Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A well-documented 1939-45 War pair awarded Captain J. C. S. W. Neilan, for many years Senior Test Pilot with B.E.A. (afterwards British Airways), work that won him the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air: in 1942, while testing a military Hengist glider, he was compelled to take to his parachute at 3000 feet and was duly elected to membership of the Caterpillar Club

Defence and War Medals, extremely fine (2) £300-350

John Charles Stuart Wortley Neilan was born at New Seaham in January 1911, the son of John Alexander Neilan, a pioneer aviator. Neilan Jnr. first went solo in a Gipsy I at Cramlington in August 1934 but in the following year turned his attention to gliders and rapidly established himself as a glider pilot of repute: on 16 July 1935, he gained the U.K. Glider Duration Record, when at an average altitude of 2000 feet he remained in the air for 13 hours and 5 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, on the advent of hostilities, he found himself attached to the military for glider testing duties, and was fortunate to survive an outing in a military Hengist glider on 8 July 1942. Having been towed to 11,000 feet by an R.A.F. Hudson, his glider ‘fell out of the sky’ on release and suffered structural failure at 7000 feet. At that point his co-pilot was thrown clear but Neilan did not get out of the plunging wreckage until 3000 feet, his subsequent parachute descent gaining him membership of the celebrated Caterpillar Club.

After the War Neilan worked for several airlines before joining B.E.A. (afterwards British Airways) and assisted in the Berlin Airlift. He ended his career as Senior Test Pilot in 1968, having been awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air (London Gazette 2 June 1962). An accompanying Ministry of Aviation release, dated 15 October 1962, the day on which he was presented with his award, states:

‘Captain Neilan is at present Senior Test Pilot for B.E.A. and has held that position since 1953 following considerable experience as an airline pilot. He is responsible for the administration of the Test Flight Unit and the testing standards of the pilots under his command and his abilities have made it possible for the Unit to function very satisfactorily and always to maintain the highest standards of test flying.’

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s (Civil) Flying Log Books (3) for the periods August 1934 to October 1936 (including his glider duration record flight in July 1935), October 1936 to May 1938 and May 1938 to August 1939; a further Flying Log Book recording his glider activities from March 1935 to July 1946 (including his near fatal flight in July 1942); assorted passport-style Air Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority flying certificates and licences (6), ranging from 1934 to 1978, with portrait photographs, etc.; an International Driving Permit, dated 11 March 1950; Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air certificate, dated 2 June 1962, with related Ministry of Aviation investiture letter and press release; and his father’s Air Ministry flying licence (who was born in April 1877), this dated 18 December 1935, with portrait photograph.