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Gauntlet by Anthony Saunders (P)


Gauntlet by Anthony Saunders (P)

Portsmouth August 26th 1940, the lone spitfire of Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone breaks the ranks and picks off one of the menacing Heinkels only to encounter an equally determined attack from a BF109.

We were brought to readiness in the middle of lunch and scrambled to intercept mixed bag of 100+ Heinkel IIIs and DO 17s approaching Portsmouth from the South. The controller did a first class job and positioned us one thousand feet above the target. with the sun behind us, allowing us to spot the raiders from a long way off. No escorting Messchersmitts were in sight at the time, although a sizable force was to turn up soon after. then something strange happened. I was about to give a ticking off to our chaps for misusing the R/T when I realised I was listening to German voices. It appeared we were both using the same frequency and, although having no knowledge of the language it sounded from the monotonous flow of the conversation that they were unaware of our presence. as soon as we dived towards the leading formation, however we were assailed immediately to loud shouts of Achtung Spitfuern Spitfuern! as our bullets began to take their toll. In spite of having taken jerry by surprise our bag was only six, with others claimed as damaged, before the remainder dived for cloud cover and turned for home. In the meantime the escorting fighters were amongst us when two of our fellows were badly shot up. Hector Maclean stopped a cannon shell on his cockpit, blowing his foot off above the ankle although, in spite of his grave injuries, he managed to fly his spitfire back to Tangmere to land with wheels retracted. Cyril Babbages aircraft was also badly damaged in the action. forcing him to abandon it and take to his parachute. He was ultimately picked up by a rescue launch and put ashore at Bognor, having suffered only minor injuries. I personally accounted for one Heinkel III in the action (Sandy Johnson) .

No. 602 City of Glasgow auxiliary squadron was a household name long before WWII began. It had been the first auxiliary squadron to get into the air in 1925, two of its members, Lord Clydeside and David McIntyre were the first to conquer Mount Everest in 1933, the squadron sweeped the board in gunnery and bombing in 1935, beating the regular squadrons at their own game. It was the first auxiliary Squadron to be equipped with Spitfire Fighters as far back as March 1939 and it was the first squadron to shoot down the first enemy aircraft on British soil. The squadron moved south from Drem airfield in East Lothian on August 14th 1940 to relieve the already battered no. 145 squadron at Westhampnett, Tangmeres satelitte station in Sussex. The squadron suffered 5 casualties during the battle. The squadron remained at Westhampnett until December 1940 to be replaced by no. 610 auxiliary airforce squadron. No 602 squadron itself remained active up until 1957 when it was put into mothballs.
Item Code : DHM0436PGauntlet by Anthony Saunders (P) - This Edition
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
ORIGINAL
PAINTING		 Original painting by Anthony Saunders.

Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm)Artist : Anthony SaundersHalf
Price!		Now : £2750.00

Quantity:
All prices on our website are displayed in British Pounds Sterling



Other editions of this item : Gauntlet by Anthony Saunders.DHM0436
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINT Signed limited edition of 950 prints.
Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!		Image size 20 inches x 13 inches (51cm x 33cm) Johnstone, Sandy
Mount, Mickey
MacLean, Hector
+ Artist : Anthony Saunders

Signature(s) value alone : £190		£60 Off!
Supplied with one or more free art prints!		Now : £120.00VIEW EDITION...
PRINT Bonus signature edition of 10 prints from the signed limited edition of 950 prints.
Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!		Image size 20 inches x 13 inches (51cm x 33cm) Johnstone, Sandy
Mount, Mickey
MacLean, Hector
Thom, Alex
+ Artist : Anthony Saunders

Signature(s) value alone : £240		£70 Off!
Supplied with one or more free art prints!		Now : £130.00VIEW EDITION...
GICLEE
CANVAS		 Limited edition of 50 giclee canvas prints. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm)Artist : Anthony Saunders
on separate certificate		£90 Off!Now : £370.00VIEW EDITION...
General descriptions of types of editions :



Extra Details :
About this edition :
This original oil on canvas aviation painting by Anthony Saunders is one of his early paintings of the Battle of Britain, and impressed many of the pilots who signed the art prints. The canvas which is 30 inches by 20 inches is now available at this fantastic price - to commission this type of painting now would cost in excess of £7000. Once this small stock of paintings has gone, the chance of a real bargain painting by Anthony Saunders will have passed.

The Aircraft :
NameInfo
SpitfireRoyal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.
He111The German medium bomber the Heinkel He111 was designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter. The first He111 flew on 24th of February 1935, piloted by chief test pilot Gerhard Nitschke. The Heinkel He111 was the primary medium bomber of the Luftwaffe during the opening years of World War Two and the major bomber during the Battle of Britain. It was also used as a torpedo bomber during the Battle of the Atlantic. The Heinkel He111 was used in all theatres, Western, Eastern, Middle East and Northern Africa. He111 continued in production into 1944 and by the end of the war it was used primarily as a transport. Its origins came from a pre war airliner design.
Artist Details : Anthony Saunders
Click here for a full list of all artwork by Anthony Saunders


Anthony Saunders

Anthony Saunders must be one of the most outstanding naval and aviation artists around today. He has extraordinary skill in portraying scenes of aerial combat that took place before he was born. Although in his own words Anthony prefers the artistic side of painting war aircraft rather than the historic side, he will spend many hours researching a subject, making sure that it is technically correct in every detail before applying any oil to canvas. The results of this technical and artistic skill are easy to see in his paintings; breathtaking skyscapes graced with the machines of aerial warfare beautifully brought to life with the rich colour that is unique to oil paint. With this skill it is hardly surprising that Anthony also paints many subjects other than aviation; scenes from Crimea and Waterloo are a particular favourite. He is equally at home with landscapes and portraits.

More about Anthony Saunders

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