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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth C Chatterton, John |
Plt Of John Chatterton DFC
Flew thirty sorties with No.44 Sqn as a pilot on Lancasters. The missions he flew included Dusseldorf - where Bill Reid earned his Victoria Cross - and Nuremberg, where a terrible toll of aircraft were lost. Earning the nickname Ace, he also served with No.630 Sqn and No.57 Sqn during the war. Post war he became a university lecurer and farmer, his son Mike joined the RAF flying Shackletons and Nimrods in the 1970s, eventually flying the Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, taking his father and some of his surviving crew for a flight in the 1990s. John died in 2004 just as his biography Ploughshare and hining Sword was published.
| Plt Of John Chatterton DFC - Signed Aviation Art |
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Morning Glory by Robin Smith. Resplendent in the morning sunrise, the Avro Lancaster sits majestically. One could almost believe it is a wild animal sniffing the air, secure in its natural habitat. Watching the scene, the total silence is occasionally broken by the chink of a dropped spanner, a young voice expresses a solved problem, fresh human silhouettes materialise through the mist from behind a massive wheel and we quickly realise that these people are not pilots or navigators. They are armourers, engineers and electricians confronting tasks and problems that demand from every individual tradesman, a duty to fulfil a common purpose, to get the aircraft ready for its next sortie that evening. The painting depicts a typical scene, silhouetted against a damp misty sunrise, the Lancaster shows off its massive paddle blade props (so nicknamed 'paddle Steamers') waiting for two more props to be aligned so the Matador bowser can be reversed in safely for re-fuelling. |
Bombing Up Yorker by Robin Smith. This print depicts a Lancaster Mk.III powered by four Merlin engines. Assigned to 44 (Rhodesia) squadron on 5th February 1944 to Dunholme Lodge, KM (Yorker) ND 578 was flown by P.O. John Chatterton on its first fifteen operations after which he received the D.F.C. In fact the whole crew received the D.F.C after their tour, this being very unusual during the war, a gesture reflecting the heroism of the equally brave crew. Y-Yorker completed its 100th sortie in February 1945 with F.O. Hayler as skipper, surviving to complete its 123rd operation by 17/18th April with Harold Parkin in the driving seat, by this time stationed at Spilsby. The significance of the spade nose art reflects to the fact that John Chatterton was a farmer, a career that continued after the war, and became his logo. Unfortunately, his commander didn't approve of it, and it only lasted one week before it had to come off! |
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This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com
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