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Painted in oils on canvas. 2004. 450mm x 600mm. |
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‘Taxi to Langley’ The painting is set in the early 1940s and a group of Air Transport Auxiliary pilots are arriving at Langley, near Slough, in modern Berkshire, the main Hawker production plant for the Hurricane fighter. Awaiting them are what would probably have been, in the peak war years, just one day’s production of this vital R.A.F. fighter, ready to be ferried directly to operational Squadrons or to dispersal units around the country. The headquarters of the A.T.A. was at White Waltham, near Maidenhead and it was also home of the No.1 Ferry Pool. Between early 1940 and late 1945, a total of over 1,300 pilots, as well as a number of flight engineers and radio officers flew with the A.T.A. Mostly, pilots flew alone, using eye, compass, maps and stopwatch, without any modern navigation aids or even radio. They had to contend with all weather conditions, as well as other hazards such as barrage balloon defences around the factory airfields from which they flew. They flew brand new aircraft that had received just the minimum testing. And they flew obsolete aircraft that were past their useful service life. A total of 153 A.T.A. aircrew lost their lives, including sixteen women. Every type of aircraft was flown by the A.T.A., from single-engine trainers to four-engine bombers, a total of over 300,000 in just over 5 years. Their taxi-aircraft alone, such as the Avro Anson shown here, flew a total of 180,000 hours. At present there is no adequate commemoration anywhere in the U.K. of the vital wartime role carried out by these civilian pilots. This painting, in its own small way, aims to be a commemoration of those gallant pilots and aircrew. ____________________ |