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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Squadrons UK and Commonwealth No.270 Sqn to No.438 Sqn  No.357 Sqn |
[UP] - No.270 Sqn - No.272 Sqn - No.274 Sqn - No.303 Sqn - No.305 Sqn - No.308 Sqn - No.315 Sqn - No.332 Sqn - No.350 Sqn - No.357 Sqn - No.401 Sqn - No.402 Sqn RCAF - No.404 Sqn RCAF - No.405 Sqn RCAF - No.412 Sqn RCAF - No.414 Sqn RCAF - No.418 Sqn RCAF - No.422 Sqn RCAF - No.433 Sqn RCAF - No.438 Sqn RCAF |
Mortem hostibus - We bring death to the enemy
| No.357 Sqn Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings Aviation Prints |
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| Text for the above items : |
Larry Lewis DFC by Graeme Lothian. At 3.30am on the 23rd June 1945, a Dakota of 357 (special duties) Squadron took off from Mingaladon airfield nr. Rangoon , to travel the 600 miles, 300 of them behind enemy lines, to rescue a downed American Liberator crew deep in the jungles of Siam . The Dakota was flown by pilot Fl Lt. Larry Lewis, who already held the DFM awarded to him for 33 ops as a rear gunner on Wellingtons in 1941. Two crews had already failed when Lewis was asked to attempt this hazardous mission. Flying between 5,000 - 6,000ft he flew over The Hump, a ridge of mountains running down the spine of Burma . Local villagers had cleared a rough airstrip 800yds long with Lewis finding it by the time dawn broke. With monsoon clouds gathering, the Liberator crew aboard and the Dakota sinking in the wet ground, he managed, just, to get airborne. Flying at zero feet and looking out for Japanese Zero fighters Lewis took a different course back. Although being fired on from the ground they managed to make it all the way to the airfield at Dum Dum nr. Calcutta , India . Lewis was awarded an immediate DFC. By the end of the war he had completed 63 ops, held the rank of Squadron Leader with his service from 1938-1945, and was awarded the Air Efficiency Medal. |
| No.357 Sqn RAF Aircraft details |
 Dakota Manufacturer : Douglas | Dakota DOUGLAS DAKOTA, Transport aircraft with three crew and can carry 28 passengers. speed 230-mph, and a altitude of 23,200 feet. maximum range 2,100 miles. The Douglas Dakota served in all theatres of world war two, The Royal Air Force received its first Douglas Dakota's in April 1941, to 31 squadron which was serving in India. These were DC2, later DC3 and eventually C-47 Dakotas were supplied. The Douglas Dakota was developed from the civil airliner of the 1930's. The Royal Air Force received nearly 2,000 Dakotas, But many more than this served in the US Air Force and other allied countries. The last flight of a Douglas Dakota of the Royal Air Force was in 1970. You can still see Douglas Dakota's in operational and transport use across the world. |
 Hudson Manufacturer : Lockheed Built : 2584 | Hudson In 1938, the British Purchasing Commission sought an American maritime patrol aircraft and light bomber for the United Kingdom to support the Royal Air Force's Avro Anson. On 10th December 1938, Lockheed produced a modified version of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra which was a commercial airliner and the Hudson Mk I went into production. The Hudson was the first significant aircraft construction contract for the Lockhead Aircraft Corporation with the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received. By February 1939, Hudsons began to be delivered. A total of 350 Mk I and 20 Mk II Hudsons were supplied in total. These had two fixed Browning machine guns in the nose and two more in a Boulton Paul dorsal turret. Initially the first batch of Hudsons were supplied to No.224 Squadron RAF based at RAF Leuchers in May 1939. By the start of the war in September 78 Hudsons were in service. Not only did the RAF use the Hudson but the Hudson also served throughout the war with Coastal Command and was also used in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Force wiht their anti-submarine squadrons. They were operated by RAF Special Duties squadrons for clandestine operations, with No.161 Squadron in Europe and No.357 Squadron operating in Burma. During the war, they were used as maritime patrol aircraft in the Pacific by the US Navy, the RAAF and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. A total of 2,584 Hudsons were built. They began to be withdrawn from front line service in 1944. The Hudson provided the basis for the development of the Lockhead Ventura. |
| No.357 Sqn RAF Pilot and aircrew signature details |
  Sqd Ldr Larry Lewis DFC DFM Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2015 | Sqd Ldr Larry Lewis DFC DFM Squadron Leader Larry Lewis (born October 25th 1918 in Bristol, died May 12th 2014) earned the DFM as an air gunner before training as a pilot. After picking up air crash survivors from behind Japanese-held lines in Siam, he was awarded the DFC. On May 29th 1945 Japanese fighters shot down a Liberator bomber of 358 Squadron over Siam (Thailand) during a flight to drop supplies and US Special Forces to the 'Seri Thai' (Free Thailand) Resistance movement. Some of the crew and passengers survived the crash landing and were sheltered by natives and police. Once SOE in India had been alerted to the plight of the survivors, a rescue mission was mounted. On June 14th Lewis took off in his Dakota and flew at very low level to a remote airstrip at Pukio in Siam. He found the short runway adequate but the aircraft became bogged down at the end of the landing run. Within an hour, however, it had been recovered with the aid of Siamese workers and Lewis took off with seven passengers, including some of the crew of the crashed Liberator. The citation to his DFC concluded, he successfully completed a mission well into enemy territory, in daylight. The results obtained are an excellent tribute to his outstanding ability. One of seven children, Laurence 'Larry' Godfrey Lewis was born in Bristol on October 25 1918 and educated at Bristol Grammar School. He won a Pelaquin Scholarship but had to leave school at 15 to help support his family. He joined the Auxiliary Air Force as a metal rigger in May 1939 and served with No 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron. Equipped with Hurricane fighters, and based in the south of England, the squadron was heavily involved during the Battle of Britain. Lewis volunteered for pilot training but was selected to be an air gunner, commencing his training in late 1940. At the end of the year he was posted to No.12 Squadron equipped with the Wellington bomber. During a daylight attack on Brest, his aircraft was attacked by a German fighter, which he engaged and probably shot down. He completed 33 operations over enemy territory as a rear gunner including the three 'Thousand Bomber Raids' in the spring of 1942. He was awarded the DFM for his outstanding keenness, reliability and devotion to duty. Lewis was finally selected for pilot training, which he completed in Canada where he converted to the Dakota. He arrived in the Far East in January 1945 and joined No 357 (Special Duties) Squadron at Jessore near Calcutta. Over the next six months he completed 42 operations dropping supplies and agents over Burma and Siam. Some of these long-range missions involved flying over enemy territory for many hours and in extreme weather conditions to find small clearings marked by flares and cloth panels. Some areas were so small that as many as eight or nine runs were necessary before all the loads could be dropped, sometimes from heights of 100 feet. After the capture of Rangoon, flights were mounted from advanced airfields when sorties could be mounted deep into Siam, Indo-China and Malaya in support of clandestine forces. Lewis flew his final sortie on August 3rd 1945 when he made eleven runs to drop his 'packages' over a clearing in southern Burma. After serving at Air HQ Burma in a plans appointment, Lewis was released form the RAF in March 1946. He received the Air Efficiency Award. |
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