One of the most decorated British fighter pilots of the Second World War has sold his medals, diaries and other memorabilia partly to pay for a hip replacement operation for his wife who faced at least a six-month wait on the National Health Service.
Sqn Ldr Neville Duke, 83, the Royal Air Force’s top-scoring ace in the Mediterranean theatre who set a world air speed record of 728 mph in 1953, put the collection up for auction rather than subject his wife Gwen to months of pain and discomfort while she waited for an operation.
The standard waiting time for hip replacements in the orthopaedic department at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, one of the nearest facilities to the Dukes’ home, is six months.
Mrs Duke, who has been in pain with her hip for eight months, was told by her chiropractor that the wait might be 15 months.
Before the sale Mrs Duke, 85, explained: “It is very likely I will need a new hip and that is something we just cannot afford. If I went on a NHS waiting list I would have to wait forever, and at my age that’s no good.
‘By selling Neville’s things we will be able to pay for the hip. We pulled out of BUPA because they practically doubled the rate when we reached 60.
“There are other important reasons, such as security, for selling. He’s very upset about it.”
In the event, the auction at Dix Noonan Webb in Mayfair raised £138,000, some £8,000 of which would be required for an operation. The medals went to a private British collector.
Sqn Ldr Duke’s DSO, awarded in the field after he shot down seven enemy aircraft in seven days, DFC and two bars, Air Force Cross and OBE for his achievements as a test pilot for Hawker form one of the finest collections of medals accrued by a pilot of his generation.
The lots also included the ripcord he pulled when he baled out for the second time in the war and came near to drowning in an Italian lake after almost falling out of his harness.
Sqn Ldr Duke said the decision to sell the medals was a hard one but had been forced upon him by worries about his wife’s condition, security at the family home following three burglaries, the cost of insuring the collection and the desire to keep it together, the couple having no children.
The couple lost silverware in the break-ins including cups won in air races, but the thieves missed Sqn Ldr Duke’s silver Hunter marking his record.
“It was never going to be easy to make a decision about the future of my flying career memorabilia, but following careful consideration I decided that it would be best to sell everything at auction in my lifetime,” he said.
Still an active pilot after 65 years, Sqn Ldr Duke flew 485 sorties in the war, shooting down 27 aircraft and sharing two more kills, a performance that placed him in the league of pilots such as “Bob” Stanford Tuck and second only to “Johnnie” Johnson.
During his tour in North Africa he was shot down by the Luftwaffe ace Otto Schulz, but managed to crash land.
In September 1953 he took the world air speed record from the Americans when his all-red Hawker Hunter reached 728 mph over Tangmere, Kent.
The helmet he wore during the flight was among the items sold.
The most entertaining lots are his diaries, recording a Boys Own career.
One entry from North Africa records his shooting down of a Me109: “Got in a burst from the stern quarter and its hood and pieces of fuselage disintegrated. Machine went into vertical dive and pilot baled out. Flew round and round the pilot until he landed, then went down to look at him. I waved to him and he waved back.
“Poor devil thought I was going to strafe him as he initially dived behind a bush.”
One entry on being shot down: “Saw the ground rushing up and then kicked the rudder and pushed the stick forward and prayed. Got control just in time and the machine hit the ground on its belly.
“Hopped out jolly quick and then darted behind some scrub and lay on my belly.
“The Hun came down and shot-up my machine. Horrible crack and whistle of bullets near me and I thought I was going to be strafed but the Hun cleared off.”
And in happier times in London: “Released for the day (7 October 1941). Went up to town in the CO’s car with Hunk and babe Whitmore. Called on Burberry’s, visited the Crackers and saw usual females.
“Had tea at the Trocadero and then saw film Man Hunt. Went along to the Ritz ‘Rivoli’ Bar and had a few snifters.
“Beetled into the Berkeley for dinner then staggered along to Hatchett’s for a nightcap.”
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