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First World War Art  Postcards |
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| Text for the above items : |
Captain Ivan Smirnov by Ivan Berryman. (PC) After service in the 96th Infantry Regiment, Smirnov joined the XIX Corps Air Squadron in 1914, shooting down twelve enemy aircraft in the course of two years. When revolution swept through Russia in November 1917, he escaped the Bolsheviks via a White counter-revolutionary route, eventually joining the RAF in England, serving at the Central Flying School at Upavon. He is shown here in his silver Nieuport 17, having just despatched a Roland C.II. |
Battle of Tanga by David Pentland (PC) Schulztruppen and Askaris, Tanga, Tanzania 3rd-5th November 1914. Also known as the "Battle of the Bees", this was the first major engagement of the East African campaign. The British Indian Expeditonary Force's invasion of the port of Tanga failed, defeated by the smaller German force of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. |
Gothas Moon by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Just as the name Zeppelin had become the common term for almost every German airship that ventured over Britain, so the name Gotha became generically used for the enemy bombers that droned across the English Channel during 1917-1918, inflicting considerable damage to coastal ports and the capital. As the massed raids of Bombengeschwader 3 increased, a public inquiry in England brought about the formation of the Royal Air Force as an independent service to counter this new threat and fighters from Europe were brought home to defend against these marauding giants. As a result, heavy losses on the German side meant that daylight raids had to be abandoned and all operations were henceforth conducted by night. Here, a pair of Gotha G.Vs begin to turn for home as searchlights play fruitlessly over distant fires, the grim result of another successful nights work. |
Tribute to Lt André De Meulemeester by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Seen here in his Nieuport 23 aircraft, Lt André De Meulemeester was a Belgian Ace with 11 confirmed victories. Joining the Belgian Air Service in 1915, he was assigned to a squadron in 1916 and acquired the nickname Sergeant Mystère. He claimed his first of 19 unconfirmed victories in February 1917 