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Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian. - Cranston Military Prints

Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian.


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Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian.

Spitfires from 144 Wing RCAF 2nd TAF led by W/c Johnnie Johnson. Supplying air cover to a mixed force of 942 bombers over Normandy on Operation Goodwood, 18th July 1944. SR-Z of 101 (Special) squadron. Lancasters piloted by Flt Lt George Harris DFC.
AMAZING VALUE! - The value of the signatures on this item is in excess of the price of the print itself!
Item Code : GL0006Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian. - This Edition
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINT Signed limited edition of 300 prints.


Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!
Image size 24 inches x 15 inches (61cm x 38cm) Blair, Ian
Robillard, Larry
Harris, George
Kemp, Eric
Lewis, Larry
Allen, Mike
Scott, Malcolm
Ward-Hunt, Peter
Eyton-Jones, Arthur
Austin, Tom
Rutter, Peter
+ Artist : Graeme Lothian


Signature(s) value alone : £490
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Other editions of this item : Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian GL0006
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
ORIGINAL
PAINTING
Original painting by Graeme Lothian. Image size 36 inches x 24 inches (91cm x 61cm)Artist : Graeme Lothian£4500.00VIEW EDITION...
SLIGHT
BORDER
DAMAGE
Signed limited edition of 300 prints.

The print has slight damage to the border area, mostly on a corner. Not noticeable once framed.

Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!
Image size 24 inches x 15 inches (61cm x 38cm) Blair, Ian
Robillard, Larry
Harris, George
Kemp, Eric
Lewis, Larry
Allen, Mike
Scott, Malcolm
Ward-Hunt, Peter
Eyton-Jones, Arthur
Austin, Tom
Rutter, Peter
+ Artist : Graeme Lothian


Signature(s) value alone : £490
£130.00VIEW EDITION...
EX-DISPLAY
PRINT
**Signed limited edition of 300 prints. (One print reduced to clear)

Ex display prints with light damage on border.
Image size 24 inches x 15 inches (61cm x 38cm) Blair, Ian
Robillard, Larry
Harris, George
Kemp, Eric
Lewis, Larry
Allen, Mike
Scott, Malcolm
Ward-Hunt, Peter
Eyton-Jones, Arthur
Austin, Tom
Rutter, Peter
+ Artist : Graeme Lothian


Signature(s) value alone : £490
SOLD
OUT
VIEW EDITION...
General descriptions of types of editions :



Extra Details : Returning from Caen by Graeme Lothian.
About all editions :

A photo of an edition of the print :

Signatures on this item
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare.
NameInfo


The signature of Flight Lieutenant Larry Robillard DFM CD (deceased)

Flight Lieutenant Larry Robillard DFM CD (deceased)
*Signature Value : £65

Born in Ottawa, 17 November 1920, Canadian ace with 8 victories. Sgt. Joseph Guillame Laurent Robillard, During a sweep over the Lille area, less than a month after his first operational flight, Sergeant Robillard, a former member of the Ottawa Flying club, saw a fellow pilot parachuting. Believing it was his commanding officer who had been shot down, Robillard started to protect the descending pilot by escorting him down, but was himself attacked by nine enemy fighters. In the fierce fight which followed the daring Ottawan destroyed at least two of his attackers. Flight Leutnant Larry Robillard was one of Johnnie Johnsons keen and skillful Canadian pilots. He was shot down over France in 1943. However, with his fluent French and the help of the Resistance, he managed to get back to England, and received a heros welcome when he returned to France to continue the fight, leading a section of 443 Squadron of Johnnies 144 Wing following the Liberation. He flew with 145 Sqn RAF, 72 Sqn RAF, 402 Sqn RCAF, 443 Sqn RCAF. Larry Robillard died at his home in Montreal, Canada on 8th March 2006.
The signature of Flight Lieutenant Tom Austin DFC AE

Flight Lieutenant Tom Austin DFC AE
*Signature Value : £40

After joining the RAF in 1941 Tom Austin qualified as a pilot on Harvards, then converted into Halifaxes. During the war years other aircraft he flew included Wellingtons, Stirlings and Lancasters. While flying Wellingtons as part of 199 Squadron during a raid over Dortmund, his aircraft was badly damaged but Tom managed to limp home, crash landing at Mildenhall.
The signature of Flt Lt Eric Kemp DFC (deceased)

Flt Lt Eric Kemp DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £40

Flew with 578 Squadron on Halifaxes
The signature of Flt Lt George Harris DFC (deceased)

Flt Lt George Harris DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £40

George Harris went to an Operational Training Unit flying old Wellingtons and, on his last flight of the course, a night practice bombing and fighter affiliation trip, suffered an engine fire just after take-off. He came down in darkness in Sherwood Forest and came to in hospital. A wooden propeller had shattered on impact, sheared through the airframe and his seat, taking a slice out of his back and leaving him with several broken ribs, a punctured lung and lacerated kidney. His parents were warned he may not survive but within six weeks he was flying again, back in Wellingtons, then on Halifaxes, before finally moving on to Lancasters and a posting, along with three other crews, to No 1 Group 101 Squadron in Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire. It had taken three years of training and frustration and now he and his crew were replacements for those recently killed in action. The squadron's Lancasters were equipped with the radio jamming system known as the Airborne Cigar, or ABC. It covered the frequencies used by the Luftwaffe but its presence also deprived them of a vital navigational aid which heightened their vulnerability. On average only one in four crews survived and that was the case with those Harris had been posted with: all were lost, the first on its first operation. His missions ranged from major night attacks on Germany and tactical support attacks on German troop strongholds, communication centres, V-1 flying bomb sites and airfields in France and the Low Countries. He was subsequently invited to take his crew to the Pathfinder Force but turned down the opportunity as it would have meant leaving behind his German-speaking Special Operator, which he felt was wrong. Anyway, he regarded 101 as a very special squadron with huge spirit and said the Lancaster was 'a simply splendid' aircraft to fly. Among his hair-raising exploits were coping with another engine fire – resulting in an emergency landing on three engines with a full bomb load – braving electric storms which could throw the Lancasters around like corks and dodging the searchlights above enemy territory. On one occasion, returning from a night raid on Brunswick on 12th August 1944, the searchlights locked on him and he desperately performed a violent corkscrew manoeuvre to escape the beams. Failing to shake them off, he dived at full bore with a full bomb load, descending so rapidly the navigator said he had exceeded the plane's reported break-up speed. The slipstream and engine noise was like a banshee, he recalled. Miraculously they remained in one piece to tell the tale and, after debrief, took an idyllic stroll back to their quarters as the sun rose and the dawn chorus began. That night 24 of their men did not return and 101 maintained its reputation as a 'chop' squadron. Reflecting on the end of his operational tour with his Lancaster Z-Zebra, he said he felt strangely flat, rather old and empty but had gained much, including the sheer freedom and joy of flying, the magic of cloud hopping and, as a flight commander, the responsibility for life and death decisions over other men. His award of the DFC, for valour in the face of the enemy, was announced in February 1945. Seventy years later he received the Legion D'honneur for his part in the operations to liberate Caen. After the war he completed a BA in modern languages and economics at St John's College, Cambridge and took posts at Liverpool and Glasgow universities before moving to the Mobil Oil Company in 1954. Four years later he joined PA Management Consultants and in 1967 established executive search company Canny Bowen and Associates, the UK arm of the US firm Canny Bowen, undertaking searches at chairman, managing director and director level for major British and international companies. George died on 17th January 2018 in Tunbridge Wells, aged 95.
The signature of Flt Lt Malcolm Scott DFC

Flt Lt Malcolm Scott DFC
*Signature Value : £40

Flew with 180 Squadron on Mitchells 1944 - 1945. Bomber Navigator/ B with 34, 180 ( Bomber Command) and 29 Squadron. He did two tours of operations – 1st M.E.T.O. & F.E.T.O. on Blenheims 36 ops and 2nd E.T.O. on Mitchells and Mosquitos 38 ops. He volunteered in July 1940 ( RAFVR).
The signature of Flt Lt Mike Allen DFC (deceased)

