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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth C  Croskell, Michael |
Flight Lieutenant Michael E Croskell
Joining the RAFVR in June 1938, Michael Croskell was called up in September 1939 at the outbreak of war. He was posted to join 213 Squadron at Wittering in December flying Hurricanes, and took part in the Battle of France and the operations over Dunkirk in May 1940, where he probably destroyed a Ju87. He flew with 213 Squadron throughout the Battle of Britain, scoring three further victories at the height of the battle in August 1940. Commissioned in 1942, his great fighter skills led to him spending six years as an instructor. He died in January 2015.
| Flight Lieutenant Michael E Croskell - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
The Battle for Britain by Robert Taylor. A Battle of Britain Spitfire from 610 Squadron takes on a Me109 from I./JG3 in a head-on attack high over the south coast port of Dover, in the late morning of 10 July 1940. |
First Loss by David Pritchard. On their first ever operational patrol, between Calaise and Dunkirk on the morning of the 23rd May 1940, 92 squadron commence their attack on Heinkel HE 111's preparing to bomb the retreating British Expeditionary Force on the beaches and dunes below. They fail to notice above them, the bombers escort provided by BF109's of II / JG27, and themselves attacked. Pilot Officer Pat Learmond, becomes the 92's first combat casualty, he and his spitfire spiral earthwards out of control, as his fellow pilots break up the bomber formation and inflict retribution on the enemy for his loss. |
Snappers About by David Pritchard. On the 15th September, Battle of Britain Day, 1940, Sergeant Pilot Mike Croskell of 213 Squadron flying the C.Os personally coded Hurricane is bounced by a gaggle of Bf109s and Mikes Hurricane is torn apart by Cannon Shells. The injured young pilot is forced to bail out near Maidstone at the dangerously low height of just 200 feet, Luckily for him he landed in a grove of Apple trees and was rescued by an Anti Aircraft Gun crew with just a few cuts and grazes though he has suffered with a bad back ever since. |
Those Valiant Few by Robert Taylor. The Battle of Britain commenced at the beginning of June 1940, and for the next two and a half gruelling months the young men of Royal Air Force Fighter Command, duelled with the cream of Goerings Luftwaffe over the skies of southern England. It was to become the greatest aerial conflict in aviation history. Always outnumberd, the valiant young pilots fought with a determined fierceness and intensity, and never once did their spirit waiver. By the end of September the battle was won, but many had made the ultimate sacrifice. |
Valiant Response by Robert Taylor. The Spitfires of 54 Squadron, quickly scrambled from nearby Hornchurch, clash with the Me109s from 1./JG51 over Kent. Below, Me110s from KPRG210 are about to receive unwelcome attention as the rest of the Spitfires hurtle down upon them and in the distance, a group of Hurricanes rip through a dense formation of Do17s from KG76 as they struggle back to France. What clouds there are will be unlikely to give much sanctuary and, for the onlookers on the ground far below, the skies will soon be filled with weaving trails of smoke and debris. For nearly a week the Luftwaffe had thrown everything they had into the attack on southern England in order to annihilate RAF Fighter Command, in preparation for Operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain. And, heavily outnumbered, the young RAF Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of Fighter Command had so far repelled them, at a cost. But on Sunday 18 August 1940, the Germans launched the heaviest formations of aircraft seen in the battle so far. This was to be a grinding day of relentless assaults on the airfields of southern England, the hardest day of the Battle of Britain. |
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