The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection

‘Throughout the struggle, whenever and wherever there was serious trouble and danger, the chances were that an open car, flying a faded R.A.F. Ensign, would arrive bringing Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd driven by the gallant little Maltese driver, Sergeant Aquilina - no one, I think, more bravely upheld the courage of Malta than did Aquilina, with the highest form of courage, the courage that overcomes fear. The two together, A.O.C. and driver, typified the unconquerable team that was Malta.’

Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Tedder, from his foreword to Lloyd’s account of his period of command in Malta, Briefed to Attack

The highly important G.B.E., K.C.B., Great War pilot’s M.C., D.F.C. group of twenty-four awarded to Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd, Royal Air Force, late Royal Engineers and Royal Flying Corps, whose extraordinary leadership and gallant example as A.O.C. Malta 1941-42 won him a place in the annals of British military history: it was Lloyd’s determination in taking the fight back to the enemy ‘that effectively strangled Rommel and held open the door into Europe’, a remarkable feat of arms that led Churchill to christen the George Cross Island ‘the unsinkable aircraft carrier’ - in fact in terms of the odds faced by his men and lack of reserves, the outcome of the air battle of Malta was equal to that of the Battle of Britain



The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, G.B.E. (Military) Knight Grand Cross, 2nd type set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with silver-gilt and enamel centre, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue, this lacking its interior tray and somewhat worn; The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B. (Military) Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with silver-gilt and enamel applique centre, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; Distinguished Flying Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (33904 Pnr. H. Pughe-Lloyd, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. H. P. Lloyd, R.A.F.); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Waziristan 1921-24, Mohmand 1933, North West Frontier 1935 (F./L. H. P. Lloyd, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Pacific Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (Air Mshl. Sir Hugh P. Lloyd, R.A.F.); Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; France, Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, with gilt star and bronze palm; France, Croix de Guerre 1939, with bronze palm; Tunisia, Order of Nichan-Iftikhar, Grand Officer’s breast star, silver and enamel; United States of America, Order of Merit, Officer’s breast badge, gilt and enamel, together with a set of related dress miniatures from the inter-war period (8), and his King’s A.D.C. Badge, generally good very fine (Lot) £16000-18000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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G.B.E. London Gazette 1 June 1953.

K.C.B. London Gazette 7 June 1951.

M.C. London Gazette 22 June 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During an offensive patrol he dropped bombs on motor transport, one lorry being completely destroyed and others damaged. Enemy troops advancing to the attack were then engaged with machine-gun fire, which inflicted numerous casualties on them. Later, he bombed an enemy battery coming into action, the horses of which bolted, a great number of the gun detachments being killed. He has on all occasions shown the greatest pluck and determination in carrying out any tasks allotted him.’

D.F.C. London Gazette 8 February 1919:

‘This officer has rendered signal service on many occasions, notably on 1 November 1918, when, noticing four hostile batteries harassing our advancing infantry, he, by sending calls to our artillery, succeeded in silencing them. During this flight he was continuously attacked by hostile formations, which he succeeded in driving off; despite this opposition he carried out a low reconnaissance, obtaining most valuable information as to the position of our advanced troops.’



Hugh Pughe Lloyd was born at Leigh, Worcestershire in December 1894 and was educated at King’s School, Worcester and Peterhouse, Cambridge, though his studies at the latter college were interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities.

The Great War

A keen motor cyclist, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers in early 1915, and was appointed a despatch driver out in France that April, in which capacity he was wounded a week or two later:

‘On 9 May 1915, I was told to go with some messages to a Brigade up in the lines. South of Hooge, and I suppose I had managed to get halfway between Ypres and Hooge, I was hit by a shell. I don’t remember anything after that except that it happened at that particular place and I woke up eventually. I believe it was some casualty clearing station some miles away and after that my first recollection of seeing anything that I could remember was in the workhouse at Leicester which was then a hospital and I was in a fairly poor state and I think I was there for about two months or something of that sort ... ’ (an interview with Lloyd refers).



Having recovered from his wounds, Lloyd was embarked for Egypt but, tiring of garrison life, elected to join the Royal Flying Corps. Duly appointed a Cadet, he qualified as a pilot at Castle Bromwich and Yatesbury, was commissioned, and then posted to No. 52 Squadron, an Army co-operation unit flying R.E. 8s, out in France, in November 1917. Thus ensued a protracted and gallant tour of operations, a copy of his Flying Log Book for 1918 revealing around 150 patrols, many of them of a bombing or reconnaissance nature and many too resulting in air-to-air combats, Lloyd’s observers being kept busy on his R.E. 8’s Lewis gun. Duly awarded the above cited M.C. and D.F.C., he was decorated with the Croix de Guerre (London Gazette 21 September 1918 refers), this latter in respect of a two-month detachment to the French at Chemin des Dames in the wake of the German Spring Offensive.


Inter-war

Awarded a permanent commission in the R.A.F. at the end of hostilities, Lloyd went out to India as a Flight Commander in No. 28 Squadron and witnessed active service in the unit’s Bristol F.2Bs in the Waziristan operations. Returning to the U.K. in 1923, he attended the R.A.F. Staff College and, later still, in January 1931, when back in India, the Army Staff College, Quetta. By now a Squadron Leader, he served in the Mohmand operations of 1933 as a Staff Officer at No. 1 (Indian) Group and, shortly before his advancement to Wing Commander, in the North West Frontier operations of 1935. He was mentioned in despatches.

The renewal of hostilities

The outbreak of war found Lloyd in command of No. 9 Squadron, though he was shortly to command a Wing at Marham on its conversion to Wellington bombers. Advanced to Group Captain in January 1940, and appointed an A.D.C. to the King in the same year, he became Senior Air Staff Officer (S.A.S.O.) to No. 2 Group, in which post he was awarded the C.B.E. (London Gazette 24 September 1941 refers), the recommendation stating:

‘As Senior Air Staff Officer at No. 2 Group, this officer has performed services of exceptional merit. During and since the difficult times following the invasion of the Low Countries and France his work, enthusiasm and example have been an inspiration to all who worked with him. By keeping the closest personal contact with stations and squadrons he has been able to give direct assistance to the Commanding Officers and crews in their operations and in many problems arising therefrom. He has shown a fine conception of his duties and has not spared himself.’

Malta 1941-42

However, as described by Lloyd in Briefed to Attack, Lloyd’s sojourn at No. 2 Group came to a sudden end in May 1941, when he was ordered to Malta by Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, the latter telling him “You will be on the Island for six months as a minimum and nine months as a maximum as by that time you will be worn out.”

In point of fact, Lloyd served as A.O.C. Malta for a period of 14 months - a masterly period of command, for it was he who took the fight back to the enemy, turning the Tunisian coast, west of Sicily, into a telling hunting ground for Malta’s squadrons. So effective did this strategy prove, that the enemy was compelled to re-route its North Africa-bound sea traffic along the Messina Straits and Greek coast - in fact, in the words of his Times obituary, ‘this intense onslaught on supply lines had a profound effect on Rommel’s fortunes.’

And he displayed equally steely determination in his robust defence of the George Cross Island, often by unorthodox methods, not least in his “hijacking” of aircraft and aircrew in transit to Egypt - one such member of aircrew was the much decorated “Warby” Warburton, who found himself coming under the direct control of Lloyd, acting as the A.O.C’s personal ‘spy in the sky’ and undertaking numerous low-level photographic missions. As a result of such “hijackings”, Lloyd became known as “Sticky Fingers” to the C.-in-C. Middle East’s H.Q. staff in Cairo, and angry signals were regularly exchanged - in Lloyd’s case with good reason:

‘The Wellington which arrived on the night of 24-25 [March, 1942] from the Middle East brought 750lbs. of N.A.A.F.I. goods, chiefly items of which were soap, toothpaste, razor blades and Brylcreem. I consider this absolutely reprehensible when we have aircraft grounded for lack of so many spare parts which your Movements Officer is well aware of. For example, four Hurricanes are grounded for lack of Colbert rivets. We are fighting for our existence here and Brylcreem is the last thing we need.’

