GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
The wartime medals of a former commander of RAF West Malling, now home to the Kings Hill housing and commercial estate, are up for sale.
Peter Townsend was station commander there from January 1943 for a year.
During his tenure, two German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter bombers landed there in heavy fog by mistake - they thought they were in France - and Townsend personally grappled with one of the German pilots as he tried to run off.
Townsend already had a reputation as an ace fighter pilot.
He was the first pilot to shoot down an enemy plane during the Battle Of Britain. In total he was credited with 11 kills, plus two 'probables' and four enemy aircraft damaged. He flew more than 300 operational sorties.
But it was not without cost. He was twice shot down himself, escaping by parachute.
In 1944, he was appointed equerry to King George VI, which brought him into close contact and led to his second period of fame - when he began an affair with Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister.
The relationship caused a tabloid scandal - because by then, he was divorced.
Group Captain Townsend died in June 1995.
The medals being offered at auction by Dix Noonan Webb include his Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross and Second Award Bar, and come with his original flying log books that cover his operational career.
Auctioneer Christopher Mellor-Hill said: "We are very pleased to be offering these extremely important medals on behalf of a collector.
"During the Battle of Britain, Townsend epitomised the very spirit of Churchill’s famous 'Few' and rapidly became a household name.
“Then his Royal connections brought him to prominence in the 1950s, and now as a result of the hugely successful Netflix series The Crown, he is known to a new generation today.”
Dix Noonan Webb will offer a group of 11 medals awarded to Gp Capt Townsend for an online auction on July 21, when they are expected to fetch between £160,000 and £200,000.
Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone
