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Auction: 23002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 47

The campaign group of three awarded to 2nd Lieutenant J. F. Grady, Royal Air Force, late Royal Naval Air Service, an accomplished Pilot who was killed in a flying accident in 1918

1914 Star, with clasp (187748. J. F. Grady, P.O.Mech. R.N.A.S.; British War and Victory Medals (W.O.2 J. F. Grady. R.N.A.S.), good extremely fine (3)

James Fraser Grady was born at Edinburgh on 19 March 1880 and worked as a Message Boy prior to enlisting with the Royal Navy on 19 March 1898. Posted to The Central Flying School on 1 November 1913 at Upavon, Wiltshire he entered the war in France at the Dunkirk Air Station on 1 September 1914, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France with No.3 Squadron R.N.A.S.

The Squadron was formed on 1 September 1914 at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer near Dunkirk, and became No.3 Wing RNAS on 21 June 1915 after it was shipped to the Dardanelles. It was later to served as a fighter Squadron on the Western Front.

Grady's confidential report for Cranwell dated 12 July 1917 notes "Is eminently suited for gunnery work. Is a first class pilot. I am urgently in need of his services". His entry for Eastchurch on the 31 February 1917 notes "A hard working reliable Pilot on School Machine".

Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant with the R.N.A.S. before it was amalgamated with the R.F.C. on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force, Grady was flying with his Boy Mechanic Leonard H. Sampson on 19 July 1918. Their Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn Bi-plane, serial number N5063, was ascending and collided with a descending Avro 504J Serial B8585 flown by RAF Lieutenant Richard M. Collingwood. All three men were killed in the crash.

He was the husband of Mrs A. M. Grady of 106 Rainham Road, Chatham. Grady's medal entitlement is confirmed on the Officers Roll of the R.N., R.N.V.R. & R.N.A.S.

East Kent Gazette - Saturday 27 July 1918

'FATAL COLLISION AT AN AERODROME.

FOUR LIVES LOST.

An inquest was held on Monday, by Mr. C. B. Harris, county coroner, with reference to the deaths of three officers and a mechanic, who lost their lives as a result of a collision in the air at a Kent aerodrome on Friday.

Lieut. Charles Edgar Swannell, 26, a Canadian, and Lieut. Richard Milne Collingwood, 21, had been up for a flight, and were slowly descending, when another machine, in which were 2nd Lieut. James Fraser Grady, 38, and Boy Mechanic Leonard George Henry Samson, 17, were ascending for gunnery practice. When 100ft. from the ground the machines came into collision, and one turned turtle and caught on fire. Both crashed to the ground, and all four occupants were killed, all from fractured skulls.

A verdict of "Accidental Death" in each case was returned, and the jury expressed their sympathy with the bereaved relatives.

Lieut. Collingwood was a son of Captain Collingwood, who holds an important post at another aerodrome in the county. 2nd Lieut. Grady belonged to Gillingham, and Samson, the young mechanic, lived in London.'

Sold together with a Royal Naval Temperance Society medal, engraved 'J. F. Grady, 1902'.


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Sold for
£1,000

Starting price
£800