| | AMAZING VALUE! - The value of the signatures on this item is in excess of the price of the print itself! | | Item Code : DHM0869 | Combat Over Normandy by Graeme Lothian. - This Edition |  Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price! |
| | TYPE | EDITION DETAILS | SIZE | SIGNATURES | OFFERS | YOUR PRICE | PURCHASING | | PRINT | Limited edition of 850 prints.
Print published in late 1980s by Graeme Lothian and printed on a thinner art stock than Cranston Fine Arts use now - as a result may have one or two handling dents.
Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item! | Image size 28 inches x 17 inches (71cm x 43cm) |  Johnson, Johnnie 
Brothers, Peter
Page, Geoffrey
+ Artist : Graeme Lothian
Signature(s) value alone : £220 | £50 Off! | Now : £160.00 |
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| Extra Details : Combat Over Normandy by Graeme Lothian. | | About all editions : | 
A photo of an edition of the print.
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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 | 
Air Commodore Peter Brothers CBE, DSO, DFC* (deceased)
*Signature Value : £65
| Learnt to fly at the age of 16 and joined the RAF two years later in 1936. He first saw action in 1940 when as a Flight Commander in 32 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill, he flew his Hurricane against the fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. He recalls this as an intensely busy period, during which he shot down an Me109 - his first enemy aircraft; by the end of August that same year his tally of enemy aircraft shot down increased to eight. Awarded the DFC, he was transferred to 257 Squadron where he joined Bob-Stanford Tuck as a Flight Commander. Promoted in 1941 to Squadron Leader, Pete Brothers then took command of 457 Squadron RAAF, equipped with Spitfires. A year later when 457 Squadron returned to Australia, Pete took command of 602 Squadron. In the early autumn of 1942 he went on to become Wing Leader of the Tangmere Wing, succeeding his old friend, Douglas Bader. By the end of the war Pete Brothers had amassed 875 operational hours over a 44-month period. He was credited with having personally shot down 16 enemy aircraft and damaged many more. He later went on to command 57 Squadron during the Malaya campaign. Upon return to the UK Pete Brothers joined the V-Force, flying Valiant-4 jet bombers. He retired in 1973. Sadly, Pete Brothers died 18th December 2008. | 
Air Vice Marshal Johnnie Johnson CB, CBE, DSO**, DFC* (deceased)
*Signature Value : £70
| James Edgar Johnson was born in Barrow on Soar near Loughborough on 9th March 1915. He lived in Melton, the first house on the left of Welby Lane as you leave Nottingham Road, with his parents - his father being a local Police Inspector. Johnnie qualified as a Civil Engineer at Nottingham University in 1937. He joined the RAFVR and did his flying training at 21 E&RFTS, Stapleford before enlisting for full-time service in the RAF at the beginning of WWII. He first went to ITW at Jesus College, Cambridge, completed his ab initio flying at 22 EFTS, Cambridge and his intermediate and advanced flying at 5 FTS, Sealand. Johnnie Johnson joined 92 Spitfire squadron in August 1940, but it was with 616 squadron that he scored his first victory on June 26th 1941 while flying with Douglas Baders Tangmere Wing. He was squadron leader of 610 squadron in July 1942, but it was as Wing Commander of the Kenley Wing in 1943 that his scores really started to mount. He was W/C of 144 wing during D-Day and led 127 and 125 wings until the end of the war when we has the topscoring allied fighter pilot with 38 air victories. Inspired by the great British WW 1 aces like Bishop and Ball, Johnnie Johnson dreamed often as a child of becoming an R.A.F. pilot. The young Johnson enthusiastically joined the Volunteer Reserve at the first opportunity. After completing his initial flight training Johnson was posted to 616 Squadron at Kenley. However, this Squadron had been hit hard with the loss of six pilots and five wounded, and the unit was withdrawn to Coltishall prior to Johnson encountering combat. With only 12 hours of flight time in a Spitfire this was no doubt advantageous. In February 1941 Billy Burton moved the Squadron to Tangmere. Douglas Bader then arrived to take over the Tangmere Wing, and fly with the 616 Squadron. Johnnie, Alan Smith and Cocky Dundas were chosen to fly with Bader. During the summer of 1940 the Battle of Britain was at its peak. Bader took the time to instruct Johnson carefully in both the art of flying and the skills necessary to attain success in aerial combat. Baders idea of an afternoon off duty, according to Johnson, was to take his section over the Channel in hopes of running into Adolph Galland and his Abbeyville Boys. On August 19, 1941 Bader failed to return from a mission when 616 Squadron was hit hard by a group of Messerschmitt 109s. Johnson flew on in Baders absence, and in the summer of 1942 he was promoted to command of the 610 Squadron. In 1943 he was promoted again to Wing Commander of the Canadian Spitfire Wing in Kenley. By that time Johnson had attained eight confirmed victories. During the spring and summer of 1943 Johnnie led the Canadian unit on more than 140 missions over Northwest Europe. Johnsons squadron attained more than 100 victories during this period, and