Flying Corp memorabilia

If Royal Flying Corps medals are out of your price range, or you want to collect something a bit different, one recent lot shows that honours are not the only option for auction purchases. The lot sold at Special Auction Services doesn’t have an immediately obvious connection: a 7½in (19cm) high Steiff teddy bear c.1908. However, this is no ordinary bear, as evidenced by his name: ‘Squadron Leader Ted’. Not to mention the three miniature medals he is wearing, two from the Great War and the third a Second World War Defence Medal, for service in the Home Guard. Ted was the childhood toy of Sidney Herbert Moy ('Bert'), born on December 17, 1899. Bert, from Coventry, initially joined the Royal Warwickshires shortly after turning 18 in January 1918, then quickly transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he probably went first to the No.2 School of Aviation, then to Waddington, before joining the 6th Squadron at Oxford in March 1918. During his short career in the Great War, Bert ferried a succession of aircraft from England to the Western Front and Sqn Ldr Ted flew strapped to his master’s biplane on those numerous flights. Sqn Ldr Ted was sold by Bert’s grandson and fetched a very impressive £5000. The grandson says: “Ted used to get covered in oil and soot. Grandfather’s flight sergeant used to dunk him in a bucket of aviation fuel, and that’s probably why he still has quite a lot of fur.”