This little booklet (1942) was a birthday pressie from a couple of years ago, and is filled with so many lovely portraits and pictures, some of which I will show today.
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" What did it look like? they will ask in 1981, and no amount of description or documentation will answer them. Nor will big, formal compositions like the battle pictures which hang in palaces; and even photographs, which tell us so much, will leave out the colour and the peculiar feeling of events in these extraordinary years. Only the artist with his heightened powers of perception can recognise which elements in a scene can be pickled for posterity in the magical essence of style. And as new subjects begin to saturate his imagination, they create a new style, so that from the destruction of war something of lasting value emerges"
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Fitters working on a Spitfire. Raymond McGarth.
"these two scenes in aircraft factories were recorded during the early part of the war. The first shows Wellingtons under construction and the second the finishing stages in assembling a Spitfire"
Flight-Lieutenant W. L. McKnight, D.F.C and
Flight-Lieutenant J. H. Lacey, D.F.M.
Eric Kennington
Wing Commander. D. R. S. Bader, D.S.O, D.F.C.
Flight- Lieutenant G. Allard, D.F.C, D.F.M.
Eric Kennington.
An R.A.F. Machine-Gun Post
Keith Henderson.
Flight-Leiutenant T. F. Neil, D.F.C.
Wing Commander A. G. Malan, D.S.O, D.F.C.
Eric Kennington.
Squadron Leader J. C. Mungo Park, D.F.C.
Flight-Leiutenant J. A. Siebert, D.F.C.
Eric Kennington
A Wellington Bombing-Up
Cuthbert Orde.
A Flying Officer from Nova Scotia.
Keith Henderson.
An Air Gunner in a Turret- Corporal G. H. Holmes, D.F.M.
J. Mansbridge.
Corporal J.D.M. Pearson, E.G.M.
Dame Laura Knight.
Group Captain F. V. Beamish, D.S.O, D.F.C, A.F.C.
Group Captain B. E. Embry, D.S.O, A.F.C.
Eric Kennington.
Wellington Bomber, drawn on the day Hitler invaded Belgium.
Paul Nash.
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Each illustration also has an accompanying description, but I haven't got the time to write those up yet. So if you are interested (?) pop back to this post in a week or two to check them out!
I'll probably do a follow up post as well, as there are quite a few more piccies in this darling little book. : )
Well I better scurry and pack my bag for London...
TTFN
Tupps xxx
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RAF Friday so far...
How exciting, I'll be checking back for sure. This book is such a wonderful piece of the past, what an awesome birthday gift to receive.
ReplyDelete♥ Jessica
That is a wonderful booklet, my husband would probably snatch your hand off at the elbow for that!
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing, I love your RAF posts. It's important to raise awareness of the history isn't it? My Hubby is an ex-serving member and he'd probably try and snatch them of you too!
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