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Lot 187
Greene (Graham) The Name of Action, 1930, first edition, cloth; Huxley (Aldous), Brave New World, 1932, first edition, cloth; Amis (Kingsley), The Green Man, 1969, first edition, dust wrapper; id. (as Robert Markham), Colonel Sun, 1968, first edition, dust wrapper; with a quantity of others (qty)
Lot 535
Battle of Britain Sergeant-Pilot Eddy Egan, 501 Hurricane Squadron Killed in Action, over Ashford, Kent, Tuesday 17th September 1940, aged 19. (i) An Hurricane brass aircraft serial number plate, a black and white photograph of Sergeant-Pilot Egan, next to his aircraft and a profile drawing ' actual colours and codings of the 501 sqn in which sgt Egan lost his life', framed and glazed, 54cm x 43cm;. (ii) A collection of charred remains of pilot's note-book, clothing, sealed under glass;. (iii) A steel shirt or tunic button;. (iv) A collection of related photographs and related newspaper clippings. For Eddy Egan the War lasted just four days.......... Fresh from school, the raw but dedicated youngster, 19 year old Sergeant Pilot Eddy Egan, was posted to a Hurricane squadron at Kenley four miles south of Croydon, having never flown a single-engined fighter before, he was given a five-day crash course in aerobatics, air firing and air tactics, then quickly sent into the sky to face Goering's Luftwaffe. At 1510 on the afternoon of the 17th September, twelve Hurricanes of 501 squadron, including Eddy Egan accompanied by eight of 253 left Kenley, with orders to patrol over Tenterden at 7,000 feet, in orbiting the area they involuntarily drifted in high winds over Ashford and there at 15.35 while circling at 18,000ft they were jumped by Messerschmitt 109's. A dog-fight ensued and Eddy Egan had been seen in the thick of the action by his fellow pilots, he was seen climbing to the North West, emerging through the cloud tops, he failed to notice a group of enemy aircraft, behind him to the left and some 3000 feet above, the leading fighter spotted him and dived at Eddy, a burst of machine gun fire followed, the clouds turned crimson and Eddy Egan's aircraft spun to earth, falling into a wood. When a fellow pilot landed after the battle, he reported having seen Egan crash somewhere south of Maidstone, but with dozens of aircraft, German and British, falling from the sky almost daily, searches were almost perfunctory. When a single engined fighter plunged vertically to earth it often disappeared altogether, all that might be recorded was 'wreckage lies buried. Nothing visible. Pilot dead. In Egans case the position of the crash, deep in a hundred-acre wood 'somewhere south of Maidstone' was never pinpointed. For 33 years Eddy Egan's family resigned themselves to the fact that he had no known grave, although his name was recorded on the Runnymeade Memorial and in the Memorial Chapel of Westminster Chapel, his mother Grace Egan was desperate to find her son, and during a vist to the London Air Museum in 1973, re-told her story to Tony Graves museum founder and aviation archaeologist who had previously excavated over four hundred aircraft from the heady days of the Battle of Britain. Over the following months Tony Graves started to gather evidence, and in his own words 'every waking hour was put into finding this site, in those days records of air crashes from the war were pretty scant'. Many witnesses were interviewed but one pilot, Gerald Welford, force landed his hurricane on that day, and remembered a British aircraft hurtling to ground about two fields away from his hurricane. Official records put this down as German, but the original landowner a Mr Curwen who now lived near Hastings was brought back to the scene of the crash and the first thing that was found was a 303 bullet confirming that this was a British crash site. An excavation took place on the 11th September 1976 and after 36 years, the aircraft was recovered including the remains of the pilot, the aircraft had burned underground and it was going to be difficult to name him. An inquest in Croydon confirmed the remains were of an nineteen year old man, and were those of Edward James Egan, killed on active service. However the circumstantial evidence on which this conclusion was based, did not satify the rigid standards applied by the Ministry, who demand incontrovertible proof of identity, this proved a stumbling block when it came to granting Sergeant Egan the military funeral that his surviving next-of-kin were determined he should have. After much heart-searching the family decided that, rather than forgo the right to a military funeral, they would accept an anonymous burial, and on the 8th March 1978 Eddy Egan was finally laid to rest, with full military honours, in the R.A.F plot of the military cemetery at Brookwood, the inscription on the grave, poignantly and for some disappointingly was that of 'an unknown airman'. The story however does not end there, one year later Tony Graves returned to the site for another excavation and Eddy's identity was confirmed by the finding of the actual aircraft serial number plate, the headstone on the grave was finally changed to that of Sergeant-Pilot Edward Egan. Perhaps after all it was a happy outcome, for more than 30 years the name of Eddy Egan, to all but a few of his friends and family had indeed been unknown, one amongst many who surrendered their identity to win the Battle of Britain.
