Medal Bar of Air Vice Marshal Harold Arthur Cooper Bird-Wilson, CBE, DSO, DFC and Bar, AFC and Bar

Arthur Bird-Wilson survived several crashes during his long and successful career as an RAF pilot during and after the Second World War. He was commended for ‘fine fighting qualities and determination in his attacks’.

In September 1938, he crashed in bad weather, suffering facial injuries which were operated on by the pioneering surgeon Archibald McIndoe, making him one of the first ‘Guinea Pigs’. During the Battle of Britain, flying a Hurricane, he was shot down by Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland. He was able to bale out over the Thames and was rescued by a Motor Torpedo Boat. Bird-Wilson went on to command Nos. 152 and 66 Squadrons. Medals, from left to right: Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross with bar, Air Force Cross, with bar, 1939–1945 Star with Battle of Britain clasp, Air Crew Europe Star with France and Germany clasp, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939–1945 with Mention in Despatches, Korean Medal, United Nations Korea Medal, Coronation Medal 1953, Flying Cross (Netherlands), Military Medal for Merit, Silver (Czechoslovakia).