And the British by Night by kjer_99
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Description
In the European Theater, during World War II, the Americans flew the daylight bombing missions over Nazi Germany, and the British bomber crews flew the night missions. Air Vice Marshall "Bomber" Harris ordered the armor of the British Lancasters removed to reduced the weight of the aircraft so more bombs could be carried per mission. Things were so cramped in the Avro Lancaster Mark II's that crew had to fly without their parachutes strapped on. If their craft was mortally hit, the Brits only had seconds to put on their parachutes and bail out. As a result, only one or two usually managed to bail out; and often none made it out. Most Americans only hear about the daylight raids of the B-17s and the high casualty rate among our fliers, but the British had a much higher crew mortality than we did. This is my tribute to our British ally's heroism.
A squadron of German Foche-wulf 109 A3's has just begun their straffing run on a British wing of Avro Lancasters, shortly after the latter has crossed the German border headed for Hamburg. It's going to be another hard night for the Brits.
I deliberately stuck to that moment, that limen, that place that is between two things, yet neither; in this case, that instant between a quiet flight and heavy action, life and death.
Models for both aircraft are by Vincent Moyet. Thanks, Vincent, for some great models! I think Vincent probably has more claim to this picture than I do. I did make a terrain but you can hardly make it out. Anyway, I hope the picture meets with your approval.
I'm not going to say enjoy, this time. Just look--and remember.
Jeremy
Comments (5)
Django
Cool actionshot .. i would have put some blur om the closest machines .. maybe some streaks on the propellertextures.. but still... great work
colas
Superb artwork! Excellent alike always V!!!
sackrat
Nicely done.
lookoo
Yep. First come the pathfinders who will drop markers above the city center. Then comes the first massive wave that will drop their bombs on the city. Next comes the second wave with their phosphor incendiary bombs that incinerate the city turned to debris and will create an unimaginable firestorm. The third wave will drop explosive bombs into the firestorm to make sure that the firefighter crews are killed and as many fleeing civilliansas possible who are not ripped apart, burned or suffocated yet. So I presume it's going to be an even harder night for the 1.6 million civillians caught in the firestorm. Especially those 40,000 civillians who are going to be killed in these raids of the summer of '43. The firestorm will cause the bells of the venerable churches to toll by themselves like announcing the end of the world. My grandma and mother were harrassed by Nazi officials for having too much Jewish blood. This is what Bomber Command did to liberate them. They narrowly survived, huddled in wet blankets, their hairs, and eyelashes burning. By daylight smouldering books would rain from the sky in the far away city of Luebeck, carried for dozens of miles through the air by the firestorm. Then the USAAF would taker over. My mom saw her first liberator into the face when he was strafing survivors at a Red Cross service site. He was flying so deep that she could see his face. Aunt Ruth couldn't see him. She had been blinded by the British phosphor the night before. I admire the men who won the Battle of Britain; I also admire the sacrifice of US bomber units who lost one third on every raid on key war industry installations on relatively accurate day raids. I can't help to qualify the indiscriminate mass murder of innocent civillians through the total destruction of entire cities other than heinous war crimes.
kjer_99
Actually, I am very glad that you posted this. I am very much aware of the cost of war to civilians on the ground. Contrary to what you may suppose, I am not a glorifier of war. It is the most perverse action that any nation or group can undertake. One of the things that concerns me is that most young people (of all nations) just have no idea how horrific a global war is. But I am fascinated by the heroism of men and women of all nations who have experienced courage under fire. Thank you for sharing the experiences of your family and for providing a proper perspective on what the ultimate result of these missions all too often was. I would like to do a picture that dipicts what you have described but lack the ability to do so in a way that would not seem trivial.