Orders, Decorations and Medals

The original grant of the squadron badge for ‘No. 53 A. C. Squadron’, hand-illuminated badge and motto, as painted by an artist of the College of Arms, dated November 1939, and signed by the Chester Herald and Inspector of Royal Air Force Badges, J. Heaton-Armstrong, and H.M. King George VI, mounted on card, in excellent condition £100-150

No. 53 Squadron was formed at Catterick in May 1916 and saw action on the Western Front prior to being disbanded in October 1919. Reformed at Farnborough in June 1938, the Squadron operated with Blenheims out in France after the renewal of hostilities. Returning to the U.K. in May 1940, No. 53 carried out bombing sorties before moving to Cornwall in early 1941 on anti-submarine and shipping sorties, latterly in Hudsons. In July 1942 the Squadron transferred to the U.S.A. to protect the eastern seaboard from U-Boat attacks, returning to the U.K. in September to be re-equipped with Whitleys, and later still Liberators - thus ensued regular patrols over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches. In September 1944, it was posted to Iceland and remained actively employed in patrolling the North Atlantic until the War’s end. No. 53 was finally disbanded in 1976.