Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

A well-documented post-war A.F.C. group of four awarded to Wing Commander F. R. “Paddy” Flynn, Royal Air Force

Air Force Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1950; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953, mounted as worn, good very fine (4) £1000-1200

A.F.C. London Gazette 2 January 1950.

Frederick Ronald “Paddy” Flynn, who was born at Grimsby and educated at Wintringham Secondary School, entered the Royal Air Force as a Halton Apprentice in January 1929.

Following service at R.A.F. Grantham, he successfully applied for pilot training and joined No. 3 F.T.S. in April 1935. Appointed a Sergeant in January 1936, while attending the Navigation School at Manston, Flynn was posted to No. 35 Squadron in the Sudan that summer, but returned to the U.K. before the end of the year.

The outbreak of hostilities found him serving in a Signals Squadron at R.A.F. Cranwell, and in August 1940, having been commissioned as a Pilot Officer, he was posted to the C.F.S. at Upavon. A few weeks later he transferred to the R.A.F. College back at Cranwell, where he had the fright of his life on the night of 26 October, when his unarmed Oxford was attacked by an enemy aircraft as he came into land.

In September 1941 he was embarked for South Africa, where between then and August 1944, he served there as an instructor on the Empire Air Training Scheme, gaining advancement to Flight Lieutenant in April 1943 and a King’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air in the New Year’s Honours of 1945.

Back on the home establishment, he prepared for his first operational posting at No. 10 O.T.U., but joined No. 153 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Scampton, just a few days before V.E. Day:

‘It looks as if the war in Europe has finished! My crew seemed more than a little depressed on the night of 7th May - I’m sure we were the only R.A.F. crew flying over England! A good clear night for flying and the pyrotechnic displays from airfields was a sure sign that the war is really over’ (Flynn’s Flying Log Book refers).

Flynn, who more often than not was rated as an ‘exceptional’ pilot, and certainly ‘above the average’, remained in the R.A.F. after the War, and in October 1946 hit the home press for his goodwill flight to Chile in a Lincoln of No. 97 Squadron - a round trip of 20,000 miles which included the first ever R.A.F. bomber crossing of the Andes. A lengthy “Cold War” appointment with 2nd T.A.F. in Germany ensued in the 1950s, and he ended his career as a Wing Commander at H.Q. Flying Training Command in April 1959. “Paddy” Flynn died in August 1966.

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Log Books (4), covering the periods September 1937 to December 1940, December 1940 to February 1944, March 1944 to August 1953, and September 1953 to August 1958, but with additional civilian entries for the period 1961 to 1965; together with numerous photographs, many featuring a skiing trip, but others of a more R.A.F.-based nature, and other documentation, including a congratulatory letter on the award of his commendation from the Director-General of Air Forces in South Africa, dated 2 January 1945.