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Some other related items available from this site. | ||||
  Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. |   D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman. |   Out of the Night - The First To Go In by Robert Taylor. |   SOE Drop by Ivan Berryman. | |
| Signatures on these products | |
| *The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature and is for the unmatted version where available. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
| Name | Info |
| Warrant Officer Dennis Slack *Signature Value : £25 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Slack, Dennis (Warrant Officer Dennis Slack) Upon completing his training on Wellingtons, Dennis was assigned to 158 Sqn as a Bomb Aimer on Halifaxes. In 1943 he was shot down whilst on a raid to Berlin and spent the rest of the war as a PoW in Stalag Luft IV b. |
 Warrant Officer Harry Irons DFC (deceased) Died : 2020 *Signature Value : £40 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Irons, Harry (Warrant Officer Harry Irons DFC (deceased)) Joining the RAF at the age of 16 in 1940, he did 2 full tours as a Rear Gunner with 9 Squadron and took part in nearly all the famous raids of Bomber Command. He finished in 1945 at 158 Squadron flying Halifaxes. 'I had just turned 18 when we went on a gunnery school course. After that six-week training, we usually went for a further three months training to an Operational Training Unit. It so happened that 9 Squadron had just converted from Wellingtons to Lancasters and they were 14 air gunners short on the squadron, so they posted us from gunnery school after six weeks' training straight to the squadron. 'When I got there, I was approached by a Flt Lt Stubbs, who said to me: 'You're my new gunner. We've got a gunner already but he's been flying Wellingtons and he doesn't want to be a rear gunner. He wants to go in the mid-upper turret. You'll be the rear gunner.' But, he said, on my first raid, the best thing for me to do would be to go on the mid-upper turret. 'That way you can see exactly what's going on,' he said. 'My first raid in Lancasters with 9 Squadron was to Dusseldorf on September 10th, 1942. Every time we went on a bombing raid, we had to do an air test first. We would test our guns, test the bomb sight, test the hydraulics, test the engines, and when you landed, if everything was OK, you told the engineers that everything was fine for the raid. As we landed, the armourers arrived with the bomb load. I still remember now, it was one 4,000 pounder - one huge, fat bomb - and 1,200 incendiaries. 'Our bomb aimer was an 'old sweat'. We used to call him 'The Old Boy'. He was 26. He said that with that bomb load we had, we were definitely going to the Happy Valley. When we returned to the mess, we got ready to go to the briefing. We were briefed and the curtain came down off the target and there it was - Dusseldorf. 'That's right,' said the bomb aimer to me, 'that's where we are going, Dusseldorf.' Most of our raids were on the Ruhr Valley and the reason why I am alive now is because - I don't know why - but I never went to Berlin. I wouldn't be talking to you now if I had been to Berlin. I can assure you. 'We put all our gear on. It took about half an hour for the air gunner to get dressed with all the clothing. I clambered into the mid-upper turret and off we went. As we crossed the Dutch coast, I could see we were about 1,400 or 1,500 feet over the coast. I could see a huge number of lights coming up. Far below us there was light flak, in beautiful colours, but it never touched us because we were a little too high. 'We crossed over Holland and the bomb aimer said: 'We are approaching the target, Skipper,' so I decided to swing my turret around and have a look. I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. I could not believe my eyes seeing what was in front of me. The flak, the guns, the lights, the search lights. It was incredible and I was really, really, really frightened. The plane was bouncing about. Then the bomb aimer said: 'Bomb doors open' and in we go straight and level. 'On my left I could see an aircraft on fire going down, and one below us I could see exploding. And I thought to myself: 'We're in for something here!'. I could not believe that we were going to fly through this huge explosion. But we went through it. Then the pilot was talking to the bomb aimer, and the bomb aimer said: 'We have missed the target, Skipper. We're going to have to go round again.' And I thought: 'Dear, oh dear, we've got to go all the way round, come back and go through all that again.' Which we did. And on the second run, we dropped our bombs. 'Bomb doors closed. On the way home. Flying back, there were problems with the oxygen, so the skipper – he was 21 and on his second tour, and old hand – took us down lower. We had to drop below 10,000 feet, and as we crossed the Dutch coast, the light flak opened up. It was absolutely hair-raising. There were hundreds and hundreds of these lights flashing past us but, strangely enough, not one of them hit us. 'When we got back, we landed and had a look at our aircraft. There were about 10 or 15 holes, two or three inches wide, across the fuselage, flak holes caused by shrapnel from the shells. We must have caught them on the Dutch coast. We were lucky but I've seen much worse. We went in for a briefing, had a coffee and went to bed. That was my first raid. Later, I found out, that our skipper, who had finished his tour, unfortunately got killed during training a couple of weeks later.' Harry Irons died on 10th November 2020. |
