Beschreibung:

Sold by Order of the Recipient’s Direct Descendants ‘Only those with an adventurous turn of mind would have wished to be on that flight. With extra tankage the Otter had a range, in still air, of 1,600 miles. From South Ice to Scott Base on the Ross Sea was 1,450 miles. It is true that a landing at the Pole would have been possible - if the weather was suitable - but once past there the outlook would have been bleak if a forced landing was necessary ... the experience, to put it mildly, would have been unpleasant.’ Polar Flight, by Basil Clarke, refers. ‘As they circled the base, more American aircraft - Dakotas and Otters - came up to meet them and described exuberant circuits of welcome. The Otter went down, with the two American planes flying slightly ahead on either side to guide it in. Then, almost from ground level, whilst it triumphantly touched down, the escorting aircraft roared upwards to join their compatriots in the air - much to the chagrin of all the enthusiastic photographers now borne out of range! After a flight of exactly eleven hours and 1,430 statute miles, our little single-engined aircraft had made it. As the party clambered stiffly out they were engulfed by a friendly crowd of Americans and New Zealanders, for everyone in McMurdo Sound was there to greet them. Ed Hillary, who had himself only just flown back from the Pole, led the congratulations, and there was a special welcome from John Claydon and Bill Cranfield, the two New Zealand pilots, who could perhaps best appreciate the problems of their flight.’ Sir Vivian Fuchs’ describes the triumphant arrival of Squadron Leader John Lewis after his record breaking trans-Antarctic flight in January 1958 (Antarctic Adventure refers). The well-documented and excessively rare post-war A.F.C. and record polar flight Bar group of eight awarded to Group Captain J. H. Lewis, Royal Air Force, a Battle of Britain veteran who lent valuable service as Senior Pilot of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition under Sir Vivian Fuchs in 1957-58 and made the first ever Antarctic crossing by a single-engined aircraft - achievements permanently commemorated by the subsequent naming of the Lewis Chain on the west side of Gordon Glacier Air Force Cross, E.II.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated ‘1954’ and the reverse of the Bar officially dated ‘1958’, with its Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star, clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48, M.I.D. oak leaf (Flt. Lt. J. H. Lewis, R.A.F.); Polar Medal 1904, silver, 1 clasp, Antarctic 1957-58 (S./Leader John Harding Lewis, A.F.C.), with its Royal Mint case of issue, mounted as worn, together with Royal Geographical Society’s medal for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58, bronze, New York Explorer’s Club Membership Medal, gilt metal, the reverse inscribed, ‘Sqn. Ldr. J. H. Lewis, R.A.F.’, and French Military Mission of Liaison, Potsdam Medal, bronze, the reverse inscribed, ‘Gp. Cpt. J. H. Lewis, 1970-72’, generally very fine or better (11) £15000-20000 Footnote A.F.C. London Gazette 10 June 1954. Bar to A.F.C. London Gazette 12 June 1958. John Harding Lewis, who was born in May 1922, was educated at Warwick School, and enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an Aircrafthand in February 1940. Night fighter - the Battle of Britain and beyond Qualifying as an Observer on 1 October 1940, following an appointment in No. 604 Squadron at Middle Wallop, he was advanced to Sergeant and posted to No. 25 Squadron, a Blenheim unit operating out of Martlesham Heath, on the same date, with whom he flew two sorties before the end of the Battle of Britain. Shortly thereafter, the Squadron was re-equipped with Beaufighters, and Lewis completed several more sorties before the year’s end. Having then teamed up with a New Zealander, Pilot Officer Michael Herrick, D.F.C., in the new year