Flt Lt Mike Allen DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £40

Michael Seamer Allen was born in Croydon, Surrey on March 15th 1925, and educated at Hurstpierpoint College, Sussex. He then studied mechanical engineering at night school before being apprenticed to Fairey Aviation. Mike Allen managed with the help of his father to get Fairey Aviaiton to release him, so that he could join the RAF. Allen joined the RAF as a navigator in June 1941 and two months later was paired with Harry White at No 54 Training Unit, at Church Fenton, Yorkshire. They remained together throughout the war. They both joined No 29, a Beaufighter night squadron at West Malling, in Kent before going to No.534 at Tangmere, Sussex, from where they flew Havoc night fighters (converted Douglas Bostons), each equipped with a Turbinlite searchlight in the nose. The notion was that the Havocs would use their radar to search out enemy aircraft, which would then be picked out with the searchlight and shot down by an accompanying Hurricane. In practice, the scheme was none too successful, but Allen regarded the 15 months that he and White spent in Havocs as invaluable training in the art of night fighting. Allen along with Harry White spent a few months ferrying Beaufighters to the Middle East before Mike Allen and Harry White moved to No.141 Squadron having won two Bars to his DFC 1944. Sadlly around this time his parents were killed when a V2 rocket destroyed their house in July 1944. In January 1945 Allen and White had a close shave while taking off on their 91st operational sortie on a bleak evening in January 1945. The engine of their Mosquito failed as the aircraft left the ground, and the fighter nose-dived into a field. White and Alien found themselves in a heap in the cabin, with Allens foot jammed in the fuselage, White pinned underneath him, and the aircraft on fire, Fortunately, a farmer and two labourers who had seen the crash managed to pull them to safety just as the Mosquito went up in flames. Over the course of their partnerhsip they successfully destroyed at least 12 enemy aircraft. Flt Lt Mike Allen left the Royal Air Force in 1946, and began his civilian career working for Avro, the Manchester-based aircraft company, Pye Telecommunications, BTR and Rank Hovis McDougall. In 1966 he moved to South Africa, where he became chairman of the Pretoria branch of the South African Air Force Association. He returned to Britain in 1982 and worked for the Officers Association. In 1999 Mike Allen published the book Pursuit through Darkened Skies. Flight Lieutenant Mike Allen sadly died at the age of 78 on the 6th of June 2001. Mike Allen had won three DFCs as a navigator and radar operator in night fighters.
The signature of Ft Lt Arthur Eyton-Jones DFC (deceased)

Ft Lt Arthur Eyton-Jones DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £45

Arthur Eyton-Jones joined the RAF in 1940 and flew over 1,000 hours operationally as a navigator on Bostons, Mitchells and Mosquitoes. He flew on the notoriously dangerous day time bombing offensive conducted by the RAF during the Second World War, during which he survived a ditching in the North Sea. On July 30 1943, Eyton-Jones was the navigator of a Mitchell bomber of No 226 Squadron searching for the crew of an American bomber off the northern Dutch coast. After locating the Americans' dinghy, with three men aboard, they were attacked by German fighters. The Mitchell was set on fire, a gunner was killed and Eyton-Jones was wounded in the leg. The pilot, Flying Officer Dick Christie, ditched the aircraft. The Mitchell immediately started to sink, and Eyton-Jones had difficulty getting out. When he surfaced there was no sign of the aircraft or his pilot - but he spotted an inflated dinghy with his other two crew members nearby. Just as it was getting dark a Beaufighter located them, but it was not until the following afternoon that they saw another aircraft. An RAF Hudson aircraft appeared with a fighter escort and dropped a lifeboat by parachute - one of the first successful such drops in the war. The lifeboat landed close to the dinghy, and the three survivors boarded the small craft, started the engine and headed west. As the seas increased, the engine was swamped and they spent all night bailing out the water. The craft was fitted with a drogue, which prevented it speeding down the big waves generated by the storm and smashing into the next swell. But the drogue failed, leaving the small boat almost certain to founder in the heavy seas, and the crew was forced to fashion a replacement from the mast and sail. The following morning, with the wind abating, they were able to don survival suits and use the survival aids, including tins of water and Horlicks tablets. Finally, on the afternoon of August 2nd, aircraft spotted their emergency flares, and for the next 24 hours a patrol was established over their position 200 miles east of Newcastle. The following night a Royal Navy Fairmile rescue launch headed for them, and 15 hours later a circling Hudson aircraft directed it to the dinghy. Late in the afternoon, a German Junkers 88 spotted the rescue launch, but - seeing the yellow decks (the international colour of the rescue services) - the pilot did not attack; instead he flew low and waved before departing. The three exhausted men finally arrived at Grimsby late on the evening of the sixth day of their ordeal. The son of a surgeon, Arthur Paget Eyton-Jones was born in Liverpool on July 6th 1920 and educated at Birkenhead Institute School. He enlisted in the RAF in January 1940 and, having trained as a navigator, was posted to No 226, then equipped with the American-built Boston medium bomber. He flew on daylight raids over northern France and Holland before the squadron converted to the Mitchell. After recovering from his ditching, Eyton-Jones transferred to the Mosquitos of No 21 Squadron, part of the Second Tactical Air Force. During a low-level attack in February 1944 against V-1 construction sites, his Mosquito was badly damaged by flak. A few weeks later he was rested after 18 months of continuous operations, almost all at low level during daylight, when losses were heavy. In May 1944 he was awarded a DFC. During his rest tour, Eyton-Jones trained Mosquito navigators and was responsible for survival training, including ditching and sea survival drills on the Norfolk Broads. After a series of asthma attacks, he was grounded in March 1945 and invalided out of the RAF as a flight lieutenant. In 1946 he moved to the Wirral and worked for Littlewoods Pools, rising to a senior position in the Welsh division. He established the Heswall squadron of the Air Training Corps, which he commanded for 15 years. He wrote a book about his wartime experiences, Day Bomber (1998).
The signature of Ft Lt Peter Rutter

