A rare ‘1958 Malaya Helicopter Pilot’s’ D.F.C., 1954 (E11R) A.F.C. group of five with 8 Log Books and a magnificent archive of documents and photographs Squadron Leader awared for distinguished service Helicopter pilot in the jungles of Malaya on Sycamores of No. 194 Squadron. Later commanding the Helicopter Section of the Queen’s Flight at Benson, which saw his passengers include a ‘Who’s Who’ of Royal and Military figures; he was killed in an air crash in December 1967 following the structural failure of his helicoper

Distinguished Flying Cross, (EIIR)., reverse officially dated ‘1958’; Air Force Cross, (EIIR)., reverse officially dated ‘1954’; Defence Medal, War Medals, G.S.M. clasp, Malaya (Flt. Lt. R.A.F.),

Squadron Leader J.H. Liversidge

D.F.C. L.G. 9 December 1958.

A.F.C. L.G. 10 June 1954.

Included is a large impressive archive comprising – Full set of eight Log Books, covering his entire career, Letter from the Earl Mountbatten, thanking him for his flight on 26 July 1963. A number of Royal Air Force certificates and booklets, inlcuding Inoculation & Vaccination, Aircrew Categorisation Card. A photograph album related to his death, including programme, photographs of the wreck, newspaper cuttings etc. and mourning cards from The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, The Royal Household, besides other RAF figures. Silver presentation box, the lid engraved ‘Presented to Flt. Lt. J. H. Liversidge A.F.C. by No. 194 Squadron R.A.F. Malaya April 1958’ and a silver cigarette case, the outer engraved ‘JHL’. Photographs of the recipient on Queen’s Flight duty. Huge collection of photographs, mostly in albums, following his career from training in the USA, Malaya and Queen’s Flight Plus newspaper cuttings A number of official invitations, to events at Windsor Castle and Royal Ascot besides others.

Jack Harry Liversidge was born on 20 March 1918 and lived at Mexborough, educated at Rotherham Technical College. A draughtsman at the Baker & Bessemer steel works at Kilnhurst, during the Second World War he joined the Royal Air Force and underwent training with No. 4 B.F.T.S. ‘Falcon Field’ at Mesa, Arizona. Liversidge then went onto No. 10 F.I.S. at Woodley, Reading and No. 3 E.F.T.S. at Shellingford, Bekshire, carrying forward some 951hrs 5mins on his Log Books by the end of July 1945. He qualified on the Meteor on 16 April 1953. It was whilst at Little Rissington, that his richly-deserve A.F.C was awarded. Moving onto helicopters, Liversidge passed on the Westland S.51 on 15 July 1955, before qualifying on the Sycamore on 26 August 1955 at Filton.

Flying out to Kuala Lumpur, he joined No. 194 Squadron on 2 November 1955. Operrating insertion & extraction and ‘CASEVAC’ November he also had the job of acting as pilot for Brigadier Alexander and Brigadier The Lord Thurlow. His Log Books are also littered with ‘Cont TRG’ flights. The following period of time saw Liversidge permanently on operations, flying thousands of hours in the jungle. On 5 March he was on hand to CASEVAC the bodies of 9 soldiers lost in the crash of a freighter, going between VK251404 and Tapah. He flew his final sortie for No. 194 Squadron on 14 May 1958, carrying forward some 3852hrs 20mins on his Log Books. And awarded the D.F.C.

Liversidge returned to South Cernet and then went onto the E.T.P.S. at Farnborough in September 1958 as Helicopter Flying Instructor. He remained at Farnborough until August 1962, before going up to Benson to join the Queen’s Flight, where he commanded the Helicopter Section.

His Log Book for the period contains many VIP flights including but not limited to – Special Flight 1049, 1 February 1963. The Rt. Hon. Hugh Fraser, The Rt. Hon. Julian Amery, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Pike, Sir Maurice Dean, Sir Henry Hardman. Special Flight 1133, 10 April 1963. Earl Moutbatten, Mr McNamara, Bandy, Nitze & Jones. Special Flight 1143, 18 April 1963. HRH Duchess of Gloucester, Lady Vesey. Special Flight 1178, 3 May 1963. HRH The Princess Margaret, Lord Snowdon, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, Chief Inspector Crocker. Special Flight 1176, 10 May 1963. HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, The Lady Jean Rankin, Lt. Col. Sir Martin Gilliatt, Captain Alastair Aird, Superintendant Wells. Special Flight 1399, 26 July 1963. HRH The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, James Orr, Inspector Thorning, Mr Pearce. The final Log Book entry for Liversidge was made on 5 December 1967, with some 5316hrs 50mins of flying during his remarkable career.

He was  killed when flying Whirlwind XR487 on 7 December. Liversidge was was en route to Yeovil, where a meeting was to be held to discuss the VVIP Wessex, when the main rotor-shaft snapped and the helicopter crashed at Brightwalton Berks. Liversidge with Flight Lieutenant R. Fisher, and the passengers, Air Commodore J. H. L. Blount, Captain of the Queens’s Flight and Squadron Leader M. W. Hermon, the Flight’s Engineering Officer were all killed. Liversidge was 48 years old. An inquest in January 1968 found that metal fatigue was the reason for the crash. It led to some 500 gearboxes being taken out of service for safety checks.

An exceptional group. A particularly rare E11R DFC AFC combination and a stunning archive.