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Auction: 22103 - Orders, Decorations and Medals VII - e-Auction
Lot: 278

Victory Medal (2135 W. O. Cl. 2 B. H. J. Tubb. E. Afr. M. T. C.), attempted name erasure, polished, nearly very fine

Burton 'Bunny' Henry James Tubb was born at Robben Island, Table Bay in 1888, the son of a chaplain. He served in the East African Mechanical Transport Corps, entering the war in British East Africa on 1 September 1915. At some stage promoted Warrant Officer, Class II he was discharged with the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant. He is confirmed on the roll as entitled to the British War Medal and 1914-15 Star which were issued to him on 23 January 1924.

Tubb went on to become a famous flyer, being the first man in the Colony of Rhodesia to earn a Private Pilot's License. He was also locally important being the man who- along with the Town Electrical Engineer C. H. V. Baskerville- opened Salisbury's first power station. Famed for his trick shooting from the cockpit- a trick which was in fact a ruse done with blanks and an assistant knocking targets over with a stick- he suffered a major crash during the 1936 Salisbury Air Show. Flying too low to the ground Bunny attempted to skim it, catch the nose of his tiger moth on the uneven earth he was pitched forwards and found- alive and unhurt- dangling from his harness with the plane nose first on the ground. Continuing his work in the colony Bunny was responsible for the raising of Salisbury's first street light and the opening of its second power station. He died in 1974; sold together with copied research including medal rolls, M.I.C. and a scan of an article entitled Private Flyer No.1 as well as a photograph of the recipient holding two collared cheetahs.

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Sold for
£35

Starting price
£10