And ‘fighting for our existence’ was no exaggeration as the skies over Malta buzzed with hundreds of Axis aircraft at the height of the siege, Lloyd writing in March 1942 that ‘the battle of the last three days has shown that the Battle of Britain is nothing compared with it, certainly in terms of being outnumbered and in having no reserves whatsoever.’ Such issues were no doubt high on the agenda when Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, A.O.C. Middle East, visited Malta in the following month, and whatever the outcome of their discussions, his senior departed with a vivid picture of life on Malta’s airfields, or certainly according to Lloyd:

‘There was a raid on Takali as soon as Tedder arrived there, and from the veranda of the Officers’ Mess he was able to get an excellent view of the enemy tactics and encircling patrol of 109s as it closed on the aerodrome below us to dive on every sign of movement. They even made some dives at Tedder as he was standing on the veranda, and a photographer who was trying to photograph the Chief and a 109 on the same plate found discretion preferable to valour when he saw another 109 flying straight at him with cannon firing.

The visit to Luqa, however, was better timed, as a few minutes before Tedder had arrived there, the Axis had dropped a few more hundred tons of bombs, making a shambles. Pilots, observers, radio operators, air-gunners, and airmen and soldiers were busy moving the stone and filling holes, all of them as happy as sandboys. I have never seen Tedder so delighted with any scene, and pointing with the stem of his pipe to a group of men who were busy filling holes and then to some of the men surrounding him, as if to add emphasis to his comment, he said - very quietly: “That is the spirit of Malta.” ’

Lloyd’s redoubtable and charismatic leadership was regularly enhanced by personal examples of bravery under fire, a number of close shaves being met with calm indifference:

‘There was the singular occasion later on, at the height of the bombing, when, in the Mess at M’dina, he was addressing a roomful of fighter pilots just arrived from England. A particularly heavy raid was building up with guns cracking and bombs falling as he reached his peroration. “Get in close to the enemy,” he was saying, “see the whites of his eyes before you shoot. If you don’t get him, he’ll get you ...” Just then a 2,000-pounder, shrieking and whistling, seemed as if it must hit the villa. Led by the Australians and New Zealanders the pilots made a headlong dive for the protection of the billiard table or any other cover they could find. A few moments later, dusting themselves down, they crept sheepishly from their hiding places to find the A.O.C., still standing erect, utterly impervious to the danger which had just passed. “ ... You will see, gentlemen, what I mean!”

Indeed Lloyd’s inspiring period of command was to win wide approbation, from senior officers to junior officers and men alike:

Air Chief Marshal Lord Tedder:

‘Lloyd’s position I thought outstanding. His personal bravery and dynamic energy have a widespread effect, and more than anyone is the personification of Malta’s resistance. To see the morale of the R.A.F. personnel is one of the most stimulating experiences I have ever met ... ’ (With Prejudice refers).




Pilot Officer Ivor Broom:

‘One day after we had suffered some heavy losses he visited the squadron at Luqa airfield. We were lined up for a pep talk when an air raid warning sounded. Calmly he went on talking. The camp siren sounded but he continued talking until his aide said, “They are diving on the airfield, sir.” He looked up, and then casually and slowly said, “I think we had better take cover.” The bombs fell as the crews dived for cover almost before he had finished his sentence. Within seconds he was back on his feet and quickly touring the airfield to inspect the damage’ (Thanks for the Memory refers).

Pilot Officer Tony Spooner:

‘The A.O.C. once put his arm around the author’s shoulders and declared impressively, “Spooner, the fate of the British Empire tonight may well rest on your shoulders.” After this the author was prepared, if necessary, to dive-bomb his Wellington down the funnels of an enemy battleship. When Hugh Pughe Lloyd spoke, it was with a Churchillian ring’ (Supreme Gallantry refers).

A member of ground crew:

‘The whole of Malta’s efforts were utterly dedicated to being a major thorn in Rommel’s foot. The pinnacle of this defiance was one man: Air Vice-Marshal Hugh P. Lloyd, a magnificent Welshman. His memoirs of Malta are, in my view, the best of all literature dealing with this place at this time. His title Briefed to Attack is an accurate reflection of the spirit of the man and the way he communicated to all his troops. Not for him the safe deep underground H.Q.; more often than not he would appear in his car, amidst the virtually incessant attacks, popping up in all sorts of places ... he was essentially the man for the hour’ (Supreme Gallantry refers).

