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Pete Brothers
| Air Commodore Peter Brothers CBE, DSO, DFC* (deceased) Learnt to fly at the age of 16 and joined the RAF two years later in 1936. He first saw action in 1940 when as a Flight Commander in 32 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill, he flew his Hurricane against the fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. He recalls this as an intensely busy period, during which he shot down an Me109 - his first enemy aircraft; by the end of August that same year his tally of enemy aircraft shot down increased to eight. Awarded the DFC, he was transferred to 257 Squadron where he joined Bob-Stanford Tuck as a Flight Commander. Promoted in 1941 to Squadron Leader, Pete Brothers then took command of 457 Squadron RAAF, equipped with Spitfires. A year later when 457 Squadron returned to Australia, Pete took command of 602 Squadron. In the early autumn of 1942 he went on to become Wing Leader of the Tangmere Wing, succeeding his old friend, Douglas Bader. By the end of the war Pete Brothers had amassed 875 operational hours over a 44-month period. He was credited with having personally shot down 16 enemy aircraft and damaged many more. He later went on to command 57 Squadron during the Malaya campaign. Upon return to the UK Pete Brothers joined the V-Force, flying Valiant-4 jet bombers. He retired in 1973. Sadly, Pete Brothers died 18th December 2008. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Night Reaper, 4th May 1942 by David Pentland. Hawker Hurricane IIc of top Czech ace Flt. Lt. K.M. Kuttlewascher, No.1 Fighter Squadron on a night intruder sortie from RAF Tangmere. On this mission he destroyed three Heinkel IIIs over their own airfield, St. Andre, in occupied France. |
Return of the Few by Stephen Brown. It is 1941, the Battle of Britain is won but the countrys future is still by no means certain, with the Luftwaffe continuing to mount daily raids on cities, factories and airfields. In Stephen Browns painting Return of the Few, the legendary Douglas Bader leads his famous Tangmere Wing back to base having been scrambled to intercept a German bomber formation. |
Those Valiant Few by Robert Taylor. The Battle of Britain commenced at the beginning of June 1940, and for the next two and a half gruelling months the young men of Royal Air Force Fighter Command, duelled with the cream of Goerings Luftwaffe over the skies of southern England. It was to become the greatest aerial conflict in aviation history. Always outnumberd, the valiant young pilots fought with a determined fierceness and intensity, and never once did their spirit waiver. By the end of September the battle was won, but many had made the ultimate sacrifice. |
A Time for Heroes by Robert Taylor Royal Air Force and Royal Navy fighter aircrews flew combat throughout the six long years of World War Two. At the outbreak of war in 1939 four RAF Hurricane squadrons and two equipped with Gladiators went immediately to France where in short time New Zealander Cobber Kain became the first Allied Ace of the war. In April 1940 Hurricanes and Gladiators saw in action in Norway, when Rhodesian Caesar Hull of 263 Squadron became the second air Ace. By the fall of France the new Spitfire joined in the great air battles over the Channel as the British Expeditionary Force evacuated Dunkirk. Bob Stanford -Tuck, Douglas Bader, Peter Townsend, Sailor Malan, and many other great Aces gained their first victories, but with German forces massing on the French coast, the invasion of Britain looked imminent. Only RAF Fighter Command stood in Hitlers way. By July, the most famous of all air battles had begun. The next three months, under glorious summer skies, saw the most decisive and continual aerial fighting in history. The British victory in the Battle of Britain was to fundamentally change the course of the war and, ultimately, the course of history. But there were four and a half more years of air battles still to be fought and won -from the English Channel Front to the North African desert, from the Mediterranean to Far East Asia. It fell to Fleet Air Arm pilots to see the last air fighting for British and Commonwealth pilots, by then equipped with Seafires and American Corsairs and Hellcats, as they took part in the final assaults on the Japanese mainland. As the last embers of hostilities faded into history the centuries old doctrine of maritime supremacy had gone. Now the aircraft ruled. In his masterful painting A Time For Heroes Robert Taylor pays tribute to the World War II fighter aircrews of the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. A panoramic scene from the era of the Battle of Britain shows Mk I Spitfires of 234 Squadron, 10 Groups top scoring squadron, returning to St. Eval after intercepting heavy raids on south coast ports during the heaviest fighting, in September 1940. St. Michaels Mount, the castle built on the site of a 14th Century monastery to defend Britains shores from earlier enemies, provides a symbolic backdrop as once again a band of brothers is called upon to defend their Sceptred Isle. Sadly, since the passing of Mahinder Pujji in September 2010, all of the great pilots who signed any of the editions of this print have now passed away. |
