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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth W  Ward, E |
Squadron Leader E Gray Ward DFC
After joining the RAF in November 1940, Gray Ward trained as a pilot. His first operational squadron was 50 Squadron flying Lancasters, before he joined 57 Squadron as a Flight Commander. In late 1944 he was selected to join 617 Squadron, and took part in the 22,000lb 'Grand Slam' raids on the Bielefeld and Arnsberg viaducts.
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| Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Squadron Leader E Gray Ward DFC - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Summer Harvest by Gerald Coulson. With the familiar Lincolnshire countryside beckoning, a Lancaster of the famous 617 Dambusters Squadron, makes its final approach after a raid on Germany, late summer 1944. Gerald Coulsons painting Summer Harvest winds the clock back sixty years, recreating a typical East Anglian countryside scene in late 1944. With the sun well above the horizon, a Lancaster comes thundering in on finals after a gruelling night precision bombing mission over Germany. Below, farm workers busy gathering the summer harvest, stop to marvel at the sheer power and majesty of the mighty aircraft, and to dwell briefly on what horrors its crew may have endured on their perilous journey. |
Band of Brothers by Robert Taylor. The mighty Lancaster, the mainstay of RAF Bomber Command, crewed by volunteers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa, and many other nations opposed to Nazi rule, flew day and night sorties whenever there was a chance of reaching the target. Their unflinching courage, and selfless devotion to duty paved the way for the D-Day invasion, and the ultimate liberation of Nazi occupied Europe. Embellished with Goerings infamous quotation No Enemy Plane Will Fly Over The Reich Territory, S for Sugar took her bombs to Berlin, Hamburg, Schweinfurt, Bremen, Hanover, Wurzburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and other prime targets, flying the second greatest number of operational sorties of any bomber in the Command. Time and again Sugar brought her crew home, often limping back riddled with flak and bullet holes, occasionally on three engines, and once all the way back from the German capital with a badly damaged wing following a mid-air collision over the target. Robert Taylors emotive painting shows S for Sugar on the morning of 27th April, 1944 after her 95th sortie - a raid on the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt. As the battle-scarred bomber taxies in at RAF Waddington, other 467 Squadron Lancasters follow, heading for their dispersal points. Already the weary crews begin their informal debriefing. By the wars end this trusty bomber had completed no fewer than 137 operations over enemy territory, bringing her crew home every time. Now magnificently restored to her former glory, S for Sugar resides in the RAF Museum at Hendon, providing a lasting tribute to the gallant men of RAF Bomber Command. The famous aircraft was typical of, and ultimately came to symbolise, the men and machines of Royal Air Force Bomber Command. Flying initially with 83 Squadron Pathfinder Force, then 467 Squadron RAAF, Avro Lancaster serial number R5868, call sign S for Sugar, took part in almost every major attack on Germany between the summer of 1942 and the end of hostilities. With the life expectancy of a new Lancaster being just a few months, it was a miracle she survived the war. |
| Squadron Leader E Gray Ward 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. |
| Squadron Leader E Gray Ward DFC Squadron details |
No.50 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 31st March 1984 Known Codes : , VN, ZN, QX, | No.50 Sqn RAF From defence to attack |
No.57 Sqn RAF Country : UK Known Codes : , DX, DJ, EQ, QT, | No.57 Sqn RAF Corpus non animum muto - I change my body not my spirit |
No.617 Sqn RAF Country : UK Known Codes : , AJ, YZ, KC, | No.617 Sqn RAF Apres mois, le deluge - After me, the flood |
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