The Ron Penhall Collection

Family group:

The Great War D.F.C., M.M. group of five awarded to 2nd Lieutenant J. Owen, Royal Air Force, late 29/Canadian Infantry (a.k.a. “Toban’s Tigers”) and Royal Flying Corps: having been awarded the M.M. for rescuing comrades from No Man’s Land on the Somme in September 1916 - when he was himself wounded - he transferred to the R.F.C. and won an immediate D.F.C. for a three hour long low-level contact patrol over enemy lines in October 1918

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘2nd Lieut. J. Owen, No. 6 Sqdn., R.A.F., France, Oct. 1st 1918’; Military Medal, G.V.R. (75543 Pte. J. Owen, 29/Can. Inf.); 1914-15 Star (Pte. J. Owen 29, Can. Inf.); British War and Victory Medals (2/Lieut. J. Owen, R.A.F.), contact marks and a little polished, otherwise generally very fine

The Great War pair awarded to Private W. O. Owen, 72/Canadian Infantry, who was 2nd Lieutenant J. Owen’s brother - and killed in action

British War and Victory Medals (2020499 Pte. W. O. Owen, 72-Can. Inf.), these extremely fine (7) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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Then in September of the latter year he joined No. 1 Cadet Wing, Royal Flying Corps, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on qualifying as a pilot in January 1918. Posted to No. 6 Squadron out in France, a reconnaissance, artillery observation, bombing and air combat unit flying R.E. 8s, he was quickly engaged on operations, his particularly detailed flying log book entries recording a flurry of activity for the period August to October 1918 - on his very first sortie, a cavalry reconnaissance patrol over the Amiens-Harbonnieres-Caux sector, his aircraft was machine-gunned and “archied”, the trailing edge of his aileron being shot away, and in his remaining 40 or so sorties he often encountered similar opposition. During the period of the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, No. 6 Squadron flew 87 cavalry contact patrols in the first period of the offensive, normally at an average height of 100-200 feet, in addition to three counter-attack and 15 artillery patrols, and dropped 400-500 situation reports, messages and maps, evidence indeed of the pace of operations thrust upon its young pilots.

On a lighter note, but arguably equally hair-raising, was Owen’s ride on “Warrior”, the mount of Major-General J. E. B. “Jack” Seely, an incident that occurred on 24 September 1918, after he had flown the General’s Brigade Major on a cavalry liaison exercise. Owen, ‘the ex-farm hand who got to ride the General’s horse’, takes up the story with notes written in an edition of the General’s subsequent publication, My Horse Warrior :

‘After the flight Major Connolly said to me, “Now, how would you like a ride on Warrior,” thinking just to have a little jog around. I mounted Warrior and took-off on a high speed gallop like the ones mentioned in this book. He tore across a field of mangold beet, over further fields, through the village of Ecoivres, circled around, and then right back to his own people by our planes. I had not been on a horse since 1912 or early 1913 and Major Connolly said that he had never known Warrior to do that. He just took charge and I stuck on. Ecoivres is about 9 miles from Agincourt and on the route taken by Henry V and his army on their march from Harfleur to Calais in October 1415. I was quite stiff from the unaccustomed exercise for a few days.’

Owen returned to Canada at the end of 1919 and died at Matsqui, British Columbia in January 1978, aged 84 years.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation and artefacts, including:

(i) The recipient’s Flying Log Book, covering the period March 1918 to September 1919, also containing reminiscences of his immediate post-war career written in March 1963 (‘I have regretted over the years when thinking back on those momentous years that I did not keep a record of my last few flights before leaving the Corps ... ’), lacking front cover and opening pages that would have contained training entries in England September 1917 to February 1918.

(ii) The recipient’s pocket notebook with diary entries dating from the time he was recovering from his wounds in Epsom in early 1918 (‘January 16: I was examined by the M.O. today; the X-ray photographs of my arm, taken at the County of London War Hospital, Horton, show a large piece of shrapnel near to the elbow ... ’).

(iii) Three wartime photographs, one depicting Owen as a recruit in 1914, another him in hospital garb during recovery from his Somme wounds and the last aboard a ship, on his way home to Canada; together with a modern photograph of a coloured portrait of him in uniform.

(iv) The recipient’s flying goggles, and a multi-coloured message streamer with pouch, as dropped by pilots to troops on the ground.

(v) A well-executed modern oil painting of Owen and his aircraft during its low-level contact patrol over enemy lines in October 1918.

William Openshaw Owen enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in November 1917 and was posted to the 72-Canadian Infantry out in France, with whom he was killed by shell fire during an operation north of Cambrai on 29 September 1918.