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Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. (AP) - Ivan Berryman Art

Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. (AP)


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Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. (AP)

Having survived the bombing raid on Karlsruhe, it was the cruelest of ironies that Halifax III LK789 (MP-L) of 76 Sqn should fall victim to a lone German fighter that was lurking in the night skies above Norfolk. Witnessed by another Halifax, LK785 (MP-T), the upward firing waist guns of Lt Wolfgang Wenning's Messerschmitt Me410 of II/KG51 found their mark, expertly exploiting the blind spot of the Halifax, sending LK789 down in flames near Welney, killing all but one of her crew. Wenning's victory was to be short lived, however, the German being killed in a mid air collision with an RAF Airspeed Oxford just three days later during another intruder operation over the midlands.
Item Code : B0503APUnseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. (AP) - This Edition
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
ARTIST
PROOF
Limited edition of 20 artist proofs.

Image size 16 inches x 12 inches (41cm x 31cm) Leckie, Bill
+ Artist : Ivan Berryman


Signature(s) value alone : £50
£50 Off!Now : £90.00

Quantity:
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Other editions of this item : Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman.B0503
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINTLimited edition of 30 giclee prints. Image size 16 inches x 12 inches (41cm x 31cm) Leckie, Bill
+ Artist : Ivan Berryman


Signature(s) value alone : £50
£50 Off!Now : £70.00VIEW EDITION...
ARTIST
PROOF
Large Size Limited edition of 5 artist proofs. Image size 26 inches x 17 inches (66cm x 43cm)Artist : Ivan BerrymanAdd any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!£200.00VIEW EDITION...
PRINTLarge Size Limited edition of 10 giclee prints. Image size 26 inches x 17 inches (66cm x 43cm)Artist : Ivan Berryman£10 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £145.00VIEW EDITION...
GICLEE
CANVAS
Limited edition of 10 giclee canvas prints. Size 16 inches x 10 inches (41cm x 25cm)Artist : Ivan Berryman
on separate certificate
£100 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £220.00VIEW EDITION...
ORIGINAL
ACRYLIC
Original acrylic painting by Ivan Berryman. Size 16 inches x 12 inches (41cm x 31cm)Artist : Ivan Berryman£300 Off!Now : £1100.00VIEW EDITION...
POSTCARDCollector's Postcard - Restricted Initial Print Run of 40 cards.Postcard size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)none£2.70VIEW EDITION...
General descriptions of types of editions :





Extra Details : Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman. (AP)
About this edition :

Bill Leckie signing this print edition :


About all editions :

The crew of Halifax LK789 :

Pilot: P/O. Douglas Robert Dibbins 171730 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 21. Killed
Fl/Eng: Sgt. Gerard John Head 1801075 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 20. Killed
Nav: Sgt. Kenneth Craven Oswald 1493028 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 22. Killed
Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. John Raymond Bathe 1395700 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 30. Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. James George Davenport 1337654 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 21. Killed
Air/Gnr: Sgt. Norris Mervyn Harrison 1819564 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 19. Killed
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. John Anderson 1573409 Age. 20. Injured



Further research by Mike Harrison :

Took off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor at 22.09 hrs to attack Karlsruhe. 637 aircraft took part in the raid made up from 369 Lancasters, 259 Halifax and 9 Mosquitoes. A total of 19 aircraft, 11 Lancasters, 8 Halifax were lost (1 from 76 Squadron) 3% of the force. According to reports, cloud over the target and a strong wind which pushed the Pathfinders too far north, spoiled this attack. The markers appeared to be very scattered, consequently the bombing was not concentrated, however many large fires were seen reflected through the cloud and several explosions were also observed. Enemy fighter activity was also handicapped owing to the 10/10th cloud, and the ground defences were ineffective. Only the northern part of Karlsruhe was seriously damaged and most of the bombs fell outside the city. Later as the main force recrossed the English coast, enemy intruder aircraft were patrolling over Eastern England. Halifax LK789 was attacked by a Me410 flown by Leutnant Wolfgang Wenning of II./KG51 at a height of 1,000 mtrs, 20km NE of Cambridge. During the attack, another 76 Squadron Halifax, LK785 T-Topsy piloted by Lieutenant Carl Larsen R.N.A.F was flying on the right hand side of the bomber. The following eye witness account is by Sgt H.W Kirtland the wireless operator onboard T-Topsy :

We were within an hour from base and safety and had no idea intruders were operating. As usual, when routed up England from the south coast, the risk of collision was our main concern, hence the Nav lights were on. From my position on the port side of the aircraft and immediately below the pilot, I had a small window which gave restricted view forward and downward on the port side. Alerted by the Skipper's shout, I looked out and saw the Halifax curving down on fire until it hit the ground. Almost certainly it had been attacked by a night fighter with an upward firing 20mm cannon. He would have stalked the Halifax from below - our blind spot aimed to strike between the bomber's fuselage and inner engines. We didn't see any parachutes, which we always looked for if the gunners reported a bomber in flames. I well remember how angry Larsen was over this we all were - it could easily been us. To be told by the Squadron Intelligence officer that there was no intruder activity that night was too much