Lot 545
Afghanistan Medal 1881 to Private H.Martin of the 66th Foot, killed in action Maiwand (B/707 Pte.H.Martin. 66th Foot). The Lions of Maiwand. On the 27th of July 1880, at the battle of Maiwand, 2700 British and Indian troops, including the 66th Foot (later the Royal Berkshires), under Brigadier George Burrows, engaged an Afghan force of over 25,000, led by the rebel leader Ayub Khan. Although hugely outnumbered, and with many young recruits who had not completed weapons training, the 66th fought with extraordinary bravery. After finally being over-run by continual Afghan attacks, led by the fanatical Ghazi, the 66th fell back, a group of around 200 rallied on the south bank of a near-by ravine at Khig, where Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Galbraith uncased one of the regiments colours, after already hard hit, he died on one knee, clutching the standard. The group were surrounded, their CO was dead and they were doomed but, losing men all the while, they retired slowly through the village, effecting a second stand in a small mud-walled garden, until the remaining officer's and men of the 66th, to a man, supporting the colours, each gave their lives protecting them, finally the few survivors, fixed bayonets and charged into immortality. The last stand of the eleven. Even in the flush of their victory, the Afghans were awed by the end of the 66th, "Surrounded by most of the Afghan army, they fought on until only eleven men were left, inflicting enormous loss on their enemy", wrote one of Ayub's senior artillery officer's. "These men charged out of the garden and died with their faces to the foe, fighting to the death. Such was the nature of their charge, and the grandeur of their being, that although the whole of the ghazis were assembled round them, no one dared approach to cut them down. Thus standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily and truly, every shot telling, surrounded by thousands, these officer's and men died; and it was not until the last man was shot down that the ghazis dared advance upon them their conduct was the admiration of all who witnessed it". For the survivors of the 66th the retreat over the 45 miles to Kandahar was an ordeal in its self, with no water and a victorious army still in pursuit, the rearguard action was as fierce as the battle.
Lot 3203
Palitoy, Action Man, cat No.34132 Assault Craft circa 1971 assault RIB, outboard motor, 2 paddles and rope in fine card insert of very good box, 2 holes in box lid near stars, sold with cat No.34146 Special Operations tent, comprising tent, 2 long, 2 short and ridge poles, folding chair, and folding table, map case but no map, and plastic base (2 short poles missing) (x2) (NM,BG)
Lot 307
Judaica – formation of the State of Israel – the Irgun historic document typed on one side of a folio sheet, being the original issue of a propaganda message to the British forces in Israel during the mandate period, issued by Menachim Begin’s Irgun organisation, marked ‘True Copy’ to head and addressed : ‘The Soldiers of the Underground to the Soldiers of the Occupation Army’ ‘It is not our intention to try to convince anyone of the justice of our cause for we don’t expect any good will from those who have deprived us of our country. But we know that a long and bitter struggle lies ahead in the course of which it is unavoidable that many Jewish soldiers and many British soldiers should fall. And it is only fair that these people know at least why they may be killed. ‘Most of you have been in this country for quite a long time. You have learned what the word “Terrorist” means, some of you say even have come into direct contact with them (and heartily desire not to repeat the experience) but what do you know about them ? Why does a young man go underground ? To answer that question we can use the simplest example. Remember 1940 ‘Then it seemed quite possible that your island country would be conquered and subjugated by Hitler hordes. If that were the case ? What would you have done ? Would you have gone underground and fought the invader by all available means. This is exactly our position. We have a country. It has been ours from time immemorial. But you have invaded our country. You have to deprive us of our home and our freedom. So we must fight you. You are our mortal enemy. You rule here, which is illegal and immoral, is a parallel of a mass assassination of a whole people, which wants to live as free men. We will fight you. It can’t be helped. Nor does it help to speak about “Law and Order”. Law and order means that each shall rule his own house and live on his own soil. ‘That right is our cause for which we are ready to fight to the last. ‘Where is yours ? Bevin’s stupidity. Oil. Their lordship’s income. Is that worth dying for ?’ A remarkable document which amounts to a manifesto for terrorist action – which was ultimately successful. It also raises the question as to who are ‘terrorists’ and who are ‘freedom fighters’. Menachim Begin, leader of the Irgun was branded a ‘terrorist’ by the British and the rest of the western world mainly for the actions in bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, and the brutal murder of the two British Army intelligence Sergeants (who were hanged and their bodies booby trapped so that the ambulance crews who came to retrieve them were also killed and injured). At one point the British put a reward on his head of £10,000 – dead or alive. Yet, after that latter incident, the British withdrew from Palestine, leading directly to the creation of the State of Israel. Begin went into politics and eventually became Prime Minister of Israel, making world headlines for his conciliation with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the Camp David Agreements. For this, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. So were the Irgun terrorists, or were they freedom fighters ? Was Begin a murderer or a legitimate freedom fighter ? It’s a significant debate which raged through the troubles of Northern Ireland and continues in the Middle East today.
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