Product Details
COLT
A .455 (AUTO) SEMI-AUTOMATIC SERVICE-PISTOL, MODEL '1911 BRITISH CONTRACT', serial no. W62721, WITH FULL HISTORY,
circa 1915, with 5in. barrel, blued sighted slide with patents to 1913 on the left side of slide, the right with maker's details and calibre together with 'CAPT. C.W.F BUSK R.A.F.' in larger engraved letters, blued frame with grip safety and smooth mainspring housing, British ordnance marks, chequered walnut grips and retaining its correct magazine marked 'CAL .455 ELEY', the whole with a fair amount of original finish but thinning and mottled; COMPLETE WITH a later American issue brown leather holster signed 'MILWAUKEE SADDLERY CO.' dated '1942' and copies of photographs and relevant pages from various flying logs
Provenance: The original owner, Charles William Francis Busk, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, and by September 1916 was actively serving in France and was 'mentioned in dispatches'. It would appear from the records that he was hospitalised on the 27 October 1918 having reached the rank of Lieutenant, not being released until a month later on the 26th November. By March of 1919 he had joined the 159th Squadron of the RAF (49th Wing) and became Captain. It was around this time that he met and became close friends with Ernest Cecil Barlow, later Wing Commander. Busk became an instructor in English at the French Military School in 1925, and gave the pistol to Cecil Barlow.
Barlow kept the pistol with him at all times, and it accompanied him on flying operations when war broke out in 1939. Tragically, on May 15th 1940, whilst commanding 40th Squadron, Wing Commander Ernest Cecil Barlow was shot down by Messerschmitt fighters while flying a Blenheim medium bomber in the fighter role, a role to which it was most unsuited. All the crew perished, and Barlow was subsequently interred in Grave 3, Ecaussinnes D'enghien Communal Cemetery. His possessions, including this pistol recovered from the wreck, were returned to Ernest Barlow's wife, mother of the current vendor, Timothy Allen.
When Tim himself joined the RAF in June 1943, he retrieved the pistol from the local police where his mother had lodged it for safe keeping, believing a sidearm may well be useful. Conducting most of his training in Canada, it was somewhat ironic that war ended the day he was due to receive his commission. Undeterred, Tim continued with his RAF service after the war, finding himself flying out of Malta and the Middle East. It was during this service when the pistol survived yet another plane-crash. On the 8th October 1949, when Tim took off bound for the Suez region in a Dakota carrying supplies and the all important two cases of gin for the officer's mess from Castel Benito, the starboard engine failed almost immediately. Unable to gain sufficient height, Tim was only able to steer the aircraft into the neighbouring field for a crash landing. Tim's entry in his flying log simply reads 'C. Benito. S.E. on T.o. Crashed. As the accompanying photographs show, Tim had a very lucky escape. The Officers were more concerned about the state of the gin however.
One of the photographs shows Tim (third from right) with the crew of a Liberator Bomber that they flew in Canada. On the extreme left of the photo is Richard Pearson, known by the crew as 'The Mad Major'. Richard and Tim stayed in touch long after their service had finished, and it was Richard who gave Tim the leather holster that accompanies the lot, believing it to be far more suitable for a pistol such as this than the old worn Pattern '37 holster it had previously resided in.
Now in his 90's, Tim Allen feels it is time the pistol went to a new home, but is most willing to meet the new owner and impart even more of his many adventures, should they be interested.
Please click HERE to view Terms & Conditions.
Estimate £1,500-2,000
S5
Unless prior arrangement has been made, two weeks after the Sealed bid sale, all Section 5 (and Section 7.1 / 7.3) items will be moved to a Section 5 carriers where storage charges will be incurred.
Goods will not be released until all outstanding charges have been met. Collection will be by arrangement.