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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth F Fish, C

Flying Officer C B R Fish

Leaving university early he joined the RAF in November 1941 to train overseas and qualified as a navigator in the summer of 1942, remaining with OTU for a period. Due to his expertise in high altitude bombing he was called up to 617 Sqn in July 1944 on Lancasters and took part in many of the squadrons precision bombing raids, including the attack on the Tirpitz. He remained with 617 Sqn until he left the RAF in 1946 to return to university.

Flying Officer C B R Fish - Signed Aviation Art

Legends of the Air by Philip West. 2 editions. Both editions feature up to 8 additional signatures. £175.00 - £260.00

Alone at Dawn by Gerald Coulson. 4 of 5 editions available. All 4 editions featuring up to 10 additional signatures are available. £160.00 - £300.00

Target Bearing 270 by Robert Taylor. 3 of 4 editions available. 2 of 3 editions featuring up to 25 additional signatures are available. £2.00 - £395.00

The Sinking of the Tirpitz by Frank Wootton. Both editions sold out. Both editions feature up to 10 additional signatures.

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.

Alone at Dawn by Gerald Coulson. Heavily damaged by flak and with one engine out, a Lancaster slowly makes its way home far behind the main force.

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.

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.

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Flying Officer C B R Fish Squadron details

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