War medal collection is sold at auction for £16,000
A COLLECTION of war medals belonging to the late wing-commander Rex Sanders have sold for £16,000 at auction.
Mr Sanders passed away in 2017, aged 94, at his home in Aberporth, Ceredigion and had a distinguished career in the Royal Air Force.
Recently, his surviving family in West Wales brought the medal collection and operational log books to the Carmarthen office of Rogers Jones and Co Auctioneers and Valuers.
London-born Mr Sanders was a RAF navigator who won a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) medal for his service in the Second World War and an AFC (Air Force Cross) for his part in secret photographic and radar reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union in the 1950s.
After joining the Royal Air Force in April 1941 he trained as a navigator in Canada. His missions saw him take part in 33 bombing runs, including over Berlin, as part of the 78 Squadron.
Following the war, Mr Sanders was selected for training in special flights, serving as navigator and photographic operative.
In later years, he specialised in guided weapons, working at the Thor Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Site in Norfolk and as an advisor to the Pakistan Air Force, before taking up a post at Aberporth on the Ceredigion coast, from where air defence missiles, including the Bloodhound surface-to-air guided missile were tested.
His final appointment was a five-year tour in the Ministry of Defence’s Operational Requirements Directorate.
He retired from active service in 1977, when he was appointed OBE for his secret work and spent his later years living in Aberporth.
Charles Hampshire at Rogers Jones and Co said the medals had a pre-auction estimated guide price of between £4,000 and £6,000, which was massively trumped when it came to the day of the sale at their Cardiff auction house.
He added the interest was huge in the collection: “It was an absolute honour and privilege to be entrusted to handle, research and ultimately auction this important medal group from an astonishing man.
“Consigned direct from the family, wing-commander Rex Sanders’ Second World War medal group including DFC, AFC and Bar roared to an auction-leading £16,000.
“Coupled with all the handwritten operational log books, it really is a rare find.”