Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Second World War Air Transport Auxiliary M.B.E. group of three awarded to Flight Captain D. G. S. Cotter, who displayed great gallantry in extricating a Rear-Gunner from the burning wreck of a Halifax bomber of No. 420 Squadron at White Waltham on 30 July 1944

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; Defence and War Medals, extremely fine (3) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Roy Bartlett Collection of Awards to the R.N.A.S., R.F.C. and R.A.F..

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Just 35 M.B.Es were awarded to members of the Air Transport Auxiliary in the 1939-45 War.

M.B.E. London Gazette 26 June 1945.

The following extract has been taken from the joint citation for a George Medal, two M.B.Es, including Cotter, and two B.E.Ms:

‘An aircraft crashed on landing and burst into flames. Despite the fire and the bombs on board, which subsequently exploded, the crew, five of whom were seriously injured in the crash, were extricated ... First Officer Cotter gave invaluable help in getting the Rear-Gunner out of his turret, which had become jammed. The man was unconscious, lying partly in the turret and partly in the rear of the fuselage. While others worked on the turret from the outside, Cotter, finding the turret could not be swung back, entered the fuselage, after forcing the normal entrance. The starboard wing was blazing fiercely and the heat was so intense that the starboard elevator burst into flames. It was then found necessary to remove the gunner’s flying equipment before those outside could extricate him safely ... Cotter showed great courage without thought for his own safety.’

The aircraft in question was a Halifax III of No. 420 Squadron, piloted by Flight Lieutenant R. A. Kalle, who had been awarded an immediate D.F.C. just a few days earlier. Due to damage sustained during a sortie over Normandy, he opted to carry out an emergency landing at White Waltham, but the aircraft overshot the airfield and finished up on the bank of a railway cutting.

Thanks to the gallantry of Cotter and his A.T.A. comrades, all but one of the Halifax’s crew lived to fight another day.

David George Sinclair Cotter was born in Leicester in May 1913 and was educated at St. Paul’s School, London. Appointed to a short service commission as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force in March 1933, his career came to a grinding halt as a result of ill-health a few months later, and instead he found employment as an Aircraft Inspector for Fairey Aviation at Hayes.

On the outbreak of hostilities, Cotter joined the Home Guard, and served as a Company Commander until early 1941, when he volunteered for the Air Transport Auxiliary. Passing his pilot training with flying colours, he was appointed a First Officer at the end of the year, and went on to fly numerous aircraft types - as a ferry pilot and as an instructor - right up until his release in December 1945, a period that also witnessed his advancement to Flight Captain in September 1944, when he was based at White Waltham as a Staff Instructor. His service record further reveals that he was reprimanded for ‘carrying out aerobatics below 3000 feet while testing an aircraft on acceptance test’, high antics no doubt made possible by his regular “above average” pilot assessments.

Cotter was seconded to No. 41 Group, R.A.F., as a civilian instructor, for a few months in 1946.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s British Empire (Royal Aero Club) Aviator’s Certificate, dated 29 August 1945, with portrait photograph; his membership cards for the Brevet Flying Club (2) (a.k.a. the Penguin Flying Club), Over-Seas League (1946) and the A.T.A. Association (1946); a typed summary of types flown and hours flown (‘3100 hours as pilot, 1150 as instructor’), and list of wartime appointments, the whole on a sheet of No. 4 Ferry Pool notepaper; his Certificate of Employment, dated February 1946, with portrait photograph; his Local Defence Volunteers Certificate of Enrolment, dated July 1940; and a fine studio portrait photograph of him in A.T.A. uniform.