A Great War M.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant A. Ostler, Royal Air Force, late Royal Artillery and Royal Flying Corps, who was killed in action while serving as an Observer in R.E. 8s of No. 13 Squadron in September 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lieut., R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut., R.A.F.), the third renamed, good very fine or better (4) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Roy Bartlett Collection of Awards to the R.N.A.S., R.F.C. and R.A.F..

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M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Alan Ostler, a native of Halifax, was born in December 1888 and was employed as a war correspondent for the Daily Express and The Standard newspapers in the period leading up to the Great War, including coverage of the Balkan War in 1912-13.

Originally commissioned into the 13th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment in December 1914, he transferred to the Royal Field Artillery in January 1915 and went on to witness active service in Gallipoli, serving variously in 15th Brigade Ammunition Column, 26th Battery R.F.A. and 17th Brigade Ammunition Column, prior to being evacuated to Port Said, and thence home to the U.K., with typhoid, in August 1915.

Next actively employed out in France, Ostler joined 149 Brigade, R.F.A. in March 1916, when he was appointed to ‘B’ Battery. Transferring to 148 Brigade that September, he was wounded by shrapnel in the face and upper arm on 18 October and was evacuated to the U.K. a few days later. By mid-December, however, having made a sufficient recovery, he was ordered to rejoin 148 Brigade in the Field, where he served until returning home on leave in late 1917, latterly as a Lieutenant in 30 Divisional Ammunition Column. He was awarded the M.C.

Interestingly, Ostler’s R.A.F. service record mentions the fact he had flown as an Observer on the Gallipoli front - no doubt spotting for the artillery - so it was probably this early experience of operational flying that prompted him to transfer to the Royal Flying Corps in early 1918, for in February of the same year he was accepted on the strength of the Royal Flying Corps as an Observer on probation. His training complete, he was posted to No. 13 Squadron in France that August, in which capacity he served until his death in action on 16 September 1918.

No. 13 Squadron records reveal that Ostler first went operational on the last day of August, when he participated in a counter-attack patrol and was able to direct artillery fire on to a large party of enemy troops, who were seen to scatter. The following day he flew on a photographic reconnaissance patrol (‘Successful - 54 plates exposed’), and on 3 September he and his pilot, Lieutenant Daniel, fired 50 rounds from 200 feet at a party of enemy troops - ‘one seen to fall’. As it transpired, Ostler flew no less than three missions on the 3rd, but it was the last of them that resulted in a memorable dogfight, this time with Captain G. B. Bailey at the helm of his R.E. 8:

‘Our machine was attacked at 500 feet whilst endeavouring to locate the position of our troops in Moeuvres. Two enemy aircraft were driven out of the fight almost immediately by bursts of fire from the pilot and Observer respectively. They were seen to go down to the ground, but owing to continued activity of the remaining four, it was not possible to watch their descent all the way nor to see them crash, but returning later two crashed enemy aircraft were seen at E. 13a and E. 13c, over which area the first two machines were driven down out of control. After a few minutes, two more enemy aircraft broke off the engagement and climbed eastwards. The remaining two Fokkers continued the fight for two minutes and eventually left us near Pronville. They climbed and went north over the Arras-Cambrai road.’

Between then and the middle of the month, Ostler flew regular artillery and photographic reconnaissance patrols, nearly coming to grief on the 4th when his aircraft was seriously damaged as a result of a crash-landing at dusk. But on 16 September, having taken off at dawn in R.E. 8 F5977, with Lieutenant J. J. Elder as pilot, both men were reported as missing, their aircraft having been brought down by ground fire while patrolling over the XVII Corps front.

Ostler, who was aged 33 years, is buried in Ontario Cemetery at Sains-les-Marquion, France.