AIR COMMODORE THOMAS FAWDRY CB & CBE WW1 RFC 1914 STAR & WW2 MEDALS BADGE RAF

AIR COMMODORE THOMAS FAWDRY CB & CBE WW1 RFC 1914 STAR & WW2 MEDALS BADGE RAF

Offered is a Second War C.B., C.B.E. group of eight awarded to Air Commodore T. Fawdry, Royal Air Force, late Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and early member of the Royal Flying Corps.

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; 1914 Star, with clasp impressed named 776 CPL. T. FAWDRY. R.F.C.; British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18), impressed named CAPT. T. FAWDRY R.A.F. with M.I.D. device affixed to Victory ribbon (VM partially officially corrected); Defence and War Medals (1939 -45), M.I.D. device affixed to War Medal; Jubilee Medal 1935 unnamed as issued. Mounted of black felt backing board for display & come with copies of R.F.C service records, M.I.C., medal rolls (WW1), casualty extract, Who was Who extracts, A Contemptible Little Flying Corps extract, London Gazette extracts, uniform head and shoulder photograph (1) and grave etc.

C.B. London Gazette 13 June 1946

C.B.E. London Gazette 8 June 1944

Air Commodore Thomas Fawdry. C.B. C.B.E. was born on 10/4/1891 in Easborough, Ereshans, Glostershire. He enlisted into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in July 1909 and bought himself out for the sum of 18 pounds to enlist with the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) on 10/7/1913 at Oxford. (service #776). On 13/4/1912 King George V signed a royal warrant establishing the Royal Flying Corps. The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers became the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps a month on 13 May.

Promoted to Corporal on 18/5/1914 he landed in France on 12/8/1914 attached to the H.Q. R.F.C. (with whom he qualified for the 1914 Star and clasp, a rare campaign medal to the R.F.C.). When the RFC deployed to France in 1914 it sent four Squadrons (No.s 2,3,4 and 5) with 12 aircraft each, which together with aircraft in depots, gave a total strength of 63 aircraft supported by 900 men. Out of the 900 men in the RFC who qualified for the 1914 Star it is believed that only very few would have qualified for the clasp.

Promoted to Sergeant on 16/10/1914 and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 17/12/1914 with the 1st Loyal North Lancashire regiment, 1/1/1918 Seconded to RFC as Staff Officer 3rd Class, 1/4/1918 Staff Officer 3rd Class, RAF and awarded the M.B.E. (London Gazette 3 June 1919 refers). 15/7/1919 Personnel Staff Officer (Other ranks), HQ Middle East Area, 1/8/1919 reseconded to the RAF for a period of two years, 17/6/1920 Appointed to a Permanent Commission in the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

Interwar period: 14/5/1922 Supernumerary, RAF Depot, 1/11/1922 Stores Officer, Armament and Gunnery School, 28/1/1924 Supernumerary, RAF Depot, 27/11/1924 Staff Officer, Directorate of Equipment, 21/9/1926 Stores (Supply) Officer, HQ Iraq Command, 14/11/1928 Senior Stores Staff Officer, RAF Cranwell, 17/8/1931 Staff, No 1 Stores Depot, 11/7/1932 Officer Commanding, No 3 Stores Depot,10/1/1934 Senior Equipment Staff Officer, HQ RAF Middle East, 1/2/1937 Deputy Officer Commanding, No 1 Equipment Depot, 9/4/1938 Deputy Officer Commanding, No 1 Maintenance Unit, later Officer Commanding, No 1 Maintenance Unit & 20/4/1939 Officer Commanding, No 42 Group.

Second World War: 29/4/1940 Senior Maintenance Staff Officer, HQ Maintenance Command, 27/5/1940 Senior Equipment Staff Officer, Officer, HQ Technical Training Command,15/7/1942 Senior Equipment Staff Officer, HQ Bomber Command.

At the start of the war he was a newly promoted Group Captain and C.O. of the R.A.F’s Maintenance Group. Advanced to Air Commodore in 1942, he transferred to the Staff of Bomber Command, and remained similarly employed until the end of the War, gaining a “mention” in addition to his C.B. and C.B.E. Placed on the Retired List in June 1946, Fawdry settled at Upper Clatford, near Andover in Hampshire. He resided at Sackville Court Farmhouse, a few hundred yards from the All Saints Church where he was Treasurer and Churchwarden and died at home, abeing buried at All Saints, in July 1968.