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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth W  Watts, Fred |
Flight Lieutenant Fred Watts DFC
Fred Watts joined the RAF in 1940, and qualifying as a pilot was posted to 630 Squadron in 1943 flying 15 operations on Lancasters out of East Kirby. He joined 617 Squadron in April 1944 and took part in many of the precision operations that the Squadron was renowned for, including raids on V1 sites, V2 rocket bases, and all three attacks on the Tirpitz. He left 617 Squadron in March 1945 to join 83 Pathfinder Squadron for Far East deployment with Tiger Force but VJ-day brought disbandment of the Force before it could be despatched. He stayed on in the RAF after the end of the war, retiring in 1964. He died 6th August 2007.
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| Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Flight Lieutenant Fred Watts DFC - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Legends of the Air by Philip West. Probably the most famous RAF Squadron in history, mainly due to the audacious Dambuster raid in 1943. Other notably successful missions flying their Avro Lancaster bombers included precision raids on the mighty German battleship Tirpitz, U-boat pens, railways, V-weapons sites, canals and bridges. Through their skill and bravery 617 Sqn. crews received many high honours including V.Cs for Wing Commander Guy Gibson and Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire. |
A Lincolnshire Sunset 1944 by Gerald Coulson. The Avro Lancaster was possibly the most versatile and successful bomber aircraft ever and certainly became the backbone of RAF Bomber Command during WWII. Being able to deliver a greater payload than any other aircraft of The War, the Lancaster was involved in nearly every night bombing raid on Europe and undertook some of the most famous bombing missions in History. Of all the crews of RAF Bomber Command 617 Squadron are perhaps the best known. Famed for their expertise in precision bombing they took part in some of the most daring raids of the War. Many of the crews such as Guy Gibson, Leonard Cheshire and Bill Reid became household names and their exploits are well documented. This superb painting by Gerald Coulson is a tribute to all those crews who flew with Bomber Command. Each print is personally signed by prominent crew who flew with 617 Squadron during WWII. Coulsons painting captures the moment perfectly. As the sun is setting in the early part of 1944 over their Lincolnshire airfield , groundcrews make final preparations to the Lancasters of 617 Squadron. Beneath the mighty aircraft crews ready themselves for a long , gruelling night operation over occupied Europe. |
Strike and Return by Robert Taylor. Winter in Northern Europe brings short days, long nights and, for the most part, appalling weather making navigation difficult and flying hazardous, even by todays electronically sophisticated standards. Throughout RAF Bomber Commands arduous six year World War II campaign, as if atrocious weather were not enough to contend with, day and night bomber crews faced interceptions by enemy fighters, constant flak over occupied territory, and the real and ever-present danger of mid-air collision. Add snowstorms, gale force winds, freezing temperatures and the comparatively rudimentary navigational aids available at the time, it seems a miracle they were able to continue at all. But continue they did, and whenever there was the slimmest chance of hitting an enemy target, unhesitatingly, the aircrews of Bomber Command took up the challenge. 460 Squadron, RAAF was typical of the bomber squadrons under overall command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, squadrons manned by volunteer aircrews from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Rhodesia, South Africa, and many other nations opposed to Hitlers Nazi Germany. To a man they knew the frightening odds against completing a tour of duty, yet many faked their ages just to join this elite band of wartime flyers. True to their squadron motto Strike and Return, the artist shows Lancasters of 460 Squadron RAAF, returning to RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire following a daylight raid over Germany in the late winter of 1944. With the sun almost set, chill evening shadows lengthen on a magnificent winter landscape dusted with snow, Lancaster J-Squared leads the mighty bombers as they descend in the fading light. |
Target Bearing 270 by Robert Taylor. At sunrise on 12 November, 1944, led by Wing Commander James Tait, Lancasters of 617 Squadron RAF prepare to make their bombing run on the German battleship Tirpitz, lying in the Norwegian fjord at Tromso. |
The Sinking of the Tirpitz by Frank Wootton. A first-hand account of the sinking of the Tirpitz by Bob Knights. - The early morning of 12th November 1944 was clear and very cold, and the wings of the Lancasters of 617 Squadron, parked on the airfield at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, were coated with ice. This ice had to be removed before the aircraft could take off for the final attack on the Tirpitz, the Lancasters were already overloaded with a 12,00lb Tallboy, full petrol tanks, and a reserve fuel tank in the fuselage. The aircraft had been fitted with more powerful engines, the Rolls-Royce Merlin 24, and take-off performance was surprisingly good. After turning out over the Moray Firth, we set course north east for the Norwegian sea at 1500 feet. We saw the Shetland Islands pass by on our left, and when we reached 64 degrees north we turned eastwards towards the Norwegian coast at low level. We crossed the coast, climbing rapidly to clear mountains, and flew over the Swedish border. We then turned north and, keeping on the Swedish side of the border, proceeded to our assembly point, a narrow lake about 100 miles south east of Tromso. At zero hour, Wing Commander Willie Tait, Officer Commanding 617 Squadron, set course on the long run-in to the target, accompanied by the first wave of 617 Squadron aircraft. As we topped the last mountain before reaching Tromso, we saw the Tirpitz clearly from about thirty miles. She looked very vulnerable lying there with no cloud or smoke to protect her, and forunately there was no sign of the fighters, which were stationed at Bardafoss. The anti-aircraft guns opened up as we approached, and there were enormous shell bursts from Tirpitz herself. We had a good straight bombing run, and both my bomb aimer and my flight engineer followed our Tallboy right down to the ship. They reported two direct hits and three bombs very close to the sides of the ship. After taking our aiming point photograph, we circled the ship to observe the subsequent bombing. We stayed in the vicinity for about another fifteen minutes and before we left the ship was beginning to capsize. Then followed the long flight back to Scotland. When we arrived, bad weather had affected Lossiemouth and we were diverted to Peterhead, where we eventually landed after a flight of 12 hours 35 minutes. |
| Flight Lieutenant Fred Watts DFC Aircraft details |
 Lancaster Manufacturer : Avro Built : 7377 | Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' "Operation Gomorrah" in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992. |
| Flight Lieutenant Fred Watts DFC Squadron details |
No.617 Sqn RAF Country : UK Known Codes : , AJ, YZ, KC, | No.617 Sqn RAF Apres mois, le deluge - After me, the flood |
No.630 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 18th July 1945 Known Codes : , LE, | No.630 Sqn RAF Nocturna mors - Death by night |
No.83 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 31st August 1969 Known Codes : , OL, QQ, | No.83 Sqn RAF Strike to defend |
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