A post-war O.B.E. group of five awarded to Wing Commander W. T. Dunlop, Royal Air Force

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A post-war O.B.E. group of five awarded to Wing Commander W. T. Dunlop, Royal Air Force

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Military Division, Officer's (O.B.E.) 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya (Flt. Lt. W. T. Dunlop, R.A.F.); Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (Act. Flt. Lt. W. T. Dunlop, R.A.F.); mounted as worn, good very fine (5)

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1956.

William Tait Dunlop was born in Belford, Northumberland on 15 July 1908 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an A.C. 2 in January 1925.

Having then served at the Fleet Air Arm base at Donibristle, on the north shore of the Forth of Forth, near Dalgety Bay, he was posted to the Armoured Car Wing at Hinaidi in Iraq in November 1929, where he served as a Leading Aircraftsman on the strength of No. 203 Squadron. Subsequently re-mustered as a fitter, he served at the R.A.F, depot in Aboukir, Egypt from December 1931 until January 1934. He then returned home to take up an appointment in No. 22 Squadron, in which he was detached to Malta in 1935-36 and advanced to Corporal in the latter year.

By the outbreak of hostilities, Dunlop was serving at R.A.F. Cranwell, where he was promoted to Flight Sergeant in October 1940, and in the following month he joined the staff of No. 13 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.) at Henlow. Subsequently recommended for a commission, he was appointed a Pilot Officer in July 1941 and enjoyed steady advancement throughout the war as an officer in the Engineering Branch, including a tour of duty in Canada in 1943-44. And he ended the war at a maintenance unit in Kirkbride, in which he held the acting rank of Squadron Leader.

Post-war, Dunlop was awarded his General Service Medal for Malaya for his services at R.A.F. Seletar in 1948-49 and gained the substantive rank of Squadron Leader on taking up an appointment at R.A.F. Lyneham in January 1952. And it was in the latter post that he was awarded his O.B.E.

Having then been advanced to Wing Commander in January 1957, he was placed on the Retired List in July 1960 and died at Hastings, Sussex in June 1978; sold with copied service records.