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Cranston Fine Arts  Landscape Art and Artists Countries Norway  Fjords |
[UP] - Altafjord - Fordefjord - Kaafjord - Tromso Fjord - Fjords |
| Fjords Landscape Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings |
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| Text for the above items : |
The Blackest Friday by Ivan Berryman. Following intelligence reports that the German destroyer Z.33 was anchored in Forde Fjord, Norway, together with a selection of minesweepers, tugs and trawlers, Beaufighters of 144, 404 and 455 Sqns were at once scrambled to attack the shipping, fully expecting their assault to take the Germans by surprise. Quite the contrary transpired to be true however and the attacking Beaufighters had to fly through a hail of flak and anti aircraft fire to line up on their targets. Moreover, Focke-Wulf 190s of 9/JG 5 joined the melee and a frantic battle ensued. Here, one Beaufighter has become a victim of an Fw.190, whilst a 144 Sqn aircraft tries to make a low level escape, close to the forbidding Fjord rock face. |
Sinking the Tirpitz by Nicolas Trudgian. Throughout four long years of war Allied air and naval forces endeavoured to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. The mighty warship was a constant threat to Allied shipping, even while lying at anchor in her lair among the fjords of Norway. Her very presence demanded constant attention and hampered all naval decision making till she was sunk at the end of 1944. Without so much as weighing anchor, Tirpitz could disrupt the north Atlantic convoys by tying up urgently needed escort vessels in readiness in case she made a run for the open sea. Churchill was exasperated and called upon RAF Bomber Command to make a decisive bid to finish her off once and for all. On November 12, 1944 Lancasters of Number 9 and 617 Squadrons set forth towards the Norwegian fjord of Tromso where Tirpitz lay at anchor surrounded by a web of protective submarine nets. Armed with the 12,000lb Tallboy bomb devised by Barnes Wallis, the Lancaster crews arrived in clear skies overhead the fjord to see the great battleship sharply contrasted against the still deep waters some 10,000ft below. As flak from the ships heavy armament burst all around them, one by one the 31 Lancasters rolled in for the attack. In a matter of three minutes the devastating aerial bombardment was completed, and eleven minutes later, her port side ripped open, the Tirpitz capsized and sank. The Coup de Grace was complete. Published 2000. |
Dangerous Coast by Robert Taylor. Mosquitoes from RAF Coastal Command's Banff Strike Wing race through a deep-sided Norwegian fjord following a successful rocket strike against enemy coastal shipping. The de Havilland Mosquito was arguably the finest multi-role combat aircraft of World War II and, remarkably, one of the few front-line aircraft constructed almost entirely of wood - few other warbirds were built for so many different duties. Amongst its countless roles it formed the core of Coastal Command's legendary anti-shipping strike force, and it is this role that is the subject of this painting, paying tribute to the Mosquito crews of World War II. A large force of Mosquitoes from RAF Coastal Command's Banff Strike Wing exit a deep-sided fjord along Norway's rugged, heavily defended mountainous coast. In the distance, smoke and explosions reverberate from their successful rocket strike against enemy coastal shipping, destroying yet another cargo of iron ore destined for the furnaces of Germany's industrial war machine. Above them P-51 Mustangs provide top cover support should any patrolling enemy fighters decide to make an appearance. |
Strike and Strike Again by Robert Taylor. By the spring of 1945, Germanys once all-conquering submarine fleet, driven by allied forces from its bases in estern France, had fled to the relative safety of the Norwegian fjords - territory still remaining under German occupation since 1940. In one of Hitlers last stands, more than 100 U-Boats, merchant freighters, flakships, and other military vessels were hathered in the narrow fjords, laying up by day and sailing undercover of darkness. They were a menace that had to be dealt with. Tasked with the difficult job of eliminating this force were the Beaufighters and Mosquitos of RAF Coastal Commands Strike Wings based in Scotland. - Our job was to go after this shipping and sink it - recalled Wing Commader Colin Milson, C.O. of No. 455s Beaufighters. - The fjords were often just 200 - 300 yards across with cliffs rising vertically up 2000 feet, the deep water allowing the German shipping to get in beneath these high overhanging cliffs. This made for difficult and dangerous flying, exacerbated by the heavy flak and machine gun fire that always welcomed us. |
Snowcat by Robert Tomlin. Jaguar GR3A from 41 (Fighter) Squadron based at RAF Coltishall and flown by Squadron Leader Ian Smith thunders down a Norwegian fjord. Coltishall Jaguars regularly deploy on exercise in northern Norway as part of NATO's protection of its northern flank. However, Spring of 2006 saw the closure of RAF Coltishall, the loss of an historic airfield. |
Time to Move by Randall Wilson. Battleship Tirpitz weighs anchor and ups steam to move out of Alta Fjord 1944. |
Knight's Move - Admiral Hipper Weighing Anchor by Randall Wilson. Admiral Hipper Weighing Anchor in Alta Fjord with Admiral Scheer. They sortied to engage convoy PQ17. |
Tirpitz in Kaafjord by Ivan Berryman. The mighty Tirpitz demonstrates the effectiveness of her splinter camouflage, surrounded by her net defences at Kaafjord in the Winter of 1943-44. |
Eismeer Patrol by Anthony Saunders. On the morning of 11th March 1943, Fw190s from IV./JG5 took off from their base to escort the mighty battleship Tirpitz and a screening fleet of escort destroyers and torpedo boats, at the start of a voyage north to Bogen Bay during Operation Rostock. Designed to escape the increasingly frequent British bombing raids, Tirpitz would leave southern Norway to join an impressive German naval battle fleet gathering near Narvik, one of the largest German naval bases in Norway. Together with the Scharnhorst, the heavy cruiser Lutzow, and the light cruiser Nurnberg, they would pose a grave threat to the Arctic convoys. After repeated attempts to sink her, Tirpitz was eventually destroyed by the RAF at her anchorage in Altenfjord, 12th November 1944. |
Raid on the Tirpitz by Ivan Berryman. On 12th November 1944, the mighty Tirpitz was finally destroyed by a combined force of Lancasters from No 9 and No 617 Squadrons. LM220, an aircraft of 9 Sqn is shown here making its run toward the target at approximately 09.40 hours on that fateful day. |
Tribute to Oberleutnant Heinrich Ehrler by Ivan Berryman. Viciously maligned for failing to prevent the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz at Kaafjord on 12th November 1944, Heinrich Ehrler was one of the Luftwaffe's greatest leaders, highly decorated and respected by all who flew with him. The Bf.109s of 6./JG5, based at Petsamo in Finland, took on a variety of difficult roles in the Scandinavian theatre, operating in the most testing of conditions, often round the clock in the summer months. Here, Ehrler's own machine, Yellow 12 leads other aircraft of 6./JG5 on a patrol above the mighty Norwegian fjords. |
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