Pease’s logbook, sold together with a selection of copy photographs, extracts from Cambridge University Air Squadron and copy research, was estimated at £500-700 in the sale at Redruth saleroom Truro Auction Centre (15% buyer’s premium) but sold at £12,000 to an online buyer.
Born into a titled family, son of Sir Richard and Lady Pease, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the University Air Squadron. The earliest entry in his logbook is for October 22, 1937.
David John Colin Pinckney (1920-42) was a school friend and they had befriended Richard Hope Hillary (1919-43) – who later immortalised Pease in his book The Last Enemy – during initial training. The three men had joined 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron and became its top fighter pilots.
Extracts in the logbook include various attacks on German aircraft, forced landings and ultimately a record of Pease’s death on September 9, 1940. Shot down, his Spitfire crashed at Kingswood, near Chartway Street, Kent.
