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The Railway Paintings

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Jubilee class 4 - 6 - 0 locomotive no. 45684 Jutland at Kettering, with a northbound express from St Pancras. Boys from the town school mingle with porters and passengers enjoying the atmosphere of a main line station. The engine was built for the LMS in 1936 and withdrawn from service at the end of 1965.

The first train run by the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society arriving at Rhydyronen Station on Whit Monday, 14th May 1951, hauled by locomotive No.2 Dolgoch, built for the railway in 1866. Published in May 2014, Striking Through Clouds is the only comprehensive history of 514 Sqn. Drawn from the squadron's official Operational Record Book, Striking Through Clouds covers the entire life of the unit from its formation in September 1943 to disbanding in August 1945. Every raid is documented with the contemporaneous summary and combat reports with night fighters. Details are given of the losses of all aircraft and crew, along with a researched explanation of the circumstances. Choose any two prints in this special offer and the lower priced item is half price. (Any free bonus prints already supplied with an item are separate and will also be included !)

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On 22nd August 1945, the ORB simply noted '514 Squadron disbanded'. The written record suggests no fanfare or fuss to mark the end of the two-year life of the unit. There was a Farewell Dinner in the Officers’ Mess, and on that note 514 Squadron passed into history.

A 1930s steam locomotive on the Great Western Railway passes through a level crossing, while a family sit on the embankment with their blue Austin 7 parked nearby.

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The strength of the squadron was soon increased to three flights of ten aircraft. 514 Squadron aircraft bore two means of identification; the serial number, unique to each aircraft and which stayed with it permanently along with the squadron code, which was often changed, particularly when individual aircraft were transferred between Flights. This was in the form JI- followed by a single letter (for aircraft of ‘A’ and ‘B’ flights) and A2- (for ‘C’ Flight). The ORB usually shortened this to the single letter itself, e.g. JI-B was shortened to ‘B’ whilst A2-B was shortened to ‘B2’. ‘A’ Flight used the codes JI-A to JI-K (omitting JI-I), ‘B’ Flight JI-L to JI-U and ‘C’ Flight A2-B to A2-L (again omitting A2-I). It has been suggested that this was to confuse German Intelligence. Each flight was commanded by a Squadron Leader, these changing periodically as the individual officer reached the end of his tour, was transferred elsewhere or, in the sad case of S/Ldr Ernest Sly, lost on operations. A decorated veteran of previous tours, S/Ldr Sly was the highest-ranking officer lost by 514 Squadron on ops. Bomber Command had, by now, demonstrated its capabilities as a tactical force, capable of the precision bombing of entrenched German forces even whilst in close proximity to Allied troops. There were occasional, nonetheless tragic, errors; a number of Canadian ground troops were killed by bombs when they had, for an unknown reason, used yellow flares which were confused with target indicators of the same colour, in use that day. Civilian casualties were also, regrettably, inevitable though these were much lower than might have been anticipated. With air supremacy established over the Normandy bridgehead, and most targets within range of supporting fighter cover, Bomber Command was now able to operate over France by day as well as night. As the war approached its conclusion, operations continued against oil facilities, as well as communications lines and troop concentrations as the Allied ground forces moved towards, and eventually into, Germany itself. The squadron took part in the controversial raid on Dresden, this being seen at the time as a routine operation to a communications target. In the prevailing circumstance of total war, morals and ethics could not be a key concern for the squadron as an organisation. It must never be forgotten that this was a fight for national, as well as personal, survival. The atrocities of the Nazi regime, now so clear, mean that the endeavours of the squadron and its crews were never anything less than absolutely necessary. Having developed the GH tactics to a degree that impressive results were regularly being achieved, 3 Group was allowed the latitude to operate independently of other Bomber Command groups when required, although the group’s aircraft participated in major raids until the end of hostilities.

Probabaly set in the 1930s or 40s, a young boy runs along the pathway near the railway line as the steam engine passes, one of the classic railway locomotive images by one of the leading railway artists.Great Western Railway 2-6-2 T Prairie Tank locomotive no.4571 heads a two coach local train through hilly countryside on a cross-country route. The driver of an Austin saloon car has pulled in off the road just in time for his sons to scramble up the bank to have a closer look at the passing train. No.4571 was withdrawn in 1961 after nearly 37 years in service. With a foreword by Flight Lieutenant Alex Campbell RCAF, DFC, the book brings to life the efforts and travails of 514 Sqn and its members.

The Luftwaffe, recognising the switch in focus from Germany to more tactical targets in France, lost no time in moving its night fighters in response. This resulted in continuing losses to the squadron's aircraft and crews, though greater support was available on the ground to aircrew who managed to escape from their crippled Lancasters, including the irrepressible F/O Greenburgh, shot down over France in June 1944. In the course of its two-year operational life, 514 Sqn flew 3675 sorties on 218 bombing raids, in the course of which it dropped 14,650 tons of bombs. A further four mining operations were also undertaken, with 70 sea mines being dropped. 426 aircrew and nine ground crew lost their lives whilst serving with the squadron. 66 Lancasters were lost on operations with a further fourteen crashing either on ops or local flying. Twelve were brought down by flak, 38 by night fighters (other unaccounted losses are considered as most likely to have been shot down by night fighters, due to intense enemy activity on the occasion in question), one collided with another aircraft, and at least three were brought down by bombs from higher-flying aircraft whilst six were lost without trace. Of these it is possible that two 514 Sqn aircraft collided over the North Sea whilst en route to or from Leipzig, and another aircraft possibly collided with another squadron’s Lancaster which crashed near Caen. None of these aircraft ever having been found, it is impossible to know for certain. The war's end meant a few short months of more rewarding activity for 514 Sqn. Operation Manna, the dropping of desperately needed food parcels for the Dutch, was followed by a long series of flights to collect prisoners of war from France and Italy. Tragedy was still not finished with the squadron when a Lancaster carrying 24 POWs and six crew crashed on leaving Juvincourt in France with the loss of all on board.Trams in a classic British city street scene - we have been informed it is Leeds - but is reminiscent of any big British city of this era. The 'Star and Garter' pub is to the left of the picture as the No.156 tram passes on the number 14 route.

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