A scarce ‘Darfur operations’ campaign group of four awarded to Corporal A. F. Bailey, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, who later flew as an air gunner/observer with 206 Squadron during the Great War - when he was shot down, wounded, and taken Prisoner of War over France on 2 October 1918

1914-15 Star (3740 1. A.M. A. F. Bailey. R.F.C.); British War and Victory Medals (3740. Cpl. A. F. Bailey. R.A.F.); Khedive’s Sudan 1910-21, 2nd issue, no clasps (3740 1/A.M. A. F. Bailey. R.F.C.) officially impressed naming, mounted on card for display, last with naming double-struck in several places, generally very fine or better (4) £600-£800

Approximately 61 Khedive Sudan Medals for the Darfur operations issued to the Royal Flying Corps, 37 of which being no clasp awards.

Albert Frederick Bailey was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, in 1891. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in February 1915, and was initially listed in the trade of motor cyclist. Bailey was posted to Egypt in November 1915, and then to take part in the Darfur operations with 17 Squadron in the Sudan. He was admitted to hospital suffering from malaria on 30 September 1916, and returned to the UK for further treatment the following month. Bailey was medically boarded as fit to return for service, and was posted to France on 25 February 1917.

Bailey subsequently served as an air gunner/observer with 206 Squadron (D.C.9.s) in France, and he crashed landed with his pilot (Lieutenant A. B. Seddon) whilst returning from a bombing raid on 29 September 1918; Bailey was hospitalised overnight. Later advanced to Corporal Mechanic, he was not so fortunate on 2 October 1918: this time the aircraft was piloted by Sergeant R. Walker, but it failed to return from a similar bombing raid. Bailey was initially declared as ‘Missing’, and later publications list him as being killed in action. However, he was in fact taken Prisoner of War by the Germans after being shot down and wounded in the right leg. Bailey was repatriated on 29 December 1918, and finally discharged with a pension for his wounds on 5 June 1919.

The Khedive’s Sudan Medal gives the unit R.F.C., not R.A.F.