War medals of Stardust pilot sell at auction for £13k

Derby-born Reginald Cook flew dozens of bomber missions in World War Two

The medals of an RAF pilot who vanished along with his plane in an aviation mystery have sold at auction for £13,000.

Derby-born Reginald Cook flew dozens of bomber missions in World War Two, eventually being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

But in 1947 he vanished along with 10 other people while flying a civilian airliner over the Andes in Argentina.

The remains of the plane were only found 50 years after the crash.

Flt Lt Cook was awarded medals for flying both in heavy bombers and in Mosquitoes

Flt Lt Cook was a navigator on large bombers before becoming a pilot on the smaller, faster Mosquito.

After the war he got a job with British South American Airways (BSAA) flying the civilian version of the Lancaster bomber - the Lancastrian.

On 2 August he commanded the aircraft Stardust, with six passengers and four other crew, on a flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago in Chile.

• Latest news and stories from the East Midlands

It never arrived and extensive searches found no trace of people or airplane.

The crew's last Morse code message - the seemingly meaningless STENDEC - only added to the mystery.

It was not until 1998 when shifting ice revealed mangled wreckage that Stardust's and Flt Lt Cook's fate was confirmed.

But what caused the crash, and the meaning of the final message, is still debated.

Christopher Mellor-Hill, from auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb, said: "It's a real testament to this man's character that he earned medals throughout the war.

"It's ironic he survived so much only to die a year or two later in a civilian air crash, but the enigma of that certainly adds to the story."

The medals, including a DSO, DFC and DFM, sold in an online auction on Thursday morning.