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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth P  Petrie-Andrews, John |
[UP] - Page, Frederick - Page, Geoffrey - Palliser, Charles - Parfitt, Bill - Parker, Charles - Parkin, Eric - Parkin, Harold - Parkinson, Colin - Parrott, Peter - Parry, D - Parry, Gwyn - Parry, Hugh - Parsons, Beck - Parsons, Lou - Partridge, Richard - Patterson, Charles - Patterson, Ernie - Pattison, H - Paulk, John - Payne, Aan - Payne, Tom - Pearl, John - Pearson, R - Peel, John - Pegler, Roy - Pemberton, John - Penny, Michael - Perks, Geoffrey - Petrie-Andrews, John - Phillips, D F W - Phillips, J - Phillips, Pip - Pickering, James - Pickering, Tony - Pinfold, Herbert - Pinner, Al - Pinning, Jim - Pitt-Brown, Willam - Plumridge, Ken - Poore, Arthur - Pottinger, Ron - Pears, Harry - Prichard, George - Pugh, Dei - Pujji, Mahinder |
Flight Lieutenant John Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM
John Petrie-Andrews joined the RAF in 1940. After training as a pilot, in January 1943 he was posted to join 102 (Ceylon) Squadron at Pocklington for his first tour, flying Halifaxes. In February 1943 he transferred to 158 Squadron, still on Halifaxes. John the joined 35 Squadron, one of the original squadrons forming the Pathfinder Force. Here he flew first Halifaxes before converting to Lancasters. John Petrie-Andrews completed a total of 70 operations on heavy bombers, including 60 with the Pathfinders.
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| Distinguished Flying Cross | Distinguished Flying Medal |
| Flight Lieutenant John Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Pathfinder Halifax by Nicolas Trudgian. Remembered fondly by many RAF, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand bomber crews, the Halifax served many diverse roles in WWII, including service with Special Duties, dropping agents and supplies behind enemy lines. Halifax MkIIs of 35 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, head out over the Lincolnshire coastline at dusk bound for Germany, August 1942. No.35 Squadron was one of the five squadrons selected to form the original Pathfinder Force. |
Action This Day by Richard Taylor. A cold winters morning, as dawn breaks over RAF Lissett, revealing that last nights biting wind has once again brought a covering of snow to the airfield. But, with conditions forecast to improve, tonights operation to bomb industrial targets in Germany is set to proceed, and ground crew start to prepare Halifax Mk3 LV907 F-Freddy, simply known as Friday 13th, for action. This iconic aircraft flew an impressive total of 128 operational sorties with 158 Squadron between March 1944 and April 1945. |
Bill Reid VC by Graeme Lothian. (P) Lancaster LM360, piloted by Bill Reid, is raked by fire from stem to stern by a Luftwaffe Fw190 fighter. Bill Reid had already sustained injuries to his head, torso and hands from a previous attack by an Me110, but, with this rest of his crew unscathed from the previous attack, he had not mentioned his injuries. In the attack depicted here, the Fw190 makes a lethal attack on the already damaged bomber, killing one crew member and fatally wounding a second. Despite this, Bill Reid flew on to his target of Dusseldorf - a further 200 miles - successfully dropped his bombs, then turned for home. With the aid of the bomb aimer and flight engineer, the Lancaster made it across the Channel and headed for an airfield, with one leg of the damaged undercarriage failing on landing. Bill Reid was awarded the Victoria Cross for this mission. |
Winter Ops by Gerald Coulson. Up to 1942 Bomber Command operations were beset by many problems. The means they had to accurately pinpoint the target and assault it were totally lacking, in fact their Commander in Chief, Air Marshall Arthur Harris later wrote : It was glaringly obvious that the average crew in average weather could not find their way to the target. Between February and August 1942 an effort was made to rectify this through the development of a specialised target finding and target marking force, which became known as the Pathfinders. Activated on August 15 this new group was formed under the leadership of their AOC Air Commodore Don Bennett, himself a very experienced pre war pilot with exceptional navigational skills. The aircrews of No. 8 (PFF) Group were tasked with marking out the designated targets but the formation of this group was initially opposed by Harris. He felt that the ranks of his Main Force could be weakened if a high number of experienced and highly skilled crews were taken by this specialist unit, leading to a lessening of skills within the other bomber groups. He agreed however for an alternative scheme whereby complete units were assigned to the Pathfinder Force and the stage was then set for what was to become the Main Offensive of Bomber Command. The first four Squadrons - Nos. 7 (Stirlings) 35 (Halifax) 83 (Lancaster) and 156 (Wellingtons) - were based at a clutch of airfields between Cambridge and Huntingdon. In the absence of any specialist Target Markers the crews were initially forced to operate using standard flares and the early raids produced variable results, with cloud cover often proving the main obstacle in accurate marking. However during the winter of 1942 the introduction of the ground guided marking system, OBOE, marked a quantum leap in accurate target marking and by mid 1943 Pathfinder techniques had been developed for all forms of weather conditions, including nights when complete overcast existed.Pathfinder crews used a combination of personal skill and technical equipment such as H2S to locate their targets. Often flying against overwhelming odds and in appalling conditions they transformed the performance of a bomber force that in 1941 was dropping almost half its bombs on open countryside. This third and final painting in Gerald Coulsons Tribute to Bomber Command depicts Lancaster Bombers of No.8 (PFF) Group returning late after a gruelling operation over Berlin. It is Christmas 1943 and the winter landscape reflects the early morning sunrise as the weary crews approach the safety of their Cambridgeshire base. |
The Shining Sword by Simon Smith. RAF Avro Lancaster flies low over occupied Europe. |
Clipped Signature - John Petrie-Andrews. Flew with 102, 158 and 35 Squadrons, flying the Halifax and Lancaster. He flew 70 operations on heavy bombers including 60 with the Pathfinder Force. |
Lancaster Arrival by Graeme Lothian. (P) A Lancaster returns to its home airfield. |
Last One Away by Ivan Berryman. A Lancaster of No.15 Squadron takes to the air at the start of a night sortie from Mildenhall in June 1944. |
Teamwork by Ivan Berryman. The afternoon of 3rd August 1944 saw Lancasters of 15 Sqn assigned to an attack on German V-1 Rocket stores at Bois de Cassan. While over the target the squadron encountered heavy flak. During the return journey, Lancaster LS-P fell behind the rest of the squadron but luckily for the crew, two P-38 Lightnings who had been involved in fighter sweeps, spotted the straggling Lancaster and escorted it back to base at Mildenhall. |
Towards Victory by Philip West. The Avro Lancaster was undoubtedly the RAFs greatest bomber of World War 2. Stemming from the unsuccessful Avro Manchester, the Lancaster carried the night bomber offensive deep into occupied Europe. Over 7,300 Lancasters were built with the last being delivered in 1946. |
Twos Company by Philip West. The Lancaster and Mosquito became legends in their own time during the Second World War. Both performed vital roles in support of the allied cause roaming far and wide over occupied Europe. |
The Hard Way Home by Robert Taylor. The Battle of Britain had been won by the young fighter pilots of Fighter Command, but now it fell to another band of young men to wage total warfare against the Nazi war machine - the aircrew of RAF Bomber Command. And like the fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain, the young men who flew with Bomber Command came not just from Britain, but from all over the Commonwealth, and from the countries of occupied mainland Europe. Every man was a volunteer, prepared to endure the deadly flak and prowling night fighters, to say nothing of the savage and bitter cold, in order to wage their relentless attack on the military and industrial targets of the Third Reich. The aircraft that carried these young men to war were numerous, but bearing the brunt of the RAFs incessant campaign were two heavy bombers, the stalwarts of Bomber Command - the Lancaster and the Halifax. Between them they accounted for over three quarters of all the bombs dropped by the RAF, and Halifaxes alone accounted for a total of 73,312 operations, nearly a fifth of all missions carried out by Bomber Command. |
Band of Brothers by Robert Taylor. The mighty Lancaster, the mainstay of RAF Bomber Command, crewed by volunteers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa, and many other nations opposed to Nazi rule, flew day and night sorties whenever there was a chance of reaching the target. Their unflinching courage, and selfless devotion to duty paved the way for the D-Day invasion, and the ultimate liberation of Nazi occupied Europe. Embellished with Goerings infamous quotation No Enemy Plane Will Fly Over The Reich Territory, S for Sugar took her bombs to Berlin, Hamburg, Schweinfurt, Bremen, Hanover, Wurzburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and other prime targets, flying the second greatest number of operational sorties of any bomber in the Command. Time and again Sugar brought her crew home, often limping back riddled with flak and bullet holes, occasionally on three engines, and once all the way back from the German capital with a badly damaged wing following a mid-air collision over the target. Robert Taylors emotive painting shows S for Sugar on the morning of 27th April, 1944 after her 95th sortie - a raid on the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt. As the battle-scarred bomber taxies in at RAF Waddington, other 467 Squadron Lancasters follow, heading for their dispersal points. Already the weary crews begin their informal debriefing. By the wars end this trusty bomber had completed no fewer than 137 operations over enemy territory, bringing her crew home every time. Now magnificently restored to her former glory, S for Sugar resides in the RAF Museum at Hendon, providing a lasting tribute to the gallant men of RAF Bomber Command. The famous aircraft was typical of, and ultimately came to symbolise, the men and machines of Royal Air Force Bomber Command. Flying initially with 83 Squadron Pathfinder Force, then 467 Squadron RAAF, Avro Lancaster serial number R5868, call sign S for Sugar, took part in almost every major attack on Germany between the summer of 1942 and the end of hostilities. With the life expectancy of a new Lancaster being just a few months, it was a miracle she survived the war. |
John Petrie-Andrews at a print signing session
| Flight Lieutenant John Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM Aircraft details |
 Halifax Manufacturer : Handley Page Built : 6177 | Halifax Royal Air Force heavy Bomber with a crew of six to eight. Maximum speed of 280mph (with MK.VI top speed of 312mph) service ceiling of 22,800feet maximum range of 3,000 miles. The Halifax carried four .303 browning machine guns in the tail turret, two .303 browning machines in the nose turret in the MK III there were four .303 brownings in the dorsal turret. The Handley Page Halifax, first joined the Royal Air Force in March 1941 with 35 squadron. The Halifax saw service in Europe and the Middle east with a variety of variants for use with Coastal Command, in anti Submarine warfare, special duties, glider-tugs, and troop transportation roles. A total of 6177 Halifax's were built and stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1952 |
 Lancaster Manufacturer : Avro Built : 7377 | Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' "Operation Gomorrah" in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992. |
| Flight Lieutenant John Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM Squadron details |
No.102 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 27th April 1963 Known Codes : , DY, EF, TQ, | No.102 Sqn RAF Ceylon Tentate et perficite - Attempt and achieve |
No.158 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 31st December 1945 Known Codes : , DK, NP, | No.158 Sqn RAF Strength in unity |
No.35 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 28th February 1982 Known Codes : , TL, WT, | No.35 Sqn RAF Madras Presidency Uno animo agimus - We act with one accord |
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