Defending the Realm by Philip West. The White Cliffs at Dover patrolled and protected by two magnificent Spitfires. A sight to bring back memories of days, thankfully long gone, when the future of Great Britain was at stake. |
The Guardians by Philip West. Legendary Hurricane pilot Flight Commander Pete Brothers (32 Sqn) and his wingman, having just taken off from Biggin Hill, proceed to gain height over the White Cliffs of Dover in search of the fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. By the end of the war Pete Brothers had amassed 875 operational hours over a 44-month period. He was credited with having personally shot down 16 enemy aircraft and damaged many more. |
Pride of Britain by Philip West. The winter of 41 is remembered well by Geoffrey Wellum, pilot of Spitfire G for George. Bitter cold and heavy snow during this Battle of Britain period made flying conditions almost unbearable. The ground-crews job at RAF Manston, never easy at the best of times, involved working in all weathers to keep the aircraft in a state of readiness for the pilots to return to the battle at the earliest opportunity. |
Bitter Engagement by Robert Taylor. Just after midday on 27 September 1940 one of the bitterest engagements of the Battle of Britain took place in the skies over Kent when the Spitfires of 19 Squadron took on the Bf109s of JG54. In the huge dogfight that ensued, 19 Squadron claimed 8 enemy aircraft destroyed. |
Normandy Veterans Association 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Print by Michael Turner. Official limited edition print of the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy Veterans Association. The Eastern Flank of the D-Day battlefield, 1300 hours, June 6th 1944. No single picture could possibly encompass the actions of all British forces on D-Day, let alone the Allies overall, whise front stretched 60 miles along the Normandy coastline. The eastern flank of the D-Day battlefield has been chosen to symbolise the achievements of British forces on June 6th 1944 because no other part of the invasion front illustrates better the combined efforts of all three services. |
Eagles High by Robert Taylor. SOLD OUT. |
Hurricane Force by Robert Taylor. Sunday 15th September, 1940 - a date that will live forever in military history. The day the Luftwaffe made its final, massive effort to defeat the RAF, and pave the way for Hitler's invasion of England. The day the tremendous air battles between the RAF and the Luftwaffe came to a climax - when every single man and machine in Fighter Command climbed into battle. The day Churchill was told: 'There are no reserves!' 'Hurricane Force' puts us right into the midst of the Battle of Britain, some 12,000 feet over London, with the Hurricanes of 257 Squadron as they tear into a mass of Heinkel III Bombers and escorting Me109s. In the foreground a Hurricane pilot reels his machine around having knocked out one of the enemy while his wingman targets another. In the background and below, the fighting is everywhere. The whole sky is embroiled in a mass of aerial warfare. In the thick of the heaviest fighting, the brute force quality of the go-anywhere do-anything Hurricane is seen at its best, its pilots wreaking havoc amongst the massed formations of enemy raiders. The huge aerial contests of the Battle of Britain inevitably developed into a series of individual fights: one-on-one duels, squadron versus squadron. The British pilots, their confidence and morale on the upsurge from recent successes, had the fight of their lives. By the afternoon of 18th September the massed attacks by the Luftwaffe had been routed, and one by one, as the British returned to their bases, the significance of their victory began to dawn upon the sweat-soaked exhilarated pilots of the RAF. They had won the Battle of Britain! |
Hurricane Scramble by Robert Taylor. One secondary market print available - excellent condition. SOLD |
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