Johnnies own personal score rose to 25. After a short leave, Johnson was posted to lead the 144 Canadian Spitfire Wing. On D-Day Johnson led his Wing on four missions in support of the Allied invasion. On June 8, Johnsons Wing was the first Spitfire group to land in newly liberated France. Johnson continued fighting in France through September 1944 when he achieved his 38th and final victory. Patrolling the Rhine Johnsons unit jumped nine 109s which were flying beneath them in the opposite direction. Five of the 109s were downed. Early in 1945 Johnson was promoted to Group Captain and put in command of the 125 Wing, which was equipped with the Spitfire XIV. Flying from former Luftwaffe airfields the 125 Wing assisted in the final Allied push to Berlin. Johnson attributed much of his aerial combat success to his ability to make tight turning maneuvers. Johnsons tightest call came on August 19, 1942 when he was unable to dislodge an Me-109 from his tail during the raid on Diepppe. Johnson raced his Spitfire flat out at a group of Royal Navy ships. The usual barrage of flak and tracer fire came right at him, and fortunately for the ace, missed his Spitfire but effectively eliminated the brave pilot on his tail. During the Korean War Johnson flew fighter-bombers with the USAF. Following his retirement from the R.A.F. in 1966 Johnson founded the Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust that has provided homes for more than 4000 disabled and elderly persons, and his sixth book Winged Victory was published in 1995. Johnson flew many of the Spitfire models. His favorite was the beautiful Mark IX, the best of them all. Johnnie passed away in 2001 at the age of 85, in Derbyshire, England.
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Wing Commander Geoffrey Page DSO OBE DFC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £85
| Geoffrey Page was born in Boxmoor on 16th May 1920. Geoffrey Page developed an early interest in aviation, which is not surprising as he had an uncle who flew during the Great War and another uncle was Sir Frederick Handley Page, the great aircraft manufacturer. Page went to Dean Close School in Cheltenham, Glouscestershire, and later went to the Imperial College to study engineering. It was at college he joined the University Air Squadron at Northolt. Two weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War, Geoffrey Page received his call-up papers and joined the RAF with the rank of Acting Pilot Officer and went to Cranwell for advanced training. In May 1940 after a short period of instructing, Page was posted to 66 Squadron, flying Supermarine Spitfires but was almost immediately re-assigned to 56 Squadron where he was to fly the Hawker Hurricane. Whilst as a pilot officer with 56 squadron he took part in the Battles of France and Britain, and had accounted for three kills by the time he was shot down on the 12th August 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Flying behind his commanding officer, who was attacking a large formation of Dornier Do17 bombers, his Hurricane was hit and caught fire. Burning high-octane fuel sprayed into the cockpit, covering Page, resulting in very bad burns to his face and hands. Page parachuted out and his Hurricane crashed into the sea. After being picked up from the sea he was taken to the burns unit at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, where he was treated by Sir Archibald MacIndoe, a pioneering plastic surgeon. He spent the next two years in hospital undergoing numerous plastic surgery operations. Both of his hands were burnt down to the bone, and his head had swollen to three times its normal size. Page had also received gunshot wounds to his legs. Page became a founding member of the Guinea Pig Club, where Sir Archibald MacIndoe was elected life time president and Geoffrey Page was its first chairman. In late 1942 he re-joined operations again as a Flight Lieutenant. He joined No.132 Squadron as a supernumerary Flight Lieutenant, before volunteering for service in North Africa, but returned to the UK as the desert heat caused problems on his skin grafts. In July 1943 he won his first DFC. Later in the year he joined 122 Squadron as a Flight Commander, before re-joining No.132 Squadron in January 1944 as Commanding Officer. On 29th April 1944 Page led his squadron to strafe Deelen airfield in Holland, and attacked a Bf110 night fighter that was landing. Despite the odds, the Bf110 shot down two Spitfires, before Page forced the aircraft down and destroyed it. The pilot of the Bf110 was the famous Major Hans-Joachim Jabs, who survived. Page was later promoted Wing Leader of 125 wing, and after another DFC he won the DSO at the end of 1944. Page had achieved his goal of 15 victories (10 solo, 5 shared, and 3 damaged). After the war on a tour of the United States met his wife to be, the daughter of a British Hollywood actor. He left the R.A.F. in 1948 joining Vickers Armstrong. In retirement, Page remained the driving force of the Guinea Pig Club, and also founded the Battle of Britain Trust. This raised more than one million pounds, with which the Battle of Britain memorial was erected overlooking the Straits of Dover. In 1995 he was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Sadly Alan Geoffrey Page DSO, OBE, DFC and Bar died 3rd August 2000. |
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