Ft Lt Peter Rutter
*Signature Value : £40

Flew on Whitley Bombers with 51 Squadron.


The signature of Sqd Ldr Larry Lewis DFC DFM (deceased)

Sqd Ldr Larry Lewis DFC DFM (deceased)
*Signature Value : £45

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.


The signature of Squadron Leader Ian Blair DFM (deceased)

Squadron Leader Ian Blair DFM (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50

Ian Blair joined 113 Squadron in 1938 as a AC1/Armourer AG. on Hawker Hind and later Blenheim Mk 1s. He took part in the heavy fighting of the first Lybian campaign. He was forced to take control and fly the Blenheim airceaft after his pilot was killed following an attack by an Italian Fiat CR 42. Remarkably he managed not only to evade the enemy aircraft, but fly to fly the Blenheim 350 miles back to his base where he made a succesful textbook landing. This extraordinary action earned him the award of an immediate DFM. Ian Blair said about the event :
The day before, we had been sent out to bomb an enemy airfield at Derna, about 400 miles west of Alexandria. We were in a Blenheim bomber, and I was the observer. That's the guy in the front who does the navigation and drops the bombs. But as soon as I had released the bombs, a fighter-plane attacked us.
Glasgow-born Sqn Ldr Blair still has the blood-stained flight log he made that day. The pencil entries end suddenly. He said : There was an almighty bang. When I looked round, the pilot - a chap called Reynolds - was slumped forward on the controls. I think it was the very last round that killed him. It was really unfortunate. His luck had run out. Then the aircraft went into a steep dive.
Despite having never flown an aircraft in his life before that moment, the young airman - paid one shilling and sixpence per day extra to fill in as part-time air crew - took charge. He said : From that moment the only thing going through my mind was survival. Everything happened so quickly, and we had to get the heck out of there. I managed to pull the pilot's body off his seat and get the aircraft under control. But we still had to get home and land the thing. My gunner, Hank, sent a message back to base saying: 'We're in dire trouble here, the observer is flying the aircraft.' Lo and behold, when we got back to base there was whole gallery of people, cars, ambulances and fire tenders all lined up waiting for the ultimate - but it didn't happen. I had spent a long time watching pilots, and made a textbook landing. We came down in a shower of dust. Perhaps I was a bit over-confident. The air officer commanding the base apparently said: 'If that guy can fly an aircraft without a pilot's course, let's send him on a pilot's course.'
He was presented with his DFM by George VI. The experience led him to train as a pilot at No 4 SFTS RAF Habbaniya, where the No 6 War Course were heavily engaged in operations to raize the siege of the base from the Iraqi Army. He was finally awarded his wings in May 1941. On return to the UK he served with 501 Squadron on combat duties on Spitfire Mk V's until injured as a result of enemy action. On return to flying duties he was posted to 602 Squadron flying MkV's and MkIX's until June 1944. In February 1944, he claimed a high altitude victory by destroying a Me.109 F at an altitude of 35,000 feet, flying a Spitfire Mk.VII H.F.
The signature of Wg Cdr Peter Ward-Hunt DFC (deceased)

Wg Cdr Peter Ward-Hunt DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £45

Born 6th December 1916. Joined the RAF in July 1937, with No 106 Sqn flying Hampdens, moving to No.49 Sqn at the end of that year. After a period as an instructor, joined No.207 Sqn flying the Manchester. He was selected to convert others to Lancasters in May 1942, and became a flight commander of No 106 Sqn in February 1943. He died 7th December 2005.
The Aircraft :
NameInfo
LancasterThe 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.

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