RFC Commemoration scroll to MC & Bar Ace

[coldstream]

Found this fairly common Commemorative scroll to a Great War Officer in a local antique shop.

The Officer is shown as Captain Francis Richard Cubbon MC & Bar of the 1st 72nd Punjabis.

Research to date shows that this Captain was killed in action whilst serving as an Observer in the Royal Flying Corps on 9th June 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.

He was credited with 21 aerial victories and so, I believe would have been refferred to as an ace.

His MC London Gazette entry states 'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has shown great pluck and determination acting as observer, on several occaisions displaying fine marksmanship and coolness against numbers of the enemy.'

His subsequent Bar entry reads, 'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When acting as an observer on an offensive he displayed great skill and courage against superior numbers of the enemy. Throughout he backed up his pilot with a remarkable display of marksmanship.'

[coldstream]

His list of victories are shown here listing

And a close up.

[peter monahan]

A Pilot AND a cavalryman! Very very nice.

[Ed_Haynes]

Nice one. Somehow, I vaguely recall seeing his medal group come across the market a few years back.

[Wood]

A Pilot AND a cavalryman! Very very nice.

Not a pilot Peter, an observer/gunner in Fe 2d's. A precarious job as you can see. (Photo from Wikipedia)

Many gunners in this type of aircraft racked up quite impessive scores. Much more than many pilots.

Regards,

Pete

Edited September 24, 2008 by wood

[censlenov]

Very nice scroll. I know there's tons of these floating around which have been "reproduced" unfortunately i don't know how to spot originals from fakes. Anybody??

Cheers

Chris

[coldstream]

As regards fakes I'm afraid its down to getting a feel for the object in question I believe.

This item was picked up in a small country antique shop and is still in an old wooden frame which is covered with years of dust and grime. The shop owner provided details of when and how he accquired it and the cost was comparitively low for this item

I know ageing can be faked and a dealer can spin a story but to my mind everything is right about this scroll.

As many eminent collectors and authours have stated in the past, its all about handling as many real objects as pos sible!

[Guest IMHF]

Not a pilot Peter, an observer/gunner in Fe 2d's. A precarious job as you can see. (Photo from Wikipedia)

Many gunners in this type of aircraft racked up quite impessive scores. Much more than many pilots.

Regards,

Pete

This is very nice I love the old photo, thank you for sharing.

Lorenzo