21/02/2012 - 'Ginger' Lacey Memorabilia
A WW2 fighter ace's flying helmet and other items were sold on Saturday 3rd March in our webcast collectables auction.
A World War II RAF flying helmet, type C, together with RAF flying goggles mk VII and an RAF oxygen mask type H with later style oxygen supply pipe, issued in 1941 to James ‘Ginger’ Lacey (1917-1989), accompanied with an exit receipt from the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, a biography ‘Ginger Lacey Fighter Pilot, Battle of Britain Top Scorer’ by Richard Townsend Bickers bearing inscription by Min Lacey youngest daughter of James Lacey. ‘This copy of my father’s biography should accompany my father’s helmet, given to Chris Lodder by my mother, in appreciation of his friendship to our family’ and a copy of the Order of Service for James Lacey’s funeral.
Sold for £1,600
Click link for an unedited radio interview; A Fine Blue Day : James 'Ginger' Lacey
Recollections of war by a pilot ace. Source: www.BBC.co.uk archives ( Recorded:1978)
James Harry “Ginger” Lacey was one of the RAF’s top fighter pilots during the Second World War
He was the second highest scoring fighter ace in the Battle of Britain, and one of the very few triple aces with 18 ‘kills’
Born in Wetherby, Yorkshire on the 1st February 1917, James ‘Ginger’ Lacey went to school in Knaresborough, and then worked as an apprentice pharmacist.
He joined the RAF volunteer reserve in 1937 and was called up on the outbreak of war in 1939.
He served with 501 Squadron in France supporting the efforts of the British expeditionary force in its attempt to stop the German Blitzkrieg. It was during this time that he scored his first ‘kills’ and he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his work during the Battle of France.
Ginger Lacey returned to England in June 1940 and remained with 501 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in August 1940. A bar was awarded to his DFM in November 1940.
Between May 1940 and the end of the Battle of Britain he bailed out or crash-landed 9 times with never more than minor injuries.
Following the Battle of Britain, he was promoted to Acting Flight Lieutenant in January 1941.
His reputation as one of Britain’s top aces ensured that he was greatly in demand as an instructor and in 1942 became Chief Instructor of No1 Special Instructor’s School following a spell as a Tactics Officer.
From 1943 until the end of the war Ginger Lacey served in India where he shot down a Japanese Oscar, thus scoring his final ‘kill’.
He was one of the very few aces involved in World War II from the outbreak of war in 1939 until the end of it in August 1945.
Following the war, he was awarded a permanent commission in 1948 and remained in the RAF until 1967.
James ‘Ginger’ Lacey died on 30th May 1989.
Find Us On:
