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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two  Postcards |
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Charity by David Pentland. (PC) Malta, 22nd June 1940. Some 12 days after the air battle for Malta began, the recently raised ad hoc Gladiator flight claimed its first confirmed victory. Flt. Lt. George Burges, and Flg. Off. Timber Woods were alerted to a lone S.79 from 219 Squadriglia on a reconnaissance sortie. They managed to intercept the intruder over Valetta, and although Timber's first attack was unsuccessful, Burges in Charity shot off the Savoia's port engine sending it crashing into the sea at Kalafrana. |
SOE Drop by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special) JP254 of 148 Special Duties Squadron, RAF is depicted over the drop zone near to the Alt Aussee salt mine in the Austrian Alps as two of the four SOE agents exit the bomber via the crew access door. Their mission was to secure and protect 6,755 items of the world's greatest works of art that had been looted and stored by the Germans as they swept across Europe. With the allied forces closing in, the Germans had planned to blow up the entire store to prevent the artworks from falling into the hands of the liberators. Once on the ground, the four agents linked up with local resistance fighters and the mine and its valuable contents were eventually secured, the explosives made safe and the entire cache taken into the safe keeping of the 80th US Infantry Division as the German occupation of Europe crumbled. |
Tribute to David Lee 'Tex' Hill by Ivan Berryman. (PC) One of America's best known Aces, 'Tex' Hill scored his first victories in 1942 with the American Volunteer Group (AVG) known as the Flying Tigers. In his P-40 Warhawk, he was credited with 12 and a quarter victories while flying in aid of the Chinese against the Japanese, including the Ki.27 'Nate' depicted here. After the AVG was disbanded, he scored 6 more victories flying P-51 Mustangs with the USAAF. Tex Hill died in 2007 aged 92. |
Tribute to Flt Lt Pierre Clostermann by Ivan Berryman. (PC) One of the most notable pilots of 3 Squadron was the Frenchman Pierre Clostermann who enjoyed much success flying Spitfires with the Free French 341 Alsace Squadron before moving to 602 and 274 Squadrons RAF. Once on the strength of 3 Squadron, however, he quickly got to grips with the mighty Hawker Tempest V in which he downed two Focke-Wulf Fw.190D-9s on 20th April 1945, just two of the confirmed 12 aircraft destroyed whilst flying the Tempest, plus 6 shared and two probables. He is shown here flying Tempest V NV724, bearing the legend Le Grand Charles and the Squadron badge on the tailfin. |
F/Lt J R Baldwin by Ivan Berryman. (PC) F/Lt (later Wing Commander) Baldwin was to become the highest-scoring Typhoon pilot of all with 15 confirmed victories, one shared, one probable and four damaged. He is depicted here downing a Bf.109 in Typhoon 1B, DN360 (PR-A) of 609 Sqn over Beachy Head. |
Tribute to 488 Sqn RNZAF by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Immediately following the Allied invasion of northern France in June 1944, 488 Sqn RNZAF found themselves in the thick of the fighting, keeping enemy intruders at bay, flying mainly at night, a role to which their young pilots aspired and excelled. Among those was Flt Lt G E 'Jamie' Jameson who, together with his navigator Norman Crookes, shot down no fewer than eight enemy aircraft in Mosquito NF.XIII MM466, this particular machine becoming the most successful Mosquito of WWII in terms of aerial victories. Jameson was to be credited with a final total of eleven victories before being repatriated home. |
A Lucky Escape by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Flying low across the North Sea en route to the Sorpe Dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 as part of Operation Chastise, Flying Officer Geoff Rice's Lancaster ED936(G) clipped a large wave, ripping the Upkeep bomb from its mountings and pitching the aircraft into the sea. Somehow, in just a split second, Rice managed to haul AJ-H back into the air, but the aircraft had ingested a huge amount of water and, as Rice put his Lancaster into a climb to head back to Scampton, rear gunner Sgt S Burns and his turret were almost swept away as the water rushed to the back of the aircraft. AJ-H returned to Scampton otherwise unscathed and took no further part in the Dams Raids. |
Breaking the Silence by Keith Aspinall. (PC) Returning from a night mission, a sole Lancaster returns over the snow covered fields of England. A fitting tribute to the air crews of the Lancaster squadrons of World War Two. |
Hunters Homeward Bound by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s, of the 281a Suadriglia based in Libya in 1940, begin their journey home after another successful mission against Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. Nearest aircraft is 281-5, that of Capitano Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia. |
The Eder Breaks by Ivan Berryman. (PC) The success of the attack on the Möhne dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 meant that the remaining three 617 Sqn Lancasters of the First Wave could turn their attention to the Eder, some twelve minutes flying time away. Wing Commander Guy Gibson first called in Flight Lieutenant D J Shannon, flying AJ-L (ED929G) to make the initial run, but he had great difficulty achieving the correct height and approach, so Gibson now ordered Squadron Leader H E Maudslay in AJ-Z (ED937G) to make his run. Again, the aircraft struggled to find the correct height and direction, so Shannon was again brought in, AJ-L finally releasing its Upkeep on the third attempt. The bomb bounced twice before exploding with no visible effect on the dam. Now Maudslay made another attempt, but released his bomb too late. The mine bounced off of the dam wall and exploded in mid air right behind AJ-Z, the Lancaster limping away, damaged, from the scene, only to be shot down on the way home with the loss of all crew. Finally, Pilot Officer Les Knight was called in for one final attempt. AJ-N (ED912G) released its Upkeep perfectly, the mine bouncing three times before striking the dam slightly to the south. In the ensuing explosion, the dam was seen to shake visibly before the masonry began to crumble and a massive breach appeared. With the Möhne and Eder dams both destroyed and the Sorpe demonstrated to be equally vulnerable, Operation Chastise had been a remarkable success and will stand forever as one of the most heroic and audacious attacks in the history of aerial warfare. |
GONER 58A - Mohne Dam, Germany, 17th May 1943 by David Pentland. (PC) Avro Lancaster AJ-P of Flt. Lt. Martin 617 Squadron releases the bomb that successfully breaches the Mohne dam. In the foreground the electrical substation is burning from a previous attack by Flt.Lt. Hopgood. |
Tribute to Pappy Boyington by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Pappy Boyington bringing his Vought F4U-1A Bu No 17883 of VMF-214 in to land at Turtle Bay Airfield, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands, in December 1943. Although often depicted in another aircraft, Boyington flew 883 more than any other of his Corsairs. |
Iconic by Ivan Berryman (PC) 332 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force was initially formed at RAF Catterick on January 16, 1942, equipped with Supermarine Spitfires and manned by Norwegian Pilots. Three are shown flying over the historic Sycamore Gap next to Hadrians Wall in Northumberland. |
Down and Out by David Pritchard. (PC) On 7th October 1940, Hurricanes of 238 Squadron intercept a large daylight bombing raid heading towards Bristol. Having met the enemy just west of Salisbury Plain, Pilot Officer Bob Doe attacks a JU 88 from the rear quarter and succeeds in breaking off the bomber's tail. As the defeated aircraft spirals down towards the ground, Doe is left to watch the bomber crew bail out as he heads for home. |
Determined to the Last by Ivan Berryman. (PC) The Lancaster B MkIII of Flt Lt J V Hopgood was the second aircraft to make an attempt at breaching the Mohne Dam on the night of 16/17th of May 1943, ED925(G) (AJ-M) encountering intense flak and 20mm fire from the shore and from the towers of the dam itself. Just moments from the release of the Upkeep bomb, both of Hopgood's port engines took direct hits and burst into flames as other rounds ripped through the starboard wing. Despite these fatal strikes, the brave crew pressed home their attack, but released their bomb just seconds too late to be effective. The bomb bounced over the dam wall, landing on the power station below where it exploded with devastating results. With blazing fuel now engulfing the wing of his crippled aircraft, Hopgood climbed to about 500ft where the wing failed, sending ED925 into a dive from which it would never recover. By jumping clear just moments before impact, two of her crew survived to become prisoners of war. |
Not This Time by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Having arrived at the Eder dam, following the successful breaching of the Mohne on the night of 16th/17th May 1943, Wing Commander Guy Gibson put Flight Lieutenant D J Shannon, flying ED929G, to the task of making the first attack, but he had great difficulty achieving the correct height and approach and had to make a number of abortive runs before finally releasing his Upkeep bomb. AJ-L is shown here making his penultimate pass over the Eder wall, his mine still attached. This dam was eventually breached by Pilot Officer Les Knight, flying ED912(G) whose perfectly placed mine caused a massive breach in the south end of the dam. |
Wing Commander J R Baldwin - The Spoils of War by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Britain's highest scoring Typhoon ace, Wing Commander J R Baldwin climbs from the cockpit of his personalised Typhoon at a makeshift airfield in northern France after a sortie in support of the Allied forces' drive into mainland Europe following D-Day in June 1944. Baldwin was instrumental in the capture of a German General's Mercedes, a prize which he employed as his personal transport for the duration of his time in France. |
Ltn. Hans-Ekkehard Bob of JG21 Becomes an Ace by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Major Hans-Ekkehard Bob is shown claiming his 5th victory - a Blenheim - 60km west of Rotterdam on 26th June 1940. Bob went on to serve with JG.54, JG.51, JG.3, EJG2.2 and JV.44, scoring a total of 60 confirmed victories in the course of his Luftwaffe service. The Blenheim claimed as his 5th victory is likely to have been R3776 of No.110 Squadron, which was the only Blenheim recorded to have been lost participating in Operation Soest on that day - while another returned to base damaged and crash landed. The three crew of the Blenheim were all missing in action - P/O Cyril Ray Worboys, Sgt Gerald Patterson Gainsford and Sgt Kenneth Cooper. |
Dambusters over the Mohne by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Tracer fire streaks past two Dambuster Lancasters of No.617 Sqn as the decisive Barnes-Wallace bouncing bomb skips towards the dam in the moonlit background. Fire from the already burning buildings lights up the front face of the dam and reflects off the aircraft as they throttle up to make good their escape. |
Battle Over Bembridge by Ivan Berryman. (PC) At the very height of the Battle of Britain in August 1940, there was a great deal of furious fighting above and around the Isle of Wight. Monday 12th was an especially busy day for RAF Fighter Command, not least the Hurricanes of 601 Sqn, one of whom claimed this Messerschmitt Bf.110 in the skies above Bembridge, the two crew Staffel Kapitan Hptmn. Kulbel and his observer Offz. Budig losing their lives as their aircraft plunged into the sea. |
Outbound from Mildenhall by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Short Stirling III EH990 is depicted heading out over the North Sea on the evening of 7th October 1943, on a mine-laying sortie off the Frisian Islands. LS-K was piloted, on this occasion, by Fl/Sg Thomas Robertson Ewen, RAFVR on his first - and sadly only - mission as pilot, his aircraft falling victim to a marauding enemy night fighter. |
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