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Mosquitos at Dusk by Nicolas Trudgian.
With their twin Merlins singing at full power, Mk FBV1 Mosquitos of 464 Squadron
RAAF present a menacing picture as they set out on a precision low level
mission, their streamlined, shark-like shapes silhouetted against the evening
glow. Below, the tranquillity of a snow covered English coastal village is
briefly disturbed as the Mosquito crews head into the night. |
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Mosquitos at Dusk by Nicolas Trudgian.
With their twin Merlins singing at full power, Mk FBV1 Mosquitos of 464 Squadron RAAF present a menacing picture as they set out on a precision low level mission, their streamlined, shark-like shapes silhouetted against the evening glow. Below, the tranquillity of a snow covered English coastal village is briefly disturbed as the Mosquito crews head into the night.
Signed limited edition of 350 prints. Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £150.00 Signed by Air Commodore John Ellacombe, Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 35 artist proofs. Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £210.00 Signed by Air Commodore John Ellacombe, Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland, Wing Commander Branse Burbridge and Squadron Leader Tom McPhee (deceased), in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 150 portfolio proofs. Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £260.00 Signed by :
Air Commodore John Ellacombe,
Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore,
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland,
Wing Commander Branse Burbridge (Companion Print)
and
Squadron Leader Tom McPhee (deceased), in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 50 remarques. Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £ Signed by Air Commodore John Ellacombe, Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland, Wing Commander Branse Burbridge and Squadron Leader Tom McPhee (deceased), in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of publishers proof. Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £170.00 Signed by Air Commodore John Ellacombe, Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland, Wing Commander Branse Burbridge and Squadron Leader Tom McPhee (deceased), in addition to the artist.
** (Ex Display) Signed limited edition of 350 prints. (Two copies reduced to clear) Image size 23 inches x 16 inches (58cm x 41cm). Price £120.00 Signed by Air Commodore John Ellacombe, Air Commodore E B Ted Sismore, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland, in addition to the artist.
ITEM CODE NT0006
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Mosquitos at Dusk by Nicolas Trudgian
- The Signatures
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 | Air Commodore John Ellacombe CB DFC*
John Ellacombe joined the RAF in 1939 and was posted to 151 Squadron in July 1940, immediately converting to Hurricanes. On 24th August he shot down a He111, but a week later his Hurricane was blown up in combat and he baled out, with burns. Rejoining his squadron a few months later, in February 1941 was posted to 253 Squadron where he took part in the Dieppe operations. On 28th July, flying a Turbinlite Havoc, he probably destroyed a Do217. Converting to Mosquitos, John was posted to 487 Squadron RNZAF, and during the build up to the Normandy Invasion and after, was involved in many ground attacks on enemy held airfields, railways, and other 'targets of opportunity'. He completed a total of 37 sorties on Mosquitos. Flying a de Havilland Mosquito XIII with a devastating set of four 20mm cannon in the nose, John Ellacombe flew deep into occupied France on the night before D-Day searching out and destroying German convoys and railway targets. As the Normandy campaign raged on, 151 Squadron intensified its interdiction sorties - including night attacks on Falaise and the Seine bridges. On August 1st Ellacombe took part in the famous attack by 23 Mosquitoes on the German bar-racks in Poitiers, led by Group Captain Wykeham Barnes. Ellacombe had first joined 151 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, direct from Flying Training School. Within weeks he had scored his first victory but also force landed in a field, having shot down a He 111, and baled out of a blazing Hurricane. He baled out a second time during the Dieppe Raid in 1942 but was picked up safely. Postwar he had a long and successful career in the RAE.
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Air Commodore E. B. Ted Sismore DSO DFC AFC
Air Commodore Edward Barnes Sismore DSO, DFC, and two bars, AFC was born on the 23rd June 1921 at Kettering, Northamptonshire. Sismore joined the RAF in 1939 as aircrew but became a Flight Sergeant on the 29th of August 1942. He was also later given an emergency commission as a general Duties Branch Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, being given a permanent commission on the 1st of February 1945. On 31st January 1943, Mosquitos bombed Berlin for the first time. Timed to coincide with a speech by Hermann Goering, three Mosquitos from 105 Squadron, led by Squadron Leader R W Reynolds and Ted Sismore, attacked at exactly 11.00 hrs to disrupt the Reichmarshall's speech for over an hour. Ted later navigated the final large daylight raid by 105 Squadron in May 1943, when both men led the attack on the Zeiss Optical factory and the glassworks in Jena. Ted Sismore planned the route for the famous Amiens prison raid, and master-navigated all three Gestapo raids in Denmark - Aarhaus, Shelhaus and Odensa. Sismore was awarded a bar to his DFC and was also honoured with the Order of Dannebrog, Degree of Knight. After the war Sismore remained in the Royal Air Force and with Squadron leader Mick martin (former dambuster) broke the Flying record for the London to Cape Town, 6,727 mile journey, completing it in 21 hours and 31 minutes. He was later awarded the Royal Aero Clubs Britannia Trophy for 1947. In 1962 Sismore was promoted to Group Captain and later became Station Commander of RAF Bruggen in Germany and in the late 1960s became commanding Officer of the Royal Air Forces Central Reconnaissance Establishment at RAF Brampton.
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Flight Lieutenant Douglas Hadland
Joining the RAF in 1941, Douglas completed his training in Canada and qualified as a navigator, returning to the UK to spend a brief time with the Navigation Research Flight before being posted to 162 Squadron in No.8 Pathfinder Group at Bourn, near Cambridge, flying Mosquitos. At the end of the war he went briefly to Black Bush Airport flying operations, dropping diplomatic mail in Oslo, Visbarden and Brussels before being posted back to 8 group with 692 Squadron Light Night Strike Force to prepare for the then proposed invasion of Japan.
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Wing Commander Branse Burbridge DSO* DFC*
Posted to 85 Squadron on night-fighters in October 1941, Branse Burbridge flew Havocs on his first tour, scoring just a single claim, but when he returned to 85 Squadron for a second tour - this time on Mosquitos, he was far more successful. During the period of the build up to the invasion of Normandy, and after, together with his radar navigator, Bill Skelton, he claimed 21 victories in a ten month spell. In June 1944 he also shot down three V-1s. With his final air victory, in January 1945, he passed the total set by John 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham to become the highest scoring RAF night fighter Ace of the war.
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Squadron Leader Tom McPhee CB DFC* (deceased)
Born in Greenock in November 1917, Tom McPhee joined the RAFVR in 1938, and at the outbreak of war Tom was called up and posted to 139 Squadron as a Sergeant Pilot flying Blenheims on low level bombing raids. He was commissioned in 1941. In August 1943 he joined 464 Squadron flying Mosquitos, and in February 1944 took part in 'Operation Jericho' when 18 Mosquitos of 140 Wing , nd TAF, attacked the Gestapo held prison at Amiens, liberating over 100 French Resistance fighters, many of whom had been condemned to execution the following morning. Flying number two on the raid he was promoted to Squadron Leader as a result. From June 1944 he was posted to a Forward Control Unit until the end of the war. Sadly passed away 22nd February 2009.
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