THE IMPORTANT GREAT WAR PILOTS AND ARTISTS O.B.E. GROUP AWARDED TO AN OFFICER WHO SERVED IN THE BOER WAR BEFORE SERVING ON THE WESTERN FRONT WITH 4 SQUADRON R.F.C. FROM OCTOBER 1914, TRANSFERRING TO 6 SQUADRON HE FLEW AS OBSERVER TO BRITAIN’S FIRST ACE; LANOE HAWKER VC, BEFORE BECOMING A FLIGHT COMMANDER WITH 23 SQUADRON DURING THE SOMME OFFENSIVE IN 1916. FROM 1917 HE COMMANDED 102 SQUADRON, FINISHING THE WAR AS A LT COLONEL, R.A.F. HE SERVED AGAIN WITH THE R.A.F. DURING THE SECOND WAR BEFORE JOINING THE ROYAL NAVAL AND FINISHING THE WAR AS A LIEUTENANT COMMANDER, THEREFORE REMARKABLY HAVING SERVED AS AN OFFICER IN ALL THREE BRANCHES OF THE ARMED FORCES. RETURNING TO LIFE AS A FULL-TIME ARTIST, HE BECAME WELL-KNOWN AND RESPECTED FOR HIS MARITIME WORKS. HE ALSO PRODUCED MANY PICTURES CAPTURING HIS TIME IN THE RFC. IN 1958 HE WAS APPOINTED VICE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF MARINE ARTISTS, CONTINUING HIS WORK AS AN ARTIST UNTIL HIS DEATH IN DECEMBER 1973. HIS FLYING LOOKBOOK AND GREAT WAR DIARIES ARE HELD IN THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM COLLECTION AND HAVE BEEN QUOTED IN MANY PUBLICATIONS ON WW1 AVIATION, HIS OUTSTANDING WW1 AVIATION WORKS HAVE ALSO GRACED VARIOUS BOOKS

THE MOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, O.B.E. (MILITARY) OFFICER’S 1ST TYPE BREAST BADGE, SILVER-GILT, HALLMARKS FOR LONDON 1919 (2ND TYPE RIBBON), QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA 1899, 3 CLASPS TRANSVAAL, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA 1902 ‘LIEUT. H. WYLLIE VOL. CO. R. WEST KENT R.’, 1914 STAR WITH CONTEMPORARY TAILORS CLASP ‘CAPT. H. WYLLIE HAMPS: R ATTD: R.F.C.’, BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS WITH OAK LEAF ‘MAJOR H. WYLLIE R.F.C.’, DEFENCE MEDAL AND WAR MEDALS. MEDALS COURT MOUNTED FOR WEAR AND HOUSED WITHIN A GLAZED FRAME ALONGSIDE HIS ORIGINAL CAP BADGES FOR EACH OF THE UNITS HE SERVED IN: THE ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT, ROYAL EAST KENT REGIMENT, HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT, WILTSHIRE REGIMENT AND ROYAL FLYING CORPS. ALSO R.F.C. AND R.A.F. PILOT'S WINGS; AND BULLION-EMBROIDERED R.A.F., ROYAL NAVY AND FLEET AIR ARM CAP BADGES; THE FRAME MEASURING APPROX. 43.5CM X 34CM.

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

M.I.D. London Gazette 3 June 1918.

Harold Wyllie was born on the 29th of June 1880 at St Johns Wood in London, the first of nine children born to the renowned marine artist William Lionel Wyllie and his wife Marion Amy. Harold failed his Royal Naval entrance exam and upon leaving school he travelled to New York to work as an artist for The Graphic, but returned to fight in the army during the Boer War, having been commissioned Lieutenant with the Volunteer Company of the Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1905 he married Margaret Boyle in Portsmouth. The marriage produced son, William John Carew Wyllie, in 1907.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lionel_Wyllie

At the outbreak of the Great War he was commissioned into the 9th Hampshire (Cyclist) Battalion and on the 1 of September 1914 he gained his aviation certificate (pilot licence) at Netheravon flying a Maurice Farman Biplane. A newspaper report states he achieved this after only 23hrs flying!

It seems though now a qualified pilot, when he arrived in France on the 27 October 1914, Wyllie was immediately attached to 4 Squadron as an Observer to take the place of Captain Pitcher, who had just been requested for service back in England. Equipped with BE2’s and Maurice Farman MF11 Shorthorns, 4 Squadron carry out reconnaissance work in support of the B.E.F. and it seems Wyllie’s artistic skills were put to good use making sketches in the air whilst on reconnaissance missions recording enemy positions. Here, Wyllie gained a reputation for the quality and accuracy of his intelligence field sketched and maps, leading General Milne to instruct "Don't let that young man get killed. Or, at least, not until he has taught someone else to do it.’

Wyllie would write of one reconnaissance:

“Marsh and myself went on reconnaissance at dawn and were told to have a look right into Wervicq, before we could say knife, a battery of guns opened on us from two sides. The shells were bursting under, over and on both sides… I never could have believed it possible to under such fire and survive. The noise was deafening and the air full of smoke..”

Serving with 4 Squadron until December 1914, Wyllie then transferred to 6 Squadron, again it seems in the main serving as an observer. Flying in BE2a's and b's on reconnaissance and sketching duties, including during the Second Battle of Ypres, the following is written of Wyllie:

“After the main gas attack at Ypres, the line was pretty fluid. The British photo team accomplished a map of enemy trenches. It too extensive efforts, aided by Captain Wyllie (Son of the great marine artist) who too enormous risk to his own safety flying very low over the trenches in order to identify the uniforms of the occupants. A map of the German line was prepared.”

During his time with 6 squadron, Wyllie is also recorded as flying as observer in BE2c’s with both Lanoe Hawker VC (the famous ace) and Louis Strange (DSO, OBE, MC, DFC/Bar). Hawker would write of a combat that the pair took part in on 26 April 1915:

“Some excitement today, as doing our reconnaissance, my usual one with a passenger (Wyllie) this time we met and chased away two Germans. So far so good. A third appeared and we gally approached it and found it had a machine-gun aboard – the first German I’ve met that showed fight. I only had my 10b rounds and had to turn a fly – a strategic retreat we call it in the best society – but each time I loaded my rifle I turned and let him have it. He hit us but having a machine gun he soon finished his ammunition and then we had the pleasure of chasing him away as we hadn’t finished ours. One of his bullets went thro the cushion on which sat my observer.”……

SEE PDF FOR FULL WRITE-UP

https://artuk.org/discover/artists/wyllie-harold-18801973

Sold with a fair amount of copied research, including medal rolls, Gazettes, various articles etc. Also Wyllie's copy of Knots Splices and Fancy Work by Chas. L. Spencer; Brown, Son & Ferguson, second edition, pub. June 1935, signed and inscribed by the author, with HMS Implacable embossed stamp on half-title page, inscribed by Wyllie "The best book ever written about practical work" and featuring frequent additional pencil illustrations and notes in his hand.