58mm. 9ct Gold. 89.73g. By Frank Kovacs for Spink & Son.
Obverse with bust of Winston Churchill, '1940 Club' above. Reverse with legend above propeller and engraved to Walter Hackett. Edge hallmarked for 9ct gold.
Extremely rare. Virtually as struck and housed in fitted Spink & Son case of issue. Accompanied by a hand signed letter from Lord Beaverbrook to Walter Hackett stating "Looking back on that stirring time at the M.A.P. (Ministry of Aircraft Production), I recall the immense task undertaken by you and I remember the days and nights of labour."
This medal was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook in honor of Churchill and other members of the "1940 Club", which Beaverbrook organized for all those who had been close to him during his 1940-1941 tenure as Minister of Aircraft Production, a post he accepted at the urging of his old friend Churchill. The annual "1940 Club" dinner at Claridge's was one of the few functions Churchill attended regularly in his later years. The medals (struck in gold, and in silver gilt) were presented to club members by Beaverbrook at the 1959 dinner.
Walter William Hackett C.B.E., J.P., F.R.Ae.S (1874-1964), was an engineer and industrialist who became the Managing Director, then President of Accles & Pollock, a British tube manipulation company. During the Second World War he pioneered a production method for Sten gun barrels that allowed for them to be produced more efficiently and is thought to have prevented delays of up to a year in Sten production. Sir Claude Gibb, Director-General of Weapons in the Ministry of Supply, once said that Hackett “made the greatest contribution to the production of small arms during the whole of the war”.