With all things Lanc in the news, some stunning artwork and a fascinating tale

[NutLoose]

of Bravery, one of many acts during the war.

A Terrifying Beauty ? the Art of Piotr Forkasiewicz > Vintage Wings of Canada (http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/483/language/en-CA/A-Terrifying-Beauty-the-Art-of-Piotr-Forkasiewicz.aspx)

http://www.vintagewings.ca/Portals/0/Vintage_Stories/News%20Stories%20K/Terrible%20Beauty/TerrifyingBeauty78.jpg

[Lyneham Lad]

Amazing. Thanks for the link.

[Stanwell]

Nutty,
Never before have I seen such evocative, detailed and accurate depictions of those subjects.
I think I'm going to have to go have a lie down now!
Thanks so much for that link.


Cheers.

[chiglet]

Sh!tty death.... Fantastic

[smujsmith]

Superb find Nutty, this is fantastic detailed artwork, and a tribute in every way to the bravery of the guys who dared to man the Lancasters on ops. I was lucky to be a team leader on the re skin of PA474 main planes at Abingdon around 1980. I well remember the structure and texture if the aircraft, which is perfectly reproduced in this work. Thanks for the link.

Smudge:ok:

[Chugalug2]

Wow! What detail, what knowledge, what skill! Not art of course, art is an unmade bed or a pile of bricks, you know the stuff we pay through the nose for! This is Remembrance, a far more worthy calling. Respect!

Not sure why the writer has it in for the RAF though, simply because its Polish members were excluded from the Victory Parade. All Poles were excluded, the shame is not that of the RAF but of a spineless British Government. The shame of the RAF is that its CinC Bomber Command, alone amongst commanders of his ilk, was not ennobled. A victim of the spite of much lesser men!

[Wensleydale]

Chug...


Don't forgot that this was all politics! The victory parade was in 1946 and the new Labour government did not want to upset the Russians - if we included the Poles in the parade then we might have been reminded of the primary war aim of 1939 when Russia was in league with Germany. Don't forget that many Poles who returned home after the war were executed.


As for Bomber Command.... Churchill was coming up for re-election in 1945, and was receiving much criticism from the pacifists and clergy in the House of Lords over Dresden. The raid on Dresden was a sledgehammer to crack a nut because Churchill wanted to demonstrate to Stalin what Bomber Command could do (Stalin had asked for the raids on communications centres in the path of the Russian forces and so Harris was instructed to do a good job. The Germans - who were wary of possible war crimes trials that would come along after the war - inflated the casualty figures and for the first time released footage of the full destruction of a German town.) Therefore, Churchill in true politician manner washed his hands of Bomber Command and blamed Harris.


Its all about votes in the end - not what is right.

[Chugalug2]

Oh, I don't forget Wensleydale, and nor do Harris's Old Lags. They, and more importantly in their eyes their CinC, were betrayed by the very man that prevailed on them to make ever greater sacrifice night after night. Harris was also the victim of the coterie who plotted against him in the RAF High Command, thus joining Dowding in that august company of RAF Commanders that counted as against those that didn't.

The Poles as you so rightly remind us were betrayed by an equally contemptible body, the post war Labour government. That they did it in our name merely contaminated us all by their shame. I had the honour to serve along side many Polish RAF officers who stayed on because they could not go home, for the very reasons that you describe. It was the RAF's good fortune that they retained such indomitable men, albeit for 'political' reasons!

I'm sorry, but with respect I must disagree with you. It is about right, and wrong. It is as simple as that!

[Wander00]

And to keep Stalin sweet many Russians, Poles and other E Europeans forcibly repatriated after the war, to end up murdered or sent to labour camps or dreadful prisons

[MPN11]

Awesome art, and the link copied to a few friends.

Thanks, NutLoose :ok:

[Courtney Mil]

Simply stunning. Thank you, Nutty. I don't care what the others say about you, I think you're a good egg! :ok:

[BA Bluntie]

The artwork leads to many true stories.

The two S/Ldrs McKinna and Foster both with DFC and bar lost with 97 Sqn Lanc JA708 on 23/9/43 in the Mannheim raid were the Sqn Gunnery and Navigation Leaders respectively, both taking the place of already tour expired members of a crew on its last trip.

RIP

[teeteringhead]

The raid on Dresden was a sledgehammer to crack a nut because Churchill wanted to demonstrate to Stalin what Bomber Command could do Ah Dresden! Like many myths it doesn't stand up to dispassionate analysis.

Early grossly inflated estimates of civilian casualties on the night of 13/14 Feb 45 were as high as 135 000 (More than either of the first 2 nukes - see below). Modern disinterested historians have revised this down to more like 35 000. Of course at the time, the overestimate suited the propaganda machines of both (all three?) sides.

Still awful, but put it into context:

6 Apr 41 - Luftwaffe on Belgrade (first major, concentrated city bombing of WW2) 17 000 (London Blitz of late 1940/early 1941 took 8 months to kill 30 000 civilians)

23 Aug 42 - Luftwaffe on to Stalingrad - 40 000

28/29 Jul 43 - Allies on Hamburg - 42 000

9/10 Mar 45 - US on Tokyo - 84 000

and of course

Hiroshima - 122 000 (at the time or very soon after. (Although Fat Man a few days later "only" managed 49 000 at Nagasaki).

I would emohasise that these are overwhelmingly the civilian casualties on a single day/night. I have references for all those figures if anyone's that interested.

[Tankertrashnav]

And to keep Stalin sweet many Russians, Poles and other E Europeans forcibly repatriated after the war, to end up murdered or sent to labour camps or dreadful prisons

True, but not as straightforward as many believe. Many years ago I had an interesting discussion with a former POW who had been in one of the many camps in the East which were "liberated" by the Red Army. Any hopes of an early release were dashed, and the inmates soon realised that the Soviets were keeping them in captivity as pawns in Stalin's game. He and the rest of the camp occupants were not released until some months after VE day, and he was always firmly of the opinion that their release was as a quid pro quo for the repatriation of those described above to the USSR.

[cuefaye]

Stunningly good images, and very cleverly created. A relatively new form of art. Will it be more, or less, appealing than hitherto traditional aviation artwork? Personal taste I suppose.

[Wander00]

TTN - exactly. That was why Stalin had to be kept "sweet", but never quite sure how so many Allied prisoners ended up in Russian hands, and thus giving the Russians the ability to exert so much pressure on this issue