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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth B Byrne, John |
Flying Officer John Byrne
With the RAF since 1938, Byrne flew Hurricanes, Spitfires, P-47s, Tempests and Typhoons during WWII. Upon joining 197 Sqn in March 1944 he flew Typhoons during one the squadrons most hectic periods in the run up to D-Day and throughout the subsequent Allied invasion, mostly on low-level bombing missions. In total Byrne completed over 150 combat operations and finally left the RAF in 1946.
| Flying Officer John Byrne - Signed Aviation Art |
| Text for the above items : |
Hard Hitter by Ivan Berryman. Whilst in command of 609 Sqn in January 1944, F/Lt (later Wing Commander) J R Baldwin, leading a small formation of Hawker Typhoon 1Bs, encountered thirty Focke-Wulf Fw190s and engaged them in a furious battle. Nine enemy aircraft were shot down in the action, Baldwin accounting for two of them himself. He went on to finish the war as the highest-scoring Typhoon pilot of all with 15 confirmed victories, one shared, one probable and four damaged. He is depicted here, flying DN360 with the codes PR-A. |
Undaunted by Odds by Robert Taylor. On 6th November 1935, a prototype aircraft took to the air for the very first time. As Sydney Camm's sturdy, single-engine monoplane fighter climbed into the sky, few realized that it was destined to become one of the enduring symbols of the greatest air battle ever fought. Its name was the Hawker Hurricane. Undaunted by Odds is a moving tribute to the Hurricane and the gallant pilots who flew it in combat. The painting portrays the Hurricanes of the 303 Polish Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain as the unit climbs steadily to intercept yet another incoming wave of enemy bombers heading for London in September 1940. Soon the already battle-hardened Polish pilots will once again be in the thick of the action. |
Typhoons Outward Bound by Richard Taylor. In the months following D-Day, Hawkers hard-hitting, snub-nosed Typhoon struck terror into the German formations in Normandy, crack Panzer units wilted under the constant hail of rockets and bombs. Several times a day the Typhoon pilots would cross the Channel to run the gauntlet of flak and ground fire, and deliver their lethal cargo. The disaster befell the German Army during the third week in August 1944. For over two months, sixteen divisions of the Germany Army had battled to contain the huge tide of the Allied armies as they swept ashore in the weeks following D-Day. Overwhelmed by the size and determination of the invasion force, the Germans fell back amidst bitter fighting, contesting every town, every village, and every hedgerow. But there was one thing they could not fight against - devastating Allied air superiority - and leading the assault were the deadly ground-attack Typhoons of the RAF. Equipped with cannons and eight lethal rockets, the Typhoons simply cut the German Panzer Divisions to shreds, the burning, blasted, and obliterated hulks of tanks and vehicles lay srewn across an ever decreasing battlefield as the Allies fought to snare their enemy within the Falaise Pocket. And ensnare them they did. The only option for the Germans was to surrender or perish. Most choose to surrender, thousands and thousands of crack troops crushed by one of the deadliest air to ground attacks in history. The Typhoons lethal weaponry is clearly visible in Richard Taylors beautiful painting Typhoons Outward Bound. As another fine summer day begins, Typhoon Mk1bs of 247 Squadron are en-route to the Normandy battlefront, the first of several missions that day. Skimming at mast-top height, the Typhoons pass over two ancient steam drifters, conscripted into the wartime role of patrolling the Channel and, should the need arise, rescuing any downed aircrew in need of help. |
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