WW2 'Caterpillar Club' pin among auction medal haul

James Keith Spedding, bottom right, was on board a Lancaster bomber when it was shot down over Germany in 1945

At just 22 years old, airman James Keith Spedding found himself a member of a club no-one really wanted to join.

While flying over Nazi-occupied Germany during a Pathfinder bombing raid, Liverpool-born Mr Speddding's Lancaster bomber was shot down, forcing him and the rest of the crew to bail out.

As such, he became a member of what became known as the "Caterpillar Club", named in honour of the silk used to make them, and awarded to about 34,000 airmen by the end of the war.

RAF and allied personnel who had bailed out of a disabled aircraft successfully wearing a parachute made by the Irvin Air Shute Company received a Caterpillar Club badge, and along with his group of Distinguished Flying Medals, his sold at auction for £2,400 earlier this month.

Flt Sgt Spedding's medal group included the DFM, 1939-'45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star with France and Germany Clasp, 1939-45 War Medal and Defence Medal

Also among the WW2 collection was a poignant letter sent to his wife, reporting him missing in action, and referring to his "particularly good" record of service and his "fearlessness" on operations.

"It will not be easy to replace him," the letter added.

But while his family may have feared the worst, West Derby-born flight engineer Mr Spedding survived the jump and spent time in captivity in two prisoner of war camps, Stalag IIIA at Luckenwalde and Stalag VIIA at Moosburg.

The second camp was liberated by Allied forces on 28 April 1945, and Mr Spedding returned to England on 11 May, and lived until 2002.

Caroline Dennard, Halls Fine Art's militaria specialist, said the lot was a "wonderful medal group awarded to a member of one of the highly sought-after and daring Second World War Pathfinder Squadrons".

"Flight Engineer Spedding completed a remarkable 47 operational sorties before being shot down and the inclusion of the Caterpillar Club badge and related ephemera made this a worthy addition to any serious RAF collection," she said.