Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry 60


An important 1925 aviation pioneer’s A.F.C. group of three awarded to Squadron Leader R. A. De Haga Haig, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, late Royal Artillery, a fearless test pilot who commanded the Experimental Section, Royal Aircraft Establishment and subsequently ‘made history on December 4, 1925, by being the first aviator in the World to drop in an aeroplane from an airship and hook onto it again. He did the job in a D.H. 53 light aeroplane which was built for the Air Ministry trials of 1923, and the Airship R. 33’ - a feat that survives on film to this day. De Haga Haig was drowned in a sailing accident off Plymouth on 10 November 1936


Air Force Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. R. A. De. H. Haig. R.F.C.) generally very fine or better (3)


£2,000-£2,400


A.F.C. London Gazette 1 January 1925: ‘This officer has been in command of Experimental Section, Royal Aircraft Establishment, since April 1923, and during this period, in spite of heavy administrative and technical work he has constantly carried out his flying duties with courage and enthusiasm. Invariably he himself flies for the first time all experimental types and all aeroplanes fitted with new experimental equipment and apparatus, and by his indifference to all considerations of personal risk, he has set a splendid example of courage and devotion to duty.’


Rollo Amyatt de Haga Haig ‘known to all his friends as Haga, was in his day one of the best pilots that this country has ever produced. He was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1896 and was educated at Clifton. He came into the Royal Flying Corps from the Infantry in 1916 when he was very young and did good work in the War 1914-18, but he first made a name for himself when he was appointed to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough as test pilot. There he made history on December 4, 1925, by being the first aviator in the World to drop in an aeroplane from an airship and hook onto it again. He did the job in a D.H. 53 light aeroplane which was built for the Air Ministry trials of 1923, and the Airship R.33.


He gave a magnificent display at the R.A.F. Pageant at Hendon in 1923 with a twin-motor Boulton and Paul machine in which he fought two single-seat fighters, and did everything which was done with a modernised version of the same machine at Hendon this year [1936], - one of the performances which gave onlookers more of a thrill than anything else in the Display.


In 1926 he left the R.A.F. and joined William Beardmore and Co. Ltd., on the Clyde, as test pilot and did some impressive flying for them in the Baltic States where he did much to sponsor the good name of the British aeroplanes. He was also concerned at Beadmore’s with the construction of the Beardmore Inflexible which was built under Rohrbach patents, and he was one of the few people who flew the thing. While with Beardmore’s he worked on the development of the Monospar scheme with Mr. H. J. Steiger, and the original Monospar patents were held jointly by Mr. Steiger, Squadron Leader Haig and Mr. Alan Chorlton. When Beardmore’s shut down on all their production of aircraft, the Monospar patents needed finance, so Squadron Leader Haig, by way of Mr. M. L. Branson, made plans which not only allowed the building of experimental machines to proceed but eventually led to connection with the financiers who were responsible for the flotation of the existing company.


Unfortunately before that, Squadron Leader Haig had been persuaded to relinquish his interests in the Monospar patents, and since then he has been engaged in various aircraft ventures, all the way from selling kite balloons to foreign nations up to the development of the radiaura device, which we hope some day will give every aircraft warning of the neighbourhood of other aircraft - the only way in which flying can be made safe when Civil Aviation really develops. When the radiaura has been made a practical proposition and when it has become compulsory on all aeroplanes let us remember then the first person who as a practical aviator laid himself out to develop that device was Haga Haig. Its success will be the best monument that he could ask.


Haig was drowned somewhere off Plymouth about 10.00 hrs, on November 10 [1936]. He and a Mr. E. R. Lambton who had for some time been associated with him in business had bought a motor trawler with the intention of fitting it up as a small yacht and taking it out to the Indian Ocean. They left Plymouth to take it round Southampton and ran into heavy weather. They were carrying a foresail to steady the boat and the foresheet carried away. Haig went forward to secure it and either fell or was washed overboard. He grabbed a fender but was either knocked or washed off and Lambton was unable to manoeuvre the boat so as to reach him again. Presumably there was no life-line handy which Mr. Lambton, who was single-handed in the boat, could have thrown to him. As he was unable to rescue Squadron Leader Haig he put back to Plymouth and boats were sent out to the rescue.


The news was telephoned to Mrs. Haig in London and she telephoned to the aerodrome at Roborough where the Manager at once sent out two aeroplanes to search the coast to the East of Plymouth. They found nothing. In response to further telephone calls from Mrs. Haig more boats were sent out from the harbour and the R.A.F. Station at Mount Batten sent out a flying-boat. A search was made over a wide area but without result.


As an individual Haga Haig had that peculiar charm which is derived from the unexpected. He had a vivd imagination and at the same time an immense amount of practical common sense. He was a first-class mechanic and nothing pleased him better than pulling cars to pieces and putting them together again. He had the most beautiful hands with an aeroplane or a car.’ (Obituary in The Aeroplane, 18 November 1936 refers)


Sold with copied research, including a photographic image of recipient, and a DVD showing 9 minutes of footage of Haig’s ground breaking flight in connection with R.33


Note: The recipient’s Medal Index Card indicates that he was additionally awarded a Territorial Force War Medal as a Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery (Territorial Force).


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)


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