in destroying one and driving down another
Now his medals are up for auction, including the Military Cross, British War and Victory Medals, General Service Medal and Croix de Guerre (pictured left to right)
After WWI Sq Ldr Jones-Williams (circled) spent time in Kurdistan, taking part in a bombing raid as part of operations against Sheik Mahmoud who was leading a revolt against the Baghdad government
Sq Ldr Jones-Williams's mother received the gold Aero Club medal (pictured) for his achievements after he died and it is included in the collection
Now the pilot's WWI medals are up for auction at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, Gloucestershire along with messages he passed to his co-pilot on his historic flight to India, logbooks, trophies and other memorabilia.
Auctioneer Henry Meadows said: 'Opportunities to buy a collection like this are becoming increasingly rare and I don't expect to see any other archives that are so complete.
'The provenance of the medals is spectacular. Not only was Squadron Leader Jones-Williams a daring pilot but he also became the first pilot to fly non-stop from Cranwell to India.
'Collections like this from the First World War, particularly from pilots, are very special.
'Flying was very experimental at this time and it was incredibly dangerous.
'I expect there will be a lot of interest from RAF and civil aviation
