The Successful Business Trip

My print depicts a heavily armed trawler being attacked by a Bristol Beaufighter from the North Coates Strike Wing. The effort of the Strike Wing during the war was to severely cripple the German war effort by cutting off the raw materials to the manufacturing industry.
Many thousands of tons of shipping were destroyed by these attacks, but sadly at great cost. Costal Command attacks such as the one shown suffered the highest percentage loses of any theatre of air warfare, with heavily armed merchant ships including innocent trawlers filling the sky with anti-aircraft flak.

I was inspired to paint my picture after being commissioned to produce a painting for a re-union of Strike Wing Association members - a formal formation of all three squadrons (254, 143, and 236) that operated at the same time during the war. I was amazed at the bravery of those men and felt, having spoken to several members of the Strike Wing Association, that an action scene had to be caught in paint. Having seen several paintings of the Beaufighter in a similar situation I rose to the challenge of catching the Beaufighter from a rearward aspect.

I hope my efforts will help to perpetuate and nurture the memory of the airmen, navigators and pilots who gave their lives for us and of course those who were lucky enough to have survived.

Signed by Gp. Cpt. R.E. Burns CBE. DFC. CO. 245 Squadron. Plus artist

Signed limited edition of 500 - Litho print overall size 25" x 19½", image size 24" x 18½"