The legacy of a hero: the VC, DFC, and campaign medals of Flying Officer Trigg which were sold at auction . Picture: BEN CURTIS
A Victoria Cross awarded solely on the evidence of a German U-boat commander yesterday sold for a world record #138,000.
The price for the medal, awarded posthumously to Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg during the Second World War beat the previous record of #132,000.
Flying Officer Trigg, 29, died with his crew in a bullet-riddled Liberator aircraft off Africa in August 1943, after an attack on a German submarine.
U-boat captain Klemens Schamong survived and told the story of the airman's heroism to his British captors.
The medal was bought by an anonymous private UK collector in the sale by auctioneers Spink in London. The #138,000 includes a 15% buyer's premium.
The Liberator, piloted by Flying Officer Trigg, attacked the German submarine but anti-aircraft guns returned fire, setting the plane ablaze.
The pilot then brought the plane in at an altitude of less than 50ft to deliver a depth charge attack.
Moments later the plane crashed, killing the pilot and his crew.
Twenty German mariners escaped the sinking U-boat and six, including the captain, avoided the circling sharks to clamber into a dinghy. The Germans were later picked by a British warship.
Mr Schamong expressed his admiration for the pilot's valour to his captors. Uniquely, it was solely on his evidence that Flying Officer Trigg was gazetted for a posthumous VC.
On November 2, 1943, the London Gazette ended his citation with the words: ''His was the path of duty that leads to glory.''
Sold with the VC was a DFC and campaign medals also won by Fling Officer Trigg, who was a New Zealander.
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