Maleri bestilt af Pete Smith, søn af Tommy Smith, 23 Squadron, malet af
Ivan Berryman
som sælger tryk af dette maleri med disse ord:
Dag angreb mod Grove
Day Ranger to Grove
Flying Officer George Stewart og hans navigatør, Flying Officer Paul Baudet,
skyder mod en JU88, mens den står i området ved
Grove i
Danmark, den
26. september 1944.
Mens
han fløj
Mosquito FB.VI, YP-T fra 23 Sqn var dette et dag angreb
med
to fly. Det andet var YP-Z med F/L D L Badley og navigatør Sgt A A Wilson.
Da de havde skudt mod flyvepladsen og var kommet væk uden et eneste
skud blev fyret mod dem som gengæld, satte begge fly kursen mod kysten
og hjem idet Stewart valgte at angribe en Freya radar station
(se mere her)
på vejen.
Denne gang var de ikke så heldige, da Badleys fly blev slemt skadet af
fjendtlig ild, da de fløj hen over den. Begge fly kom tilbage til England.
YP-T kom sikkert tilbage til Little Snoring, men YP-Z var nødt til at lande
på nødlandingsbanen i Woodbridge.
Stewart og Beaudet fik begge DFC ved afslutningen af deres udvidede
serie af operationer, og Badley fik et DFC på stedet af Wing Commander
'Sticky' Murphy, inden han sluttede sin udvidede serie af operationer.
Foto af dette maleri blev modtaget fra Pete Smith ledsaget af disse ord:
Dag
angreb mod Grove
var det andet maleri i en serie på 3 - det tredje
venter endnu på at blive malet.
Det første var 'Never
Say Die' med de sidste øjeblikke af min fars karriere i
kamp, og de absolut sidste øjeblikke for hans navigatør (Arthur Cockayne),
der ikke var så heldig. De fløj også med 23 Squadron.
Jeg vidste intet om hvad min far (Tommy Smith) lavede under krigen, så jeg
kontaktede de 7 tilbageværende besætningsmedlemmer. Buddy
(D L Badley)
og George (George
Stewart) var to af dem. Jeg opdagede, at disse to mænd levede godt og
overlevede som de heldigste piloter i denne Squadron. Det var ikke noget
tilfælde, at de også var de mest talentfulde piloter. Buddy var den bedste
fødte pilot, som man nogen sinde kunne møde, og George blev
forelsket i sin Mosquito og gjorde alt hvad han kunne for at holde den
flyvende, på en eller anden måde bedre og længere end alle andre.
George klarede sig gennem sin udvidede omgang på
50 operationer helt
uskadt og fik et DFC. Buddy blev ved med at bringe MkVI-fly tilbage, som
efter alle andres standarder ikke kunne flyve men skulle kasseres.
George angreb den JU88 lige på, men som jeg har opdaget er der små
forandringer for at lave et flot billede. Den JU88 blev drejet af
kunstneren, så
kompositionen blev bedre.
Bud fik en tur tilbage med min far i bomberummet på hans Mosquito efter
at han tredje nat i træk var landet på nødlandingspladsen i Woodbridge i et
kassabelt fly. Han fik et DFC på stedet - faktisk den, der blev båret af
denne Wing Commander. Han tog sit eget af og satte det på Bud.
Jeg håber du kan lide dem. De er lavet af
Ivan Berryman som også sælger
kopier af disse tryk med ordene (her øverst) i en A3 udgave. |
 Painting comissioned by Pete Smith,
the son of Tommy Smith,
23
Squadron,
painted by
Ivan Berryman who sells
prints of
this painting with the words underneath:
Day Ranger to Grove
F/O
George
Stewart and his navigator, F/O
Paul Beaudet,
strafe a Ju.88 with cannon
fire as it stands at dispersal at Grove,
Denmark, on 26th September 1944.
Flying Mosquito FB.VI, YP-T of
23 Sqn, this
was a Day Ranger involving two aircraft,
the other being YP-Z of F/L
D L Badley
and navigator Sgt A A Wilson.
Having strafed the airfield and escaped before a single return shot was
fired by the enemy, both aircraft headed for the coast and home, Stewart
opting to attack a
Freya radar station
(see more here) on the way.
This time, they were not so lucky, Badley’s aircraft being badly damaged by
enemy
fire as they passed overhead. Both aircraft returned to British shores, YP-T
returned safely to
Little Snoring but YP-Z had to land at the emergency strip at
Woodbridge.
Stewart and Beaudet would
both be awarded
DFC’s at the end of their ‘extended’
tour and Badley would be awarded an ‘immediate’ DFC by Wing Commander
‘Sticky’ Murphy
before he finished his ‘extended’ tour.
The image of this
painting was received from Pete Smith followed by these words:
'Day ranger to Grove' was
the second painting in a set of 3-the third still to be painted.
The first was 'Never
Say Die', the final moments of my father's combat career
(Tommy Smith) and the last moments of
his navigator (Arthur
Cockayne), whom was
not so lucky. They too were aircrew with
23
squadron.
I knew nothing of what my
father
(Tommy Smith) did in the war, so I contacted the 7 remaining aircrew, of whom Buddy
(D L Badley)
and George (George
Stewart) were
two of those. I discovered that these two men led charmed
lives and were the luckiest
two pilots on the squadron to survive and not
coincidentally the most gifted pilots.
Buddy was the best natural pilot
that one was ever likely to meet and George, George
fell in love with his
Mosquito and did everything he could to keep flying one and
somewhat better
and longer than everybody else.
George sailed thru his
extended tour of 50 'ops' completely unscathed collecting a DFC and Buddy
continually brought back
MkVI's that by anybody else standards were not
flyable but write-off's.
George did a beam on attack
on the JU88, but as I discovered there are subtle changes to make a 'great'
painting-the JU88 was turned by the artist so the composition was better.
Bud was given a lift back
by my father in the bomb bay of his Mosquito after his third night in a row
of landing at the emergency air strip at Woodbridge in a write-off.
He was
awarded an 'immediate'
DFC-the one actually worn by the wing commander.
He
took his own off and pinned it on Bud.
I hope you enjoy them-they
are by
Ivan Berryman-who also sells copies of the prints
with the words (here at the top) in an A3 copy. |
