Spitfire ace’s medals to sell for £80,000

A SET of medals awarded to a Scottish Spitfire ace who once shot down two enemy fighters in a minute is expected to fetch up to £80,000 at auction.

Commander Jamie Rankin, from Edinburgh, was one of the top Spitfire pilots of the Second World War and one of the RAF’s greatest wartime leaders.

Among his honours were the Distinguished Service Order and bar and the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar, which will go under the hammer at Sworders Auctioneers in Essex on December 6.

The collection, which also includes the Belgium Croix de Guerre and other war mementos, is thought to be the most important Spitfire Ace group collection to come to auction in recent years.

They are expected to fetch £60,000-80,000, with some experts describing the collection as “outstanding” and predicting it will go for “considerably more”.