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Captain Richard Todd OBE

Later a world famous actor - with a key role as Major John Howard in the D-Day film The Longest Day - Richard Todd jumped into Normandy with 7th Para at 0040 hours on June 6th 1944. Their immediate task was to support the holding of Pegasus Bridge against fierce German counterattacks. Originally commissioned into the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, he was seconded to The Parachute Regiment in 1943. In Normandy he transferred to 6th Airborne HO on D-Day +5 and stayed with them until September 1944 when they were withdrawn to England. He later took part in the Rhine crossing and subsequent fighting and the advance to meet the Russians at Wisman on the Baltic. His service with The Parachute Regiment ended in Palestine in 1946. He then returned to his career as an actor and producer, achieving fame for both film roles and stage performances, including the brilliant portrayal of Guy Gibson in the legendary Dam Busters film. Sadly, Richard Todd died on 4th December 2009 at the age of 90.

Yangtse Incident by Timothy OBrien. 3 editions. 2 of the 3 editions feature up to 3 additional signatures. £18.00 - £110.00

Primary Target by Philip West. 2 editions. One edition features 2 additional signatures. £135.00 - £150.00

Welcome Home by Stephen Brown. 3 editions. All 3 editions feature up to 11 additional signature(s). £125.00 - £175.00

Lancaster Legend by Philip West. One of 2 editions available. Both editions feature 11 additional signatures. £90.00

Dambusters - The Morning After by Gerald Coulson. 3 of 4 editions available. All 4 editions feature up to 4 additional signatures. £120.00 - £140.00

Normandy Veterans Association 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Print by Michael Turner. This single edition is sold out. The edition features 24 additional signatures.

Text for the above items :

Yangtse Incident by Timothy OBrien. HMS Amethyst about to return fire while a Sunderland of 88 Squadron makes a hurried departure, 23rd of April 1949.

Primary Target by Philip West. In 1943, the RAF's 617 Squadron set out to destroy three dams in Germany's Ruhr valley. They managed to breach two, giving a boost to Britain's war effort. On 16th May 1943, 19 aircraft set out to destroy the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany's industrial heartland. They used specially-designed drum-shaped bouncing bombs which skimmed across the water, rolled down the dam wall and exploded at depth. Only 11 of the aircraft returned from the perilous low-level mission in which they flew at just 150ft all the way from England before descending for the bombing run to defeat the German radar. It resulted in the largest awarding of medals at any one time during the war. The bouncing bombs were the brainchild of legendary aviation engineer Sir Barnes Wallis, who was knighted in 1968. Primary Target depicts the final seconds on 17th May 1943 as the bouncing bomb of Flight Lt. Maltby's Lancaster Squadron breached the giant Mohne dam.

Welcome Home by Stephen Brown. A flak-damaged Lancaster of 617 Squadron struggles across the airfield perimeter as it returns to base after a precision raid over enemy territory. After writing a new chapter in aviation history with the famous Dams Raid of May 1943, 617 Squadron went on to execute many more daring operations including the sinking of the Tirpitz. Often flying specially modified Lancasters with enlarged bomb bay doors to accommodate the huge 12,000lb Tallboy, they specialised in high value precision targets such as canals, tunnels and U-Boat pens.

Lancaster Legend by Philip West. After another long, dangerous mission this Lancaster is limping home flak damaged, past the windmill at Cley-next-the-Sea.

Dambusters - The Morning After by Gerald Coulson. Just after midnight, on the night of 16/17 May 1943, Lancaster crews of 617 Squadron undertook what was to become the most remarkable and probably best remembered air raid of the Second World War. Flying all the way from their base in England in darkness at tree-top height, with just the light of the moon to guide them, the specially selected crews made a surprise attack on the mighty hydro-electric dams in the Ruhr. Flying specially modified aircraft, each Lancaster was equipped with the unique cylindrical hydro-statically detonated bomb as conceived by Barnes Wallis. This huge device when released from the aircraft flying at exactly 230mph and at the precise height of 60 ft spun onto the surface of the water. To achieve the critical height above the water at moment of release, two beams of light, from front and aft, were projected from the aircraft on to the surface of the water, creating a neat figure-of-eight on the surface below. As each bomb bounced across the water towards its target, it struck the dam wall, sank to the pre-set depth, and exploded. The results were devastating. Led by the mercurial Squadron Leader Guy Gibson, ignoring furious defensive gunfire while flying perilously close to the water, each crew made their precision run at the target, released their deadly bomb, and those lucky enough to survive the barrage of tracer shells and anti-aircraft fire, escaped into the darkness. Not all of them did. In the space of those few, highly charged minutes, the Lancaster crews of 617 Squadron wrote their names into history. Sixty-four years on, the memory of their exploits and the courage displayed by the crews on that historic raid, together with the genius of Bames Wallis, remain undimmed. Gerald Coulsons painting shows a single Lancaster of 617 Squadron, one of the lucky ones having made it safely back to base, proudly standing alone as if in tribute to those that didn't return.

Normandy Veterans Association 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Print by Michael Turner. Official limited edition print of the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy Veterans Association. The Eastern Flank of the D-Day battlefield, 1300 hours, June 6th 1944. No single picture could possibly encompass the actions of all British forces on D-Day, let alone the Allies overall, whise front stretched 60 miles along the Normandy coastline. The eastern flank of the D-Day battlefield has been chosen to symbolise the achievements of British forces on June 6th 1944 because no other part of the invasion front illustrates better the combined efforts of all three services.