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THIS ITEM IS INCLUDED IN OUR BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE OFFER ! Choose any two prints in this special offer and the lower priced item is half price. (Any free bonus prints already supplied with an item are separate and will also be included !) Hundreds of items across our websites are included in this offer! |
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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. | |
Name | Info |
Flight Lieutenant Frank Diamond DFC AE (deceased) *Signature Value : £60 | At the outbreak of war Frank was serving with the Territorial Army, transferring to the RAF in May 1941 and training as a navigator on flying Boats. In 1943 he completed a full tour on Stirlings, and in 1944 joined the Pathfinder Force as a navigator on Mosquitos with 571 Squadron, Light Night Strike Force. At the end of the war he joined Transport Command returning the wounded from Europe. Frank Diamond passed away in September 2007. |
Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Perks DFC *Signature Value : £50 | Joining the RAF in July 1941 he trained as a pilot in the USA and was posted to 420 Sqn as part of no 6 Group (RCAF) initially flying Wellingtons. The unit then converted to Halifaxes and he moved firstly to 427 Squadron and then 434 Sqn still flying this aircraft. In November 1944 he joined OTU as an instructor on Halifaxes, converting to Mosquitoes in January 1945. He then joined 571 Sqn as part of the Light Night Strike Force, flying the B Mk XVI and dropping 4000lb cookie bombs over Germany. He left the RAF in 1946 but rejoined, finally leaving in 1958 |
Wing Commander Robert Bray (deceased) *Signature Value : £50 | Robert flew his first tour of 32 ops in 75 (NZ) Squadron on Wellingtons. After a period instructing he joined 105 Squadron PFF on Mosquitos, flying Oboe operations, completing 87 ops by June 1944. In March 1945 he was posted to command 571 Squadron PFF, then commanded 128 Squadron PFF until Feb 1946. He died on 15th August 2014. Robert Walter Bray was born on May 5 1921 in Sheffield and educated at King Edward VII Grammar School in the city. He joined the RAF in June 1940 and trained as a pilot. In June 1941 he joined No 75 (NZ) Squadron to fly the Wellington, and over the next six months bombed many targets in Germany . In September he attacked La Spezia in Italy . On December 23 he took part in a raid on Düsseldorf, his 32nd and final operation with No 75 Squadron. He was later awarded his first DFC. During a rest period as an instructor, Bray flew a Wellington in the first '1,000 Bomber' raid, on Cologne. Two nights later he flew on the second raid, in which Essen was the target. After he had completed his tour with the Pathfinder Force Equipped with the new Oboe radar , the squadron's Mosquitos illuminated and marked targets with flares and target indicators for the main bomber force. Bray was in constant action from August 1943 during the Battle of the Ruhr, when industrial targets were attacked. On the night of March 26 1944 he was flying one of six Mosquitos which dropped target indicators on the Krupps works in Essen to provide an aiming point for a force of 705 bombers. Despite complete cloud cover, Bray dropped his markers using Oboe, and proof of their accuracy came in the form of a large red glow through the cloud followed by large explosions; the glow could be seen from as far away as the Dutch coast. On the night of May 4/5 Bray dropped a 4,000lb bomb on the IG Farbenindustrie AG chemical works at Leverkusen. Over the target, flak smashed into the starboard engine and his Mosquito lost height rapidly. Bray wrestled with the controls and managed to reach Kent flying at very low level. With one engine on fire and the other malfunctioning, he managed to land on the crash strip at Manston, near Ramsgate. In the lead-up to the Allied landings in Normandy, Bray marked railways, marshalling yards, night fighter airfields and oil installations, mostly in France. On D-Day, he took off before dawn and dropped his markers on the huge gun battery at Longines near Cherbourg, which posed a great threat to the invading naval forces. The main force of bombers destroyed it. After attacking airfields and the docks at Le Havre, he marked the V-1 site at Reneserve on June 16. It was his final sortie with No 105 after 15 months of continuous operations. Bray was rested until April 1945 when, at the age of 23, he was promoted to wing commander and given command of No 571 Squadron. Piloting the high-flying Mosquito, he attacked Berlin eight times in two weeks. On his eighth operation his aircraft was hit by flak but he managed to get back to base. On April 26 he bombed a seaplane base in Schleswig-Holstein. It was his 94th and final operation. |
The Aircraft : | |
Name | Info |
Mosquito | Used as a night fighter, fighter bomber, bomber and Photo-reconnaissance, with a crew of two, Maximum speed was 425 mph, at 30,300 feet, 380mph at 17,000ft. and a ceiling of 36,000feet, maximum range 3,500 miles. the Mosquito was armed with four 20mm Hospano cannon in belly and four .303 inch browning machine guns in nose. Coastal strike aircraft had eight 3-inch Rockets under the wings, and one 57mm shell gun in belly. The Mossie at it was known made its first flight on 25th November 1940, and the mosquito made its first operational flight for the Royal Air Force as a reconnaissance unit based at Benson. In early 1942, a modified version (mark II) operated as a night fighter with 157 and 23 squadron's. In April 1943 the first De Haviland Mosquito saw service in the Far east and in 1944 The Mosquito was used at Coastal Command in its strike wings. Bomber Commands offensive against Germany saw many Mosquitos, used as photo Reconnaissance aircraft, Fighter Escorts, and Path Finders. The Mosquito stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1955. and a total of 7781 mosquito's were built. |
Artist Details : Gerald Coulson |
Click here for a full list of all artwork by Gerald Coulson |
Gerald Coulson Gerald Coulson has been painting professionally for over 47 years and has a reputation that is second to none. Entirely self taught, he developed his technique to such a high standard that his work was published as fine art prints, enabling him to begin a full time painting career in 1969. Since that time his work, covering many different subjects, has been published and marketed worldwide as both open and limited edition prints. Gerald has had many one-man shows both in the UK and the USA and his work has been extensively exhibited throughout the world. A recent one man show of his in the UK attracted more than 3000 people in two days. The Fine Art Trade Guild have placed him in the top ten best selling artists no less than fifteen times - three times at number one. Coulson's passion for aircraft stems from childhood. This passion led to an apprenticeship as an aircraft engineer after which he served in the RAF as a technician and with British Airways as an engineer at Heathrow. His knowledge of aircraft engineering, combined with his drawing ability, led to him becoming a Technical Illustrator of service manuals for Civil and Military aircraft. These experiences and technical background have allowed him an insight and intimate knowledge of the aircraft he paints. Along with a unique ability to capture these aircraft on canvas this naturally led to a painting career which he has developed to successfully cover a wide variety of subjects. Following a trip to the 1991 British Grand Prix his interest in Motor racing was fuelled. His ability to capture the technical detail and a talent for painting subjects at speed meant that this was a perfect natural progression alongside his aviation work and he is now also firmly established as one of the worlds leading motor racing artists. A Vice President and founder member of the Guild of Aviation Artists he is a four times winner of the Flight International Trophy for outstanding aviation painting. He qualified for his pilots licence in 1960 and is still actively flying today - mostly vintage aircraft, and can often be seen buzzing over the Fens of Cambridgeshire in a Tiger Moth. Whatever the subject he paints, whether aviation, landscape or portrait, his unique ability to capture the realism and 'mood'of the scene is unsurpassed, making him one of the most widely collected and highly regarded artists in the world today. Between 2003 and 2008 Cranston Fine Arts purchased the remaining back catalogue prints from Gerald Coulson's previous publishers. His early prints are now very sought after and many items which we purchased are now at very low stock levels with many sold out already. At the time of writing, many are down to the last 20 or even as low as the last few prints. We only sell direct to our customers and not through other outlets, which means nearly all these prints are exclusively available direct from us. More about Gerald Coulson |
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