Heroes of WW2 visit
our old gallery
We never know who was
coming in to the Little-Pearl Art Gallery next!
We get talking to people and are amazed to find that they have
some wonderful stories.
Above is George
Carter collecting the painting I did as a result of a chance conversation.
He'd just strolled into the gallery and we got talking. He casually
told me of his
"Final Engagement" as a rear gunner in a Short Stirling
which came to grief over an
enemy airfield in Denmark. As the searchlight towers caught them,
they clipped some
trees and George decided that if he was going down, he'd have
a go at the flak emplacements.
He took one out and was even congratulated by the German officer
in charge of defence of the aerodrome.
For more
about this, hit this link
This man was attracted to
"Spirit of the Stones" and its codes,
He turned out to be one of the secret heroes of WW2. He worked
in SOE on
cyphers and behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia.
He was captured and tortured. Later, in peactime, he with his
wife, met
President / Marshal Tito and his wife. They were invited home
to tea!
Here he holds a copy of Spirit of the Stones. I wonder if he'll
take the time to decypher its riddles :-) TAKE A LOOK LINK
The lively ladies below have some interesting memories of the
war.
One of them was in the WAAF and stationed at Ventnor Radar.
Saunders Roe Princess
Flying Boat
Fifty Years on
It was August 22nd
1952 that the
Saunders Roe Princess flying boat took
to the air for the first time.
To mark that event
and exactly fifty years later, a gathering of
old Saro workers and aviation enthusiasts gathered in
East Cowes Townhall to hear the great aeroplane's
First Engineer: Dick Stratton deliver a talk on
his memories of that day.
Sadly, there are few tangible items left of what could have been
a world winner.
It was nice to meet Dick Stratton
again after so many years. Of course he didn't really remember
me as he was
my old C.O in 1024 Squadron A.T.C. back in the early fifties.
I remember him as a young dashing chap who
drove a pre-war open Bently painted in British Racing Green,...
Quite a hero figure to a lad of 13 and so he remains to this one
of 63!
The Erk above is me : 1024 Sqn. ATC, Middle Wallop ,AOC inspection
c1952/3
I 'd just had my first flight ever in a good old Annie flown by
a crazy Canadian pilot.
There were about three RAF Ansons giving cadets 15 minute jollies.
The Canadian pilot was distinct in the
fact that, after getting airborne, he retracted the landing gear
but maintained his zero altitude until the
last moment and then he spiraled the old Annie into the sky.
We'd queued with mounting trepidation watching as our fellow cadets
were allotted their aircraft.
We prayed ours would not be Canada but it was and, was it great?
...You betcha!
A rather nice coincidence:
I have just joined the Battle of Britain Historical Society and
my membership number is not easily forgotten:
1024
Link to this website's
other page about the SR Princess Flying Boat : Includes
eye-witness memory of first flight and painting