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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth S Sims, Lyndon

Lyndon Sims

Enlisted 1940 as a flight mechanic in the Royal Air Force and commissioned 1943, joined as a bomber Pilot with No.75 (New Zealand) Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 13th October 1944. After the war he became a successful rally driver, making his debut in the early 1950s driving a 2.4-litre Riley Pathfinder in which he took part in the Rallye de Monte-Carlo in 1954 co-driven by William Rogers, finishing 20th. That same year he finished seventh in the 6 Hour Relay Silverstone, driving the same car. It was in a private Aston Martin DB2 that Lyndon Sims first came to international fame, as the driver in the three-man crew that won the sixth edition of the RAC Rally, in 1956 when he was 39 years old. He was partnered with Rupert Jones and Tony Ambrose, beating Ian Appleyard and Pat Appleyard of Leeds, second in a Jaguar XK140 and Dr. J. T. Spare and M. Meredith-Owens third in a Morgan Plus-4. Later in the 1956 season Sims took a fine fourth in a national sportscar race at Silverstone in the same car, and once again with Ambrose as co-driver he finished 10th in the Internationale Tulpenrallye, which passed through Holland, Belgium and eastern France. Sims returned to the Rallye de Monte-Carlo in 1959 in another Aston Martin, scoring a second in class with his navigator and friend Tony Ambrose who the next year joined the BMC Competitions Department soon becoming a prominent rally co-driver. Lyndon Sims passed away in 1999 at the age of 82.

His citation fo the DFC :

This officer is now engaged on his second tour of operational duty and has completed very many sorties against most heavily defended objectives in Germany. As Flight Engineer leader, he has shown conscientiousness and vigour in his duties and has been largely responsible for the high standard of technical efficiency attained by the engineers in his unit. On one occasion when operating against Fellersleben his aircraft was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Similar damage has been sustained on various sorties but this has never deterred Flight Lieutenant Sims from displaying great keenness to fly on operations.

Lyndon Sims - Signed Aviation Art

Cloud Companions by Robert Taylor. Both editions sold out. Both editions feature up to 7 additional signatures.

Text for the above items :

Cloud Companions by Robert Taylor. A Lancaster has been damaged and is left far behind the main force to make its own perilous way home as best it can. Seeing the vulnerability of their friends, a Mosquito crew expose themselves to the same dangers, and throttle back to stay alongside the injured warbird. Dawn has broken, the visibility is unlimited. They have yet to make that Channel crossing and enemy fighters are in the area. The crew of the Lancaster struggle to maintain flying speed and enough height to bring their large four-engined aircraft home. Perhaps tonight they will all drink and laugh in the local pub - perhaps! Meanwhile the drama unfolds: Dawn has broken, the visibility is unlimited. They have yet to make that Channel crossing and enemy fighters are in the area. The crew of the Lancaster struggle to maintain flying speed and enough height to bring their large four engine aircraft home. Robert Taylor conveys the desperate urgency of the situation with masterful strokes of his brush, providing an image of war that is poignant, emotive, yet beautiful to behold.