PREVIEW: ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA: 5 DECEMBER

He had to jump out of the plane just before it hit the ground; then he rushed back to save the pilot from the blazing wreck, despite the risk from ammunition, unexploded bombs and a full reserve petrol tank.

Acting Flight Commander Paul Douglas Robertson’s (RNAS) heroic efforts in February 1918 left him with such severe burns to his face, hands and legs and the loss of an eye ‘that his recovery was for some time in doubt’.

 

Now Noonans are honoured to offer his rare and unusual Great War ‘seaplane incident’ George Cross (exchange A.M.) and Second World War C.B.E. group of eight at this auction with an estimate of £16,000-20,000.

Robertson, who went on to become a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force, was one of just three members of the Royal Naval Air Service who received exchange-George Crosses.

As the A.M. London Gazette of 18 June 1918 reported, the incident that earned Robertson his award took place on 28 February 1918, when a Seaplane in which he was the Observer spun out of control to the ground.

Robertson jumped from the machine just before it reached the ground and landed safely, as the ground was marshy.

“The Pilot, Flight Lieutenant H. C. Lemon was imprisoned in the Seaplane, which, on striking the ground, immediately burst into flames, and notwithstanding that the vicinity of the Seaplane was quickly a furnace of blazing petrol, and that heavy bombs, a number of rounds of ammunition, and the reserve petrol tank were all likely to explode, Acting Flight Commander Robertson returned and endeavoured to extricate the Pilot, and only desisted when he had been so severely burned in the face, hands and leg that his recovery was for some time in doubt.

“He displayed the greatest gallantry, self-sacrifice and disregard of danger in his efforts to extricate the Pilot.”

Robertson was commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service as a Temporary Probationary Flight Sub. Lieutenant in October 1915. Having then taken his aviator’s certificate (No. 2454) in a Grahame-White Biplane at R.N.A.S. Chingford on 9 February 1916, he was posted to the seaplane base at Calshot.

In January 1917, he transferred to R.N.A.S. Killingholme in North Lincolnshire, from whence he would have flown patrols over the North Sea; his service record notes him as having attacked an enemy submarine on 27 June 1917, ‘results unknown.’

Then in February 1918, on being promoted to Acting Flight Commander, Robertson took command of the Hornsea Mere Sub. Station in Yorkshire. It was in this capacity that he teamed-up with Flight Lieutenant Hubert Lemon for a patrol on the 28th, their Large Seaplane taking off at 1647 hours but, when at 2,500 feet, it ‘spun to the ground and burst into flames’; his service record refers.

His bravery on that occasion, in attempting to rescue the pilot from the blazing wreckage of their aircraft, led to an Admiralty recommendation for an Albert Medal in Bronze, although it is said that other members of the relevant committee considered that ‘a recommendation for the Gold Medal could have been justified.’ The extent of the burns to his face led to the loss of his left eye but he was able to attend an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 31 October 1918.

Robertson obtained a regular commission as a Flight Lieutenant in the newly formed Royal Air Force and gained steady promotion in the inter-war period, being appointed a Group Captain in July 1939. His appointments in the Second World War included a tour of duty in Canada 1940-42, including service as the Operations Station Commander at R.C.A.F. Patricia Bay, Vancouver Island, B.C., and, on his return to the U.K., command of the R.A.F. Station, Squires Gate, near Blackpool, for which he was awarded the C.B.E. He had earlier been mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 2 June 1943, refers).

Placed on the Retired List in December 1945, Robertson settled in Cornwall, and he exchanged his Albert Medal for the George Cross in 1972. Following the death of his wife, he emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, where he died in August 1975.

The medal group is being offered with a quantity of original documentation, including his Federation Aeronautique Internationale (British Empire) Aviator’s Certificate (No. 2454), with portrait photograph, dated 9 February 1916; a photograph album of mainly Second World War interest, including career notes, images from the recipient’s visit to the wreck of the Tirpitz in 1945, and pasted down mention in despatches certificate, dated 2 June 1943; a presentation programme for the 10th reunion of old Squire’s Gate personnel, October 1955, and an album containing
numerous watercolour pictures by the recipient, including still life and nautical subject matter.

Also included are a number of presentation pieces in silver.