Article about: An old saying holds that "The French fight for glory, the English fight for land, and the Americans fight for souvenirs." While there is no doubt truth to this observation, may I n
An old saying holds that "The French fight for glory, the English fight for land, and the Americans fight for souvenirs."
While there is no doubt truth to this observation, may I note that the British were also quite good at collecting souvenirs, and what follows in an excellent example of that fact.
Below is a painting by Geoff Nutkins, the legend for which reads "Smoke rises from the wreckage of a Dornier Do 17 bomber, part of a force sent to attack RAF Kenley on 18th August 1940. The Dornier was brought down near Biggin Hill by Sergeant Ron Brown of No.111 Squadron, whose Hurricane flies low overhead.
This is then a photograph of the actual Do-17 that was shot down. Notice any obvious differences?
Well, in the painting the swastika on the tail is evident. In the photograph the swastika has been cut out and no doubt rests somewhere today in a Great Britain collection, such as that at The Shoreham Aircraft Museum - Exhibits which houses several pieces of this bomber. As a matter of fact, I'm told that guards had to be posted to keep out the souvenir hunters.
Fortunately, before the guards got there, some souvenirs ended up in the hands of certain craftsman that prepared desk displays such as that which follows:
I purchased this off ebay about 15 years ago. Those were the days.
Incidentally, all crew members of the Do-17 survived and August 18, 1940 is referred to as "The Hardest Day". An excellent book by that name was authored by Alfred Price.
Nice little display piece..The painting is very nice. The photo is good too it is the first war time photo were I have seen eletric pylons in the background!!Something you don't really think about? but they must have been there?.Thanks again Terry.
eletric pylons in the background!!Something you don't really think about?
They certainly were - dangerously close to some airfields, too ( such as Little Staughton where at least one Mosquito fell victim to them ) and of course more than one 'Dambuster' Lanc was brought down by pylons on the Continent.
Back to topic - that is a very nice contemporary BofB souvenir !
Based upon harryamb2's reference to this being Lamberty's Dornier, I dug a bit more into Geoff Nutkins' site (the artist of the print) and determined the following:
"The Dornier crashed and burned-out at Leaves Green, near Biggin Hill at 1.30pm. Hptmn J. Roth (Staffelkapitän) and Oberlt R.Lamberty were captured badly burned. Hptmn G. Peters and Oberfw V. Geier baled out too low and were captured badly injured in heavy landings. Fw H Eberhard deployed his parachute whilst still in the aircraft and baled out very low but amazingly landed unhurt."
I also noticed what could be the tail swastika on the back wall of the Shoreham Aircraft Museum. Though small and hard to distinguish, here's the pic. Again my thanks to all for your input! There are few things better than to be able to establish a detailed provenance on a piece.
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