Halifax LK789 crashed opposite Colony farm near Welney, Norfolk at 04.20 hrs. The only survivor was the rear gunner, Fl/Sgt John Anderson. He was rescued by the Welney fire brigade after being trapped in his turret and taken to R.A.F. Hospital Ely, with a fractured femur and lacerations of the scalp. After recovering he visited the local fire crew to thank them and Mr Goodger, the senior member. All those killed were taken to their home towns for burial. The names of the crew are listed on the memorial in York Minster. This takes the form of The Astronomical clock, in the North transept. Below the clock face is a glass topped case with a book of remembrance listing all the names of some18,000 allied airmen who died operating from Yorkshire and the North East between 1939 and 1945. A page is turned every day of the year.



The crew of LK789

Lt. Wolfgang Wenning and Fw. Gustav Delp lost their lives two days later on the 27th of April 1944 during another intruder operation over England. Their Me410 collided with an Airspeed Oxford LX196 piloted by F/O. Gregor Stephen Moore R.C.A.F whilst in circuit of Church Lawford airfield. Both aircraft crashed near Frankton, Rugby, all onboard were killed. Investigation of Halifax LK789 crash site by Jeff Carless, East Anglian Aircraft Research Group. We did make some enquiries regarding the crash of the Halifax when researching in the Welney area, we found a couple of people that knew of it. One was in bed at his house on the drove opposite to Colony Farm and was woken by cannon shells falling on the roof. He recalled that the aircraft crashed in the field opposite Colony Farm. It was described as having crashed flat rather than diving into the ground. Two of the engines were in that field and the other two ended up further down the drove. Both he and the other witness recalled that one of the crew survived the crash.

Signatures on this item
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare.
NameInfo


The signature of Pilot Officer Bill Leckie, AEM, KW (deceased)

Pilot Officer Bill Leckie, AEM, KW (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50

Bill Leckie was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 23rd June 1921, joined the Royal Air Force in June 1941 and went to St Johns Wood on the 15th of September 1941. Bill Leckie started his flying training on the 4th of April 1942 at Stoke Orchard near Cheltenham in Tiger Moths. He went to Canada on the 26th of May 1942 at Monkton for further training until June before going on to Detroit and on to Pensacola, Florida on the 1st October 1942, flying Stearman and Catalina Flying boats until 31st March 1943 when Bill went to Prince Edward Island for further training. Back in the UK, Bill was expecting to join a Coastal Command squadron flying Catalinas but was transferred to Bomber Command and a conversion course on to Whitleys at Kinloss Scotland on the 22nd of February 1944, and joined 77 Squadron at Full Sutton on the 19th July 1944 on Halifaxes, flying 6 bombing missions, one being the bombing of the Flying Bomb Factory at Russesheim, before transferring to 148 Special Duties squadron on the 19th of August 1944 and going to Brindisi. Pilot Officer Bill Leckie was involved in the dropping of supplies (guns, ammunition and food) to the Polish during the Warsaw uprising. This was a costly mission and many aircraft were lost. (Bill was flying Halifax JD319 (FS - G). For his efforts in air-dropping supplies during this period, Bill Leckie was awarded the Polish Cross of Valour (KW). Pilot Officer Bill Leckie was also the Pilot for Operation Ebensburg on Sunday 8th April 1945. Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special) JP254 of 148 Special Duties Squadron carried out the misison to drop four SOE agents and their equipment near Alt Aussee salt mine in the Austrian Alps. Thier mission was to secure and protect 6,755 items of the worlds greatest works of art that had been looted and stored by the Germans as they swept across Europe. With the allied forces closing in, the Germans had planned to blow up the entire store to prevent the artworks from falling into the hands of the liberators. Once on the ground, the four agents linked up with local resistance fighters and the mine and its valuable contents were eventually secured, the explosives made safe and the entire cache taken into the safe keeping of the 80th US Infantry Division as the German occupation of Europe crumbled. Bill Leckie stayed with 148 Squadron until 18th May 1945 when he was posted to Cairo with 216 Squadron (Dakotas) of Transport Command and on 1st January 1946 to 78 Squadron flying Dakotas again until 1st June 1946 , finally leaving the RAF on the 18th September 1946. He died in October 2021.
The Aircraft :
NameInfo
HalifaxRoyal Air Force heavy Bomber with a crew of six to eight. Maximum speed of 280mph (with MK.VI top speed of 312mph) service ceiling of 22,800feet maximum range of 3,000 miles. The Halifax carried four .303 browning machine guns in the tail turret, two .303 browning machines in the nose turret in the MK III there were four .303 brownings in the dorsal turret. The Handley Page Halifax, first joined the Royal Air Force in March 1941 with 35 squadron. The Halifax saw service in Europe and the Middle east with a variety of variants for use with Coastal Command, in anti Submarine warfare, special duties, glider-tugs, and troop transportation roles. A total of 6177 Halifax's were built and stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1952
Me410"Hornet"

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