| Flight Lieutenant Tommy Coles DFC *Signature Value : £20 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Coles, Tommy (Flight Lieutenant Tommy Coles DFC) Having completed training as a pilot, he joined 158 Sqn with whom he completed 37 Operations on Halifaxes and was awarded the DFC |
| Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp *Signature Value : £25 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Fripp, Alfie (Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp) An Observer with 57 Squadron, he was one of the first aircrew to be taken captive during WWII when his Blenheim was downed on 13th October 1939. His Commanding Officer at the time, Harry 'Wings' Day, was shot down just a few days before and went on to play a leading role in the Great Escape. Enduring over 5 years of captivity, he finally walked to his freedom in the Long March of 1945. – in luft 3 he was responsible for rationing the red cross parcels which he collcted from the train station – bribed polish workers who made maps of the area - entered the camp to ensure the escapees had food once free |
| Sergeant Len Manning *Signature Value : £20 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Manning, Len (Sergeant Len Manning) As a Rear Gunner on Lancasters with 57 Sqn, his aircraft was shot down by a German Night Fighter on only his 3rd Operation on 18th April 1944. Taken in by local French civilians, they kept him in hiding until the Allies advanced through Northern France before he finally got back to Britain on 5th September 1944. |
| Flight Lieutenant Tom Wingham *Signature Value : £25 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Wingham, Tom (Flight Lieutenant Tom Wingham) With 76 Sqn he was a Bomb Aimer on Halifaxes before his aircraft was shot down on a mission to Dusseldorf on 22nd April 1944. Using several well-organised 'escape lines', which were set up by local civilians throughout parts of Europe to help keep evading aircrew fed and clothed, he eventually made it through to Allied Lines on 13th September 1944. |
| Warrant Officer Reg Cleaver (deceased) *Signature Value : £35 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Cleaver, Reg (Warrant Officer Reg Cleaver (deceased)) Served with 419 (Moose) Squadron RCAF. Reg Cleaver was a Flight Engineer and Co-pilot on Halifaxes until On his 17th operation on 24 June 1943, on a raid to Wuppertal, his aircraft was shot down by German Fw190 nightfighters. After initially evading capture he was eventually captured in Holland where he was beaten by the Gestapo and taken as a PoW to Stalag Luft 6 until the end of the war. He died aged 89 when his car hit a tree in Brandon, he was given a funeral with full military honours at St. John the Baptist Church in Brinklow. |
| Flying Officer Jack Easter *Signature Value : £20 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Easter, Jack (Flying Officer Jack Easter) Joining the RAF in 1940 he was a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner on both Halifaxes and Liberators with 148 Sqn which served on Special Duties carrying out supply drops and pick-up missions to resistance groups. Before leaving the RAF in December 1945 he had completed 75 Operations and over 500 hours of flying. |
| Flight Lieutenant Tom Payne *Signature Value : £25 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Payne, Tom (Flight Lieutenant Tom Payne) Having joined the RAF in 1941 he completed training to become a pilot before joining 90 Sqn which made a significant contribution to the Battle of the Ruhr as well as raids on Hamburg and Peenemunde. Also serving with 15 Sqn he flew both Wellingtons and Lancasters. |
| Pilot Officer Maurice Spivey DFM *Signature Value : £25 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Spivey, Maurice (Pilot Officer Maurice Spivey DFM) Wireless Operator / Air Gunner with 158 Squadron. |
| Warrant Officer Rex Statham *Signature Value : £20 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Statham, Rex (Warrant Officer Rex Statham) Flight Engineer, 158 Squadron. |
| Flight Lieutenant Fred Tunstall DFC *Signature Value : £20 Editions signed : Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. | Tunstall, Fred (Flight Lieutenant Fred Tunstall DFC) Rear Gunner, 158 Squadron. |
| Flt Lt Len MacNamara DFC *Signature Value : £35 Editions signed : Small limited edition of 20 artist proofs. Small limited edition of 50 giclee art prints. | MacNamara, Len (Flt Lt Len MacNamara DFC) A Rear Gunner with 10 Squadron at Melbourne, before being transferred to 158 Squadron at Lissett. He completed 36 Operations, then after a spell at OTU, completed 10 more Operations with 75 New Zealand Squadron. |
| Squadrons Related to This Print |
| No.76 Sqn |
| Aircraft Related to This Print |
| Halifax |
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Signature(s) value alone : £300
Signature(s) value alone : £35