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Derek Tapson | Derek Tapson Flying Typhoons with 197 Sqn against the advance of German tank forces on D-Day, he served throughout the Normandy invasions. He was shot down in February 1945 and spent the last weeks of the war as a PoW. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Return of the Hunters by Anthony Saunders. Omaha Beach, June 1944. Throughout the early morning of 6th June 1944, men of the US 29th Infantry Division had fought their way yard by yard across the bloody shingle of Omaha Beach. Thrown off course by worsening weather, they had finally landed near the village of Saint Laurent-sur-Mer, only to run into withering defensive fire - the strong German opposition was unexpected. It was the same on most sectors of 'bloody Omaha' beach that morning. But, showing unparalleled levels of bravery and determination, the US infantrymen finally prevailed and within days the scene on the beach was a hive of activity as 'Mulberry A' - one of two giant artificial harbours that had been towed across the Channel - was erected off this once-deadly beach. The two Mulberries - one American, one British - were a mammoth feat of engineering, each the size of Dover harbour and containing over 334,000 tons of concrete, ballast and steel. And yet they took a mere seven days to assemble. Only one, however, was to survive because, on 19th June, a violent storm swept up the Channel destroying the American Mulberry. The painting shows a pair of RAF Typhoons from No.245 Sqn over the American Mulberry. They race back to their base in Hampshire to refuel and rearm after delivering a blistering rocket attack on German positions behind the ever-widening Normandy beachhead. |
Typhoons Over Normandy by Ivan Berryman. Wing Commander J R Baldwin is depicted flying Typhoon MN934 whilst commanding 146 Wing, 84 Group operating from Needs Oar Point in 1944, en route to a bombing raid on 20th June with other Typhoons of 257 Sqn in which both ends of a railway tunnel full of German supplies were successfully sealed. |
A Busy Day at the Office by Ivan Berryman. The leadership qualities and grim determination of Squadron Leader J R Baldwin was seldom better demonstrated that when he led a small flight of Hawker Typhoons against a force of some thirty Focke-Wulf Fw.190s in January 1944. Nine of the German aircraft were shot down that day, Baldwin himself being responsible for two of them. He is shown here in Typhoon PR-A of No.609 Squadron. |
Wing Commander J R Baldwin by Ivan Berryman. Britain's highest scoring Typhoon ace, Wing Commander J R Baldwin sweeps above Utah Beach on a sortie in support of the Allied forces' drive into mainland Europe following D-Day in June 1944. He is shown flying one of his personal aircraft, Typhoon 1b MN935 'JBII'. |
Tempest Moon by Ivan Berryman. Three 501 Sqn Hawker Tempests roar low across the North Sea outbound from Bradwell Bay, Essex, on their way to attack a German airfield at Bad Zwischehhan and nearby rail yards on the night of 2nd October 1944. The trio comprised of Sqn Ldr Joseph Berry, flying EJ600 (SD-F), Flt Lt E L 'Willy' Williams (SD-L) and Flt Lt C A 'Horry' Hansen. Berry was to lose his life on this mission, his aircraft being hit by ground fire from soldiers manning a radar station east of Veendam. |
Bombs Away by Ivan Berryman. On 20th June 1944, Hawker Typhoons of 146 Wing, 84 Group, were detailed to attack a railway tunnel that was being used by the Germans as a supplies store. Leading the raid in MN934 (ZH-Z), Wing Commander J R Baldwin and his men successfully sealed the tunnel at both ends, thus depriving the retreating German infantry of essential provisions and ammunition. |
Tribute to Flt Lt Pierre Clostermann by Ivan Berryman. 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. |
JBII - Hawker Typhoon of Wing Commander J R Baldwin by Ivan Berryman. Squadron Leader J R Baldwin passes above a section of Mulberry Harbour near Arromanches, late in June 1944, his personalised Hawker Typhoon bearing the codes JBII. |
Sledgehammer by Ivan Berryman. Regarded by some in the Air Ministry as a failed fighter, the mighty Hawker Typhoon was unrivalled as a ground attack aircraft, especially in the crucial months immediately prior to - and after - D-Day when squadrons of Typhoons operated in 'cab ranks' to smash the German infrastructure and smooth the passage of the invading allied force. This aircraft is Mk.1B (MN570) of Wing Commander R E P Brooker of 123 Wing based at Thorney Island. |
Typhoon! by Ivan Berryman. So often overshadowed by its own achievements as a ground attack aircraft, Hawkers mighty Typhoon also proved itself a formidable adversary in air to air combat as demonstrated by the successes of F/Lt (later Wing Commander) J R Baldwin who claimed no fewer than three Bf.109G4s in the skies above Kent on 20th January 1943 in a single sortie. Baldwin finished the war as the highest-scoring Typhoon pilot of all with 15 confirmed victories, one shared, one probable and four damaged. He was tragically lost over Korea in 1952 whilst on an exchange posting with the USAF, but is depicted here at the peak of his powers, flying Typhoon 1B DN360 (PR-A) of 609 Sqn. |
Foob Fairbanks - The Terror of the Rhine by Ivan Berryman. Flying his last mission with his old mount, Hawker Tempest EJ762, fresh from repair after being damaged by flak, David Fairbanks found himself embroiled in a fierce battle with Messerschmitt Bf109s on 17th December 1944. In the course of the combat, Fairbanks shot down two of the enemy aircraft and damaged another before returning safely. |
Typhoon Country by Nicolas Trudgian. A Typhoon of 181 Squadron flown by Flt Lt Roy Crane is shown attacking a German armoured column in th Falaise Gap in August 1944. Typhoons played a major role in destroying a large number of German armour and disrupting German movements during the battle of Falaise Gap. |
Bug Killer by Ivan Berryman. Equipped with the experimental Monica IIIE detection device, Hawker Tempest EJ535 was deployed to the Fighter Interception Unit at Newchurch for evaluation in July 1944. Originally developed as the AN/APS 13, Monica had been intended as a rear-looking device to warn crews of attacks from behind. Now modified to face forward, it became a valuable aid in the battle against Hitler's terror weapons, notably the V-1 Flying Bomb. In the hands of the Fighter Interception Unit's then Commanding Officer Joseph Berry, this became a winning combination with no fewer than 52 Doodlebugs falling to Berry's guns - on one occasion, seven V1s being shot down by Berry in a single night. |
Tribute to Sqn Ldr David Fairbanks by Ivan Berryman. Whilst flying with other Hawker Tempests of 274 Sqn on 11th February 1945, Sqn Ldr David Fairbanks spotted a lone Arado Ar234 of the Kommando Sperling 1 (F) / 123 flown by Hauptmann Hans Felde returning to its base at Rheine. A desperate chase commenced through the cloudbase until the German jet prepared to land, whereupon Fairbanks sent 4U+DH down in flames after a single short burst of his four 20mm cannon. |
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