Lloyd, who at one stage had been recommended by Auchinleck to take over as Governor and C.-in-C. from Dobbie, handed over his command to Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park in July 1942, and later published an acclaimed account of his time in Malta, namely Briefed to Attack, a compelling history that is credited as being the catalyst for the film Malta Story.

In recognition of his gallantry, his successful direction of his air forces amidst unparalleled assaults for well over a year, and for never ceasing in taking the fight back to the enemy, Lloyd, by now an Acting Air Vice-Marshal, was appointed successively C.B. (London Gazette 1 January 1942 refers), and K.B.E. (London Gazette 31 July 1942 refers), the recommendation for the latter stating:

‘Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd has just handed over the command of the R.A.F. in Malta, which he has held for about 14 months. For two or three months this year he sustained the defence against an unprecedented scale of attack, largely by his own powers of leadership and by his personal example of energy and resourcefulness. I suggest that his services should be recognised by the immediate award of a K.B.E. .... It is extremely unusual to award a knighthood to so relatively junior an officer but I think this case quite exceptional.’

George VI concurred, his secretary writing to the Secretary of State for Air on 27 July 1943, ‘The King entirely approves of this award being made now, in anticipation of the New Years Honours List 1943, and has signed the submission, which I return herewith. I am making arrangements for him to be received by His Majesty in the near future.’

Honours and titles aside, Lloyd also treasured a gift that was presented to him by a civilian as he departed Valetta - a cigarette case engraved with the letters ‘M.T.A.P.’ for ‘Malta Thanks Air Protection’.

The remainder of the War

From Malta, Lloyd proceeded to Tedder’s Middle East H.Q. as S.A.S.O., and received his knighthood at an airfield ceremony during the King’s visit to Tunisia in June 1943. Next appointed A.O.C. North West African Air Force, Lloyd had responsibility for the protection of Mediterranean convoys, his command stretching out to Corsica, Sicily and Southern Italy as the Allied offensive progressed - and with a typical hands-on approach was a regular visitor to his far flung units in a personalised Hurricane. He was awarded the American Legion of Merit, Officer (London Gazette 11 April 1944 refers), the Tunisian Order of Nichan-Iftikhar, Grand Officer, and the French Legion of Honour, Officer.

Towards the end of 1944, Lloyd was appointed C.O. of the Commonwealth Bomber Force, Okinawa, and later still, as A.O.C. Planning Staff for the Very Long Range Bomber Force (a.k.a. Tiger Force), and, but for the Japanese surrender, he would have been responsible for the envisaged “round-the-clock” air offensive.

Post-war

Post-war, Lloyd was confirmed in the rank of Air Vice-Marshal and served at the Imperial Defence College 1946-47, prior to taking up appointment as C.-in-C. Air Command, Far East 1947-49, at the time of the Malaya emergency. His final appointment was as A.O.C.-in-C. Bomber Command 1950-53, in which period he was awarded the K.C.B. and G.B.E., prior to being placed on the Retired List as an Air Chief Marshal. Sir Hugh, who retired to Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, died in July 1981.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s commission warrants for the ranks of Lieutenant, R.A.F., dated 1 November 1918 and Flying Officer, dated 2 August 1919; Mention in Despatches certificate, dated 28 November 1925; Coronation Medal 1937 certificate; letter of appointment as A.D.C. to the King from Portal, dated 27 December 1940; warrants for his C.B.E., dated 24 September 1941, C.B., dated 1 January 1942, and K.B.E., dated 31 July 1942, this last with related investiture certificate; certificate of admission for his appointment as Officer of the French Legion of Honour, dated 27 August 1943; certificate of award for the American Legion of Merit, Degree of Officer, dated 27 September 1943; warrant and related certificate of appointment for his Order of Nichan-Iftikhar, the latter dated 30 May 1944; warrants for his K.C.B., dated 7 June 1951 and G.B.E., dated 1 June 1953; Federation Aeronautique Internationale, certificate for record flight from London to Nairobi on 28 September 1952, and similar document from the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom; one or two original photographs, a quantity of leaflets and pamphlets, a copy of Lloyd’s Briefed to Attack, and a large file of research.