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| 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. | |
| Name | Info |
  Flt Lt Leonard Davies (deceased) *Signature Value : £35 | Joined 151 Squadron in July 1940 and was wounded in combat over the Thames estuary on August 18th of that year. He later flew Sunderlands in the Middle East. |
  Wing Commander Terence Kane (deceased) *Signature Value : £40 | Terence Michael Kane was born in London on September 9th 1920 and educated at Varndean School in Brighton. He joined the RAF on a short service commission on July 25th 1938, During his flying training he was injured in an Audax crash and admitted to hospital, however he was able to complete his training and was posted to CFS, Upavon, for an instructor's course, after which he joined the staff at 14 FTS, Kinloss and later Cranfield. He went to 7 OTU, Hawarden in July 1940, converted to Spitfires and joined No.234 Squadron on September 14th. On September 22nd 1940 he had shared in the destruction of a Junkers Ju88 bomber. The following day, only nine days after joining No.234 Squadron, Kane took off on a routine patrol when Messerschmitt Bf109s attacked his section. Kane shot one of them down but, during the combat, the engine of his Spitfire was damaged and he was forced to bale out at 6,000 feet. He had difficulty escaping from the fighter's cockpit but eventually managed to roll the aircraft over and fall clear. His parachute opened at 500 feet and seconds later he landed in the sea off the French coast. Floating in his life jacket, he was fortunate to be plucked from the sea within two hours by the German Navy. After being rescued, Kane was well treated before being taken to his first PoW camp. After initial interrogation he was sent to Oflag IXA/H, a converted medieval castle at Spangenberg, 15 miles south of Kassel. With his fellow RAF PoWs, Kane was moved between camps a number of times and on October 2nd 1941 he was in a large party that arrived at Oflag VIB near Warburg. A week later another group of RAF prisoners arrived, among whom Kane recognised his elder brother, Squadron Leader Mike Kane MBE, whose Whitley bomber had been shot down two months earlier. The younger Kane was unaware that his brother had been posted as missing, or that he had already made a daring escape bid – only to be recaptured when he was discovered in the hold of a Swedish ship in the docks at Lübeck. The two brothers were moved in May 1942 to the new Luftwaffe camp, Stalag Luft III at Sagan. They were sent to the East Compound, next to the one where the Great Escape took place in March 1944. On the night of January 27th 1945 the prisoners were given a few hours' notice to gather their belongings and prepare to leave. The Soviet Army was approaching from the east and the Germans had decided to evacuate the camp and march the prisoners westwards. During one of the coldest winters of the century, the men suffered great privation and numerous casualties on what became known as 'The Long March'. Eventually, Kane and his colleagues reached Lübeck where they were liberated by a scout car of the British 11th Armoured Division. Kane was flown back to England on May 8th after four-and-a half years as a PoW. Kane remained in the RAF, mainly on intelligence duties including two years in the Middle East. He left the service in 1950 but could not settle to civilian life and re-joined in February 1954. He specialised as a fighter controller, serving in Germany and in the United Kingdom. After a period as the defence adviser in Libya he became the project officer in the MoD for the 'Linesman' system, a network of radars and a centralised control system for the air defence of the UK. He finally he retired in 1974. He died on 5th August 2016. |
| The Aircraft : | |
| Name | Info |
| Spitfire | Royal 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. |
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This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com |
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Davies, Leonard 
Duckenfield, Byron 
