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English Electric Lightning Prints by Stephen Brown and Gerald Coulson.
PCK1279. English Electric Lightning Prints by Stephen Brown and Gerald Coulson. Aviation Print Pack.
Items in this pack : Item #1 - Click to view individual item DHM2314. Lightning Tribute by Stephen Brown. Lightning F. Mk 1As of 56 Squadron on a pilot training sortie during 1963. During the early 1960s many Lightning squadrons gave their aircraft colourful paint schemes, none was more striking than 56 Squadron (The Firebirds), who in 1963 doubled as the official RAF display team. Signed by Flight Lieutenant P V Boothroyd, Flt. Lt. George Fenton, Squadron Leader Chris Taylor MBE and Squadron Leader Grant T Taylor. Signed limited edition of 350 prints. Paper size 28 inches x 20 inches (71cm x 51cm)
Item #2 - Click to view individual item GC165. Thunder & Lightnings by Gerald Coulson. A pair of English Electric Lightning F3s of 111 squadron depart. Reheat selected, they accelerate rapidly to blast off, cascading spray from a rain-soaked runway. This is the classic interceptor, with superb handling qualities and unmatched climb-to-height performance. The Lightning is the only British-designed and built fighter capable of achieving twice the speed of sound. The RAF took delivery in 1960 and they remained in front-line service until phased out in 1988. The last of the classic single-seat fighters, the Lightning enters the hall of fame alongside the Camel, Fury, Hurricane and Spitfire. The artist was once able to fly a two-seat version- Lightning T5- at just over 1000mph- which he describes as an unforgettable experience. Last 80 prints available of this edition, sold out at the publisher. Signed limited edition of 850 prints. Image size 26 inches x 21 inches (66cm x 53cm)
Website Price: £ 320.00
To purchase these prints individually at their normal retail price would cost £350.00 . By buying them together in this special pack, you save £30
All prices are displayed in British Pounds Sterling
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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 P V Boothroyd *Signature Value : £15 (matted)
| Joined the RAF in 1964. After Flying Training he joined No 23 Squadron RAF Leuchars in September 1967 at the tender age of 20 flying Lightning F3 and F6 aircraft. This was followed by a ground tour on the Lightning Flight Simulator at Tengah, Singapore, in 1970 until the British withdrawal from the Far East in 1971. The ground tour was completed at RAF Coltishall until September 1972. After the ground tour he was posted to No 11 Squadron RAF Binbrook flying Lightning F3 and F6 aircraft until 1975 when he was posted to No 92 Squadron based at Gutersloh, Germany, operating Lightning F2A aircraft, until the withdrawal of the Lightning from 2 ATAF in May 1977. A CFS course and a tour as a flight commander at RAF Cranwell teaching on the Jet Provost came next from July 1977 until March 1980 when he was posted back to Binbrook on the Lightning Training Flight and became the CFS agent and CIRE on type. This was a long, but very pleasant tour and it finished in March 1986. In September 1986 he was seconded to British Aerospace as an instructor flying the Bae Strikemaster at the King Faisal Air Academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This was followed by a posting to RAF Valley on the Hawk aircraft in 1989. The call of the Middle East and overseas adventures resulted in a loan service posting to the Sultan of Oman's Air Force (Royal Air Force of Oman - RAFO) to teach Omani students to fly the Strikemaster on the island of Masirah. This was early in 1993. As RAFO had purchased some 16 Hawk aircraft (consisting of 4 two-seat trainers and 12 single seat fighters) the Commander of RAFO was keen to employ him on the introduction of the aircraft into RAFO service. This was such a pleasant task, in such a pleasant part of the world, that he left the Royal Air Force and joined RAFO in 1996 to continue to fly the Hawks in Oman. RAFO then promoted him to the rank of major and henceforth his family referred to him as 'Q'. This was, at least, better than previous nicknames awarded by the family. All good things come to an end and he left RAFO in 1999 to join BAE Systems to assist in the running of the new Hawk Flight Simulator Complex at RAF Valley. He accumulated a total of about 7000 flying hours of which 2400 was flying the Lightning; 2000 flying the Hawk; 2200 flying the Jet Provost and Strikemaster and the remainder in training and flying sundry aircraft. And if he had his life all over again he wouldn't change anything. | 
Flt. Lt. George Fenton *Signature Value : £15 (matted)
| Joined the RAF as a cadet at RAF College Cranwell in March 1966. He served with 29 and 11 Sqn as a Lightning pilot. He then converted to the Converted to F4 Phantom in 1975 and flew with 892 Naval Air squadron aboard HMS Ark Royal before returning to the RAF with 29 Sqn. In 1980 George went to RAF Chivenor as an instructor on the Hawk and remained there as a QWI until retirement from the service in 1985. Spent the next few years instructing in the middle east. First in Qatar then in Saudi Arabia. Returned to the UK in 1999 to join the instructional staff at the BAE operated Hawk simulator at RAF Valley. | 
Squadron Leader Chris Taylor MBE (deceased) *Signature Value : £15 (matted)
| Joined the RAF as an apprentice air radar fitter in 1961. He began flying training in 1966 flying the Jet Provost, Gnat and Hunter. He completed the lightning OCU at RAF Coltishall before joining 56(F) Sqn at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. A further tour on the Lightning back at the OCU was followed by selection for instructor training at CFS. He instructed on the Gnat at RAF Valley and then joined the team to bring the Hawk into RAF flying training. He flew both the Gnat and the Hawk as a member of the Standardisation Unit before an exchange tour with the USAF took him to Randolf AF base in South Texas. Returning to RAF Valley he completed tours as a Hawk Sqn Commander, Operations, and Deputy Chief Instructor before retirement from the RAF in 1998. He then began a second career as the Training Manager in the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility at RAF Valley. He died on 17th October 2019. | 
Squadron Leader Grant T Taylor *Signature Value : £15 (matted)
| Joined the Air Force in 1960 as an Apprentice at RAF Locking and then as a Cadet at RAF College Cranwell. Initially served as a QFI at RAF Syerston before converting to Hunters as a Fighter Reconnaissance pilot on 8 Sqn in Bahrain. In 1971 he converted to Lightning's serving as a QFI/IRE on 23 Sqn at RAF Leuchars. In 1975 he converted to the Phantom and served a tour on 29 Sqn RAF Coningsby as QFI/IRE before taking up post on the Phantom OCU until 1986. During this period he also flew the Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight for four years. In 1986 he flew BAC 167 aircraft at the King Feisal Air Academy in Saudi Arabia returning to UK in 1988 to train flying instructors on Jet Provost and Tucano aircraft at the Central Flying School at RAF Scampton. In 1990 he was posted to the Central Flying School Exam Wing as a Basic and Advanced Command Examiner and Command IRE on Hawks, Jet Provost and Tucano aircraft. He served his last tour on 55 Sqn at RAF Cranwell flying the Dominie (HS125). In 1997 he retired from the RAF to become an Aviation Officer and continued to fly the Dominie until 2003. He then joined the instructional staff at the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility at RAF Valley. He has a total of 9500 hours. |
| 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. Sadly Gerald passed away on the 6th of February 2021.
More about Gerald Coulson
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