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Flight Lieutenant Ray Harrington Signed Naval Art
Flight Lieutenant Ray Harrington
Ray joined the RAF in 1941, completing his training in South Africa. In January 1944 he was posted to 603 Squadron flying Beaufighters in North Africa. Here he teamed up with navigator, Warrant Officer A.E. 'Bert' Winwood, and from where they launched attacks across the Mediterranean into Crete, Greece and the Aegean Islands against shipping, harbour installations and enemy aircraft with much success. In December 1944 they were posted to 235 Squadron Coastal Command, part of the Banff Strike Wing, converting to Mosquitos. In April 1945 they were shot down following a strike in the Kattegat, but avoided capture and with the help of the Danish resistance made it home, where they continued to fly again from Banff.
| Flight Lieutenant Ray Harrington - Signed Naval Art Naval Crew Signatures |
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Top Dog by Robert Taylor. Completing a record 213 operational sorties with Bomber Commands Pathfinder Force, Mosquito LR503 became one of the most successful aircraft in the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew first with 109 Pathfinder Squadron, and then 105 Pathfinder Squadron, completing more combat missions than any other Allied aircraft. |
Vital Support by Robert Taylor. Crucial to every squadron in the RAF were the unsung heroes of World War II - the ground crew. Without the vital support of these dedicated men who refuelled the aircraft, rearmed them, maintained them and kept them flying, the pilots and aircrew would, quite simply, never have got into the air. Robert Taylors drawing Vital Support shows ground crew bombing up a Mosquito of RAF Bomber Command. |
Desert Prang by Geoff Lea. No text for this item |
Return From Leipzig by Anthony Saunders. Mosquitos of 105 Squadron, Marham. No. 105 Squadron, stationed at Marham, Norfolk, became the first Royal Air Force unit to become operational flying the Mosquito B. Mk. IV bomber on 11th April 1942. The painting shows 105 Squadron on the raid of 10th April 1945, to the Wahren railway marshalling yards at Leipzig, Germany. |
Seastrike by Ivan Berryman. Without doubt one of the most outstanding and versatile aircraft in the Allied inventory during World War II, the Bristol Beaufighter was to endure a cautious reception by its crews when it first entered service, not least due to difficulties experienced by crews attempting to abandon a stricken aircraft in an emergency. Its performance and hard-hitting potential quickly overcame such doubts, however, and it went on to earn a commendable reputation - and the nickname Whispering Death. Here, two 254 Sqn TF. MkXs attack a captured Norwegian vessel in 1945. |
Strike and Strike Again by Robert Taylor. By the spring of 1945, Germanys once all-conquering submarine fleet, driven by allied forces from its bases in estern France, had fled to the relative safety of the Norwegian fjords - territory still remaining under German occupation since 1940. In one of Hitlers last stands, more than 100 U-Boats, merchant freighters, flakships, and other military vessels were hathered in the narrow fjords, laying up by day and sailing undercover of darkness. They were a menace that had to be dealt with. Tasked with the difficult job of eliminating this force were the Beaufighters and Mosquitos of RAF Coastal Commands Strike Wings based in Scotland. - Our job was to go after this shipping and sink it - recalled Wing Commader Colin Milson, C.O. of No. 455s Beaufighters. - The fjords were often just 200 - 300 yards across with cliffs rising vertically up 2000 feet, the deep water allowing the German shipping to get in beneath these high overhanging cliffs. This made for difficult and dangerous flying, exacerbated by the heavy flak and machine gun fire that always welcomed us. |
Dangerous Coast by Robert Taylor. Mosquitoes from RAF Coastal Command's Banff Strike Wing race through a deep-sided Norwegian fjord following a successful rocket strike against enemy coastal shipping. The de Havilland Mosquito was arguably the finest multi-role combat aircraft of World War II and, remarkably, one of the few front-line aircraft constructed almost entirely of wood - few other warbirds were built for so many different duties. Amongst its countless roles it formed the core of Coastal Command's legendary anti-shipping strike force, and it is this role that is the subject of this painting, paying tribute to the Mosquito crews of World War II. A large force of Mosquitoes from RAF Coastal Command's Banff Strike Wing exit a deep-sided fjord along Norway's rugged, heavily defended mountainous coast. In the distance, smoke and explosions reverberate from their successful rocket strike against enemy coastal shipping, destroying yet another cargo of iron ore destined for the furnaces of Germany's industrial war machine. Above them P-51 Mustangs provide top cover support should any patrolling enemy fighters decide to make an appearance. |
Mosquitos by Keith Woodcock. On a cold winter' day with some snow covering the taxi ways on a RAF airfield, Royal Air Force ground crew engineers work on the engine of a Mosquito. A fitting tribute to the Mosquito fighter bomber and all the crews that flew in and also worked on this magnificent aircraft. |
The Mosquito's Sting by Ivan Berryman. Banff Mosquito H of 404 Squadron flown on its first operational mission by Flying Officer A Catrano and Flight Lieutenant A E Foord spots a German Blohm and Voss Bv138 anchored off Kjevik. They attacked the Bv138 which blew up before going on to attack a Heinkel He115 floatplane which was in the vicinity. This drawing shows the Mosquito beginning its attack on the Bv138. |
Knockout Blow by Ivan Berryman. Banff Mosquito H of 404 Squadron flown on its first operational mission by Flying Officer A Catrano and Flight Lieutenant A E Foord spots a German Blohm and Voss Bv138 anchored off Kjevik. They attacked the Bv138 which blew up before going on to attack a Heinkel He115 floatplane which was in the vicinity. This drawing shows the Mosquito making its attack on the Heinkel as the Bv138 explodes in the distance. |
Night Raiders by Ivan Berryman. A pair of de Havilland Mosquito NF. MkII night fighters of 23 Squadron, based at Bradwell Bay, Essex in 1942. |
Shell House Raiders by Ivan Berryman. Tucked in tight en route to Copenhagen, a wave of Mosquito FB VIs of 21 Sqn and their Mustang Mk.III escorts of 126 Sqn (including top Ace Agorastos John Plagis - 16 victories, on his last mission of the war) approach the Jutland Peninsula after a bumpy crossing of the North Sea on the morning of 21st March 1945. The Mosquitoes went on to carry out one of the most daring and successful raids of the Second World War on the German Gestapo headquarters in the centre of Copenhagen, inflicting irreparable damage to the Shellhus and killing more than 150 Gestapo personnel. |
Trouble Brewing by Keith Aspinall. Beaufighter and Torbeau of Coastal Command. |
HMS Valiant and HMS Phoebe at Alexandria, 1941 by Ivan Berryman. A pair of 272 Squadron Bristol Beaufighters roar over the extensively rebuilt battleship HMS Valiant as she lies at anchor at Alexandria late in 1941, accompanied by the cruiser HMS Phoebe and Valiants sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth (in the extreme distance) |
Prowler's Return by Ivan Berryman. Rocket rails empty, Mosquito FB.VI RS619 (LA-F) of 235 Sqn races home low and fast after another successful anti-shipping strike in the Fjords of Norway. On a subsequent mission on 5th April 1945, this aircraft crash-landed in Denmark after suffering a glycol leak. Its crew, Ray Harrington and Bert Winwood, managed to get back home to the UK with the help of the Danish Resistance. |
Clipped Signature - Ray Harrington. Piloted Beaufighters with No.603 Sqn in North Africa during 1944 before flying Mosquitos with No.235 Sqn Coastal Command from Banff. Shot down in April 1945, he and his navigator evaded capture with help from the Danish resistance and returned to their squadron. |
Trainbusters by Nicolas Trudgian. So versatile was the Mosquito that is performed in every role allotted to the R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. during World War II. Made almost entirely of wood, and powered by two hefty Merlin engines, it was the fastest piston engined aircraft of the war. Seen in its intruder configuration, Mosquitos of 418 Squadron, R.C.A.F. led by Charlie Krause, make a devastating high speed low-level attack on railroad marshalling yards in northern France during the winter of 1944 |
Half-Salvo by Ivan Berryman. A Bristol Beaufighter of No.248 Sqn, Banff Strike Wing, fires off a half-salvo of four rockets. |
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