Auction Catalogue

28 March 2002

Starting at 12:00 PM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals Including five Special Collections

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 719

.

28 March 2002

Hammer Price:
£100

Four: Flight Sergeant R. W. Podger, Royal Air Force

Defence and War Medals; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G VI R (Act. W/O (561314), R.A.F.); Royal Air Force LS & GC G VI R, 1st issue (561314 F. Sgt., R.A.F.); together with RAF Halton, Barrington-Kennett Sports, silver medals (4), all unsigned [by J. Pinches], different types, one depicting an athlete, all engraved (B-K Sports 1927), 39mm (3) and 33mm; Untitled bronze medal, named (A/A. Podger, Holder Sqdn. Ath. Cup, 1927), 39mm; RAF Halton, Barrington-Kennett Trophy, silver medal, type 1, by J. Pinches (Athletics 1928 Junior Long Jump Team Winners), hallmarked London 1927; silver medal, type 1, by J. Pinches (1929 Senior Athletics, 400 Yds Relay Winners), hallmarked London 1929; silver medal, type 1, by J. Pinches (1929 Senior Athletics, Long Jump Team Winners), hallmarked London 1929; Barrington-Kennett Sports, silver Inter-Wing Winner’s medal by J. Pinches (1929 Senior Athletics, Long Jump Winner), hallmarked London 1928; RAF Sports, silver medal by N.A. & A.F.I., rev. athletes exchanging baton, hallmarked Birmingham 1929, 33mm, very fine and better, the first four mounted as worn (14) £140-180

Provenance:

A.W. Solomon Collection;
BDW Auction, 7 April 1994, lot 567.

Sold with two identity discs.

The Barrington-Kennett Trophy medals were awarded to mark individual achievement in the various Inter-Wing sporting competitions held in the Summer and Winter terms at RAF Halton, near Wendover. Medals were awarded to members of the winning team, and to winners of individual events, providing they were not part of the winning team. Would-be apprentices entered the School between the ages of 15 and 18, where they underwent three years’ training. Medals are often inscribed A/A (Aircraft Apprentice) or, more rarely, L/AA (Leading Aircraft Apprentice).

The original trophy, now no longer in existence, was a solid silver replica of an SE5 aeroplane crafted by the Goldsmiths’ Company. It was presented to what was then No.1 School of Technical Training in memory of one of the four Barrington-Kennett brothers killed during the First World War.

The armed services first came to Halton in 1912, when Alfred Rothschild lent troops from Aldershot his land to moor their three aircraft and one airship, which were detailed to protect London from enemy attack. The land was used as a training ground for RFC fitters in 1917 but it was not until March 1920 that RAF Halton was formally established as a training school. The facility was closed at the end of 1994.