RAF

Black & White Group Photograph, image 29 x 22cm, white border, sl. stained and worn, border makes it 43 x 36cm. Ninety-six (96) men. Image in good condition. On reverse pencilled notes "First One | Cambridge University Air Squadron | May 1941, || Officers = [L to P.] [W.H. Turing , F.J.A. Chase, T.S. Sabine, DFC, J.K. Watson - with rank and function, Sabine being W/CDE]. Followed by the names and rank.function of 7 NCOs.

A powerful and evocative artefact, and a decided museum piece, mainly centring on the year 1980 and 1981, significant years in the movement's history, with a quarter of a million people marched through central London in support of CND in 1981. The collection includes a copy of the 1980 government pamphlet 'Protect and Survive', and E. P. Thompson's celebrated riposte of the same year, 'Protest and Survive'. The collection is in fair condition, with signs of age and wear which enhance rather than detract from its impact.

14pp., foolscap 8vo. Carbon copy of typescript, consisting of a covering page and the report itself, paginated 1-13. With a few minor manuscript emendations. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. In brown paper 1937 OHMS envelope ('S.E.6.'), stamped 'SECRET' twice, with red wax seals of the '20 (A.C.) SQUADRON | R.A.F.', and typed address: '513996. Corporal Murray, J.P. | Royal Air Force Signals Detachment (No. 20 (AC) Squadron). | BANNU, N.W.F.P.' The covering page of the report is stamped 'RESTRICTED', and reads: 'SECRET. | TRIBAL RECONNAISSANCE.

48 + [4]pp., 8vo. Stapled. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Divided into ten chapters, including 'Royal Air Force Tests used in the Present Investigation' and 'Types of Respiration, and the Respiratory Apparatus in Men and Women'. An interesting document: the Royal Air Force only having been in existence for six years. With stamp, shelfmark and label of the Board of Education Reference Library. Four copies on COPAC, and uncommon.

The photographs come from a range of news agencies (Associated Press; UPI; Publifoto Roma; Keystone; Dalmas-Orion; APIS Paris; Agence France-Presse; AGIP; Europress; Telephoto), and range in size from 20 x 30 cm down. The collection is in fair overall condition, but some of the prints are dogeared and worn, and others are affected by damp, which has attached a couple of them to one another. A few of the prints are marked up on the reverse for publication.

These volumes bear tragic testimony to a diseased mind. A native of Argentina, Hume saw service in the First World War with the 1st County of London Yeomanry at Gallipoli, before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps (66 Squadron, RFC and RAF). In May 1917, while on his second patrol, he was shot down over France. It was while incarcerated in several POW camps (he escaped from one) that Hume's mental illness appears to have begun to manifest itself, and he was exchanged for German prisoners in August 1918.

On his daughter's 1943 birth certificate (a copy of which accompanies the collection) Miller is descfibed as 'L/AC 1224106 Royal Air Force (accountants Clerk) of 40 Victoria Drive Eastbourne'. His 228 letters, 18 airgraphs and three telegrams are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Around April of 1944 Miller moves with 527 RCAF Squadron from RAF Snailwell, near Newmarket, Suffolk, to RCAF Digby in Lincolnshire, where he remains until the end of 1944. Thereafter he joins RAF SEAAF [South East Asian Air Force], serving in the vicinity of Calcutta, India.

'Here was I about 4 miles over Hunland, battling against a strong wind, fighting 7 Bosche scouts who were much smaller & faster than our old slow two seater. We were absolutely "cold meat" & they knew it.'A correspondence of exceptional interest and importance, in which Reader describes, in a series of 68 letters to his family, written over a period of sixteen months, his entire flying career, from the passing of his medical at Farnborough to his return from the Western Front.

The four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter to 'Mr. Bourne': 1p., 8vo. Replying to a letter from Bourne, he states that he will be 'very pleased to serve on the proposed "advisory board", provided that no financial liabiltiy is thereby incurred by me, & that no great amount of travelling is involved.' He concludes with the news that he is 'still busy on a hypersonic transport aircraft especially designed to take "containers".' The two photographs are both in black and white.

On a piece of thin, shiny card, 33 x 20 cm. The text of the two poems is printed in red capitals, in two columns, with the title and border in brown, and a green design surrounding the words 'Wishing you a Happy Xmas and Prosperous New Year' at the foot, together with green leaves to red holly berries surrounding the title.

The eight items all in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Each copy of 'The Childerley Times' is a unique manuscript or typescript item produced by the young D. W. King as editor, his twin sister E. W. King as sub-editor, and relatives for circulation among the family. The five issues, ranging from 1935 to 1943, all differ with regard to style and format. ONE: 19pp., 12mo. On loose leaves held together with a paper clip. Undated, but with one contribution dated 14 May 1934. No title, but first page (with pencil drawing of boy in bed with toys) reading 'SILENCE PLEASE !!

The fifteen black and white photographic prints are each roughly 14 cm square. All on 'Crown Copyright' paper. Each is photographed with a dated code at the foot in white ink. All images legible. In fair condition, lightly-creased and worn. Eight of the photographs have brief captions on reverse. The shadow of the reconnaissance plane can be seen in one image.

Pamphlet, [16]pp., 12mo, very good condition, illustrated front cover, illustrated with photographs throughout revealing their various duties (on the ground of course). No copy recorded. The RAF was formally established on 1 April 1918, a month before the publication of this pamphlet.

The six small black and white photographs are all in good condition in a Kodac 'snapshot' card wallet. The captions, in pencil on the reverse and all dated 'April 40', read: [ONE] 'Aerodrome at South Cerney' [an aerial shot]; [TWO] 'Officers' Mess No 3 F.T.S. S. Cerney' [exterior of building]; [THREE] 'Oxfords at No 3 FTS' [three grounded planes]; [FOUR] 'Interior of Oxford' [instrument panel]; [FIVE] 'Interior of Oxford' [back of seats and instrument panel]; [SIX] 'Oxford at No 3 FTS' [grounded].

4to 'Royal Air Force. Notebook for use in Schools', with Anderson's notes in pencil on all but 11 of its 96 pp. Text clear and complete, written in a neat, tight hand, with diagrams and tables. Fair, on aged paper, with slightly dog-eared corners, in worn and creased wraps. Ownership inscription on front cover of 'A. H. Anderson L.A.C. | Deputy Controller's Course | Woodlands. 27.10.'41'. Providing important first-hand insights into the procedure of the RAF during World War II. Subjects include 'Fighter Command Organisation', 'I.F.F. (Identification friend or foe)', 'P.P.L.

2 pages, 8vo, both with Royal Air Force letterhead bearing the motto 'PER ARDUA AD ASTRA'. Not in good condition - creased, frayed, torn and discoloured - but a marvellous and immediate piece of history, regarding what one authority describes as the 'strategic bombing [...] principally against the Ruhr, on which No.149 concentrated during the winter of 1940-1'. The letter begins 'Dear Mum, | Just a line to thank you for the photographs, I think that one of you is very good.