Don't Miss Any Special Deals - Sign Up To Our Newsletter! Product Search

Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures United States Surname A Ash, William

Flight Lieutenant William Tex Ash

Volunteer American pilot Bill Ash joined the RCAF and flew Spitfires with 411 Squadron gaining 3 confirmed victories. Shot down in 1942 he became a POW and was sent to Stalag Luft III where he took part in 'The Great Escape', and later was involved in more than a dozen escape attempts from POW camps in Poland, Germany and Lithuania. A constant trouble maker to his captors, Bill Ash became a real life 'Cooler King' after many hours spent in solitary captivity.

Flight Lieutenant William Tex Ash - Signed Aviation Art

The Great Escape by Richard Taylor. One of 4 editions available. All 4 editions feature up to 8 additional signatures. £75.00

Text for the above items :

The Great Escape by Richard Taylor. Everyone here in this room is living on borrowed time. By rights we should all be dead! The only reason that God allowed us this extra ration of life is so we can make life hell from the Hun.. ... three bloody deep, bloody long tunnels will be dug - Tom, Dick and Harry. On will succeed! With those words the chief escape officer in Stalag Luft III, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell RAF, announced his plan for perhaps the most daring escape attempt of the war - the mass break-out of 200 men through the digging of three long tunnels - nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry - an audacious feat of tunneling that would be long and dangerous. Tom was discovered by the Germans and destroyed. Dick was abandoned. The escape would fall on Harry, and just after 22.00hrs on the night of 24th / 25th March 1944, the first escapee broke through to the surface - only to find it well short of the surrounding trees. The escapees would have to crawl to the cover of the trees under the noses of the patrolling sentries. It was obvious that not everyone would have time to get away. 76 men had made their escape when at 04.55 the escape was finally discovered by the guards. As shots rang out, those already in the trees began running for their lives. Of the escapees, three would make it home to the UK, the rest were recaptured. And of those, sadly 50 were executed by the Gestapo, but The Great Escape was already immortalised in history.

Spitfire Manufacturer : Supermarine Built : 20351

Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.

---

---

Flight Lieutenant William Tex Ash Squadron details

---