AN IMPORTANT RELIC OF THE WORLD WAR I FIGHTER ACE CAPTAIN ALBERT BALL

AN IMPORTANT RELIC OF THE WORLD WAR I FIGHTER ACE CAPTAIN ALBERT BALL, VC (1896-1917). THE SHEARED PROPELLER BLADE OF THE BRISTOL SCOUT BIPLANE IN WHICH CAPTAIN ALBERT BALL CRASH LANDED AT NOTTINGHAM IN NOVEMBER 1916 of laminated and polished mahogany, retaining the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company green and gold garter logo transfer Scout, 109cm l, stamped B&C 2 and two square boxed stamps AID/511Provenance:Captain Albert Ball, VC, by whom given at the scene to witness George William Ash (1907-2002); thence by descent to the present vendor.Exhibited: Nottingham Building Society, 'The Aces 1914-1918' window exhibition, 1972. More poignant a relic of one of England's greatest heroes of the skies would be hard to imagine. When Albert Ball crash landed at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, the Bristol Scout aircraft, first flown in 1914, had been superseded and was used for training purposes or, as on this occasion, by officers for 'jaunts'. Ball was returning on leave to Nottingham to visit his parents when Bill Ash, an estate worker, was first on the scene and recognised Albert Ball who had scrambled out of the wreckage was more irritated than dazed at having crashed and retorted to Ash's request for a relic "You can have the whole b... lot". Shortly afterwards a lorry arrived and the aircraft was taken away,By the time of the incident Ball was already a National hero. At the time of his death over Arras in 1917, he had shot down at least 44 German planes and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Bill Ash was interviewed for an article in the Lenton Listener, ecember 1987/January 1988 issue in which he was photographed holding the propeller