WW2 RAF Spitfire pilot's Irvin Parachute Company gold caterpillar club badge

A rare original unique 'Irvin Parachute Company wartime award' in the form of a small gold caterpillar, the eyes set with ruby coloured stones, the reverse inscribed 'W/O. T.V.Pigot'. Very good condition, complete with original pin fittings.
Length 20mm.
Awarded to 1059795 Warrant Officer T.V. Pigot who bailed out of his Supermarine MKV Spitfire of 1435 Squadron when hit by enemy fire after ground staffing enemy troops near Cerevode, Albania, whilst attached to the Balkan Air Force.
Warrant Officer T.V. Pigot by his service number volunteered in September 1940 at Padgate. Volunteering for aircrew he was selected for Pilot Training on the Spitfire fighter aircraft. In May 1943 he was posted to 1435 Squadron operating over Sicily and later Italy as a fighter bomber squadron. In October 1943 the squadron moved to the mainland of Italy and joined the Balkan Air Force. The squadron was based in southern Italy and helped provide local air defence as well as flying ground attack missions in Albania and Yugoslavia, supporting local partisans.
On the 11th December 1943 he scrambled to investigate two aircraft heading towards Bari, these turned out to be American P38 Lightnings, one of which opened fire on Pigot’s Spitfire, resulting in him crash landing on return to his airfield. He was uninjured.
On the 2nd April 1944 whilst on patrol, he and his wingman spotted a German ME109 fighter aircraft about to land, both Spitfires attached and the 109 was seen to crash in a field. He was credited with a 1/2 share of the 'Kill'.
On the 24th June with another Spitfire he was tasked with ground staffing enemy troops near Cerevode, Albania. During the attack he was hit and his wingman reported 'W/O Pigot called out that he had been hit in the oil system and said he was going to bail out. He turned North and gained 5,500 feet and baled out landing by parachute about 4 miles west of Cerevode'. His Spitfire VC was noted lost, Pilot safe. This is the action which resulted in the award of the Irvin Parachute Caterpillar Club badge.
An official photographer visited the Squadron in early 1944 and took a photograph of pilots of the Squadron sitting on the wing of a Spitfire, Pigot (2nd Left) among them the caption quotes 'Warrant Officer T. V. Pigot of Northwich, Cheshire”
Warrant Officer Pigot is not listed as POW and is presumed to have evaded capture.

The 'Gold Caterpillar Club Award' was initiated in the early 1920's by 'Leslie Irvin' of the 'Irvin Parachute Company' to be awarded to anyone whose life was actually saved by the use of one of their parachutes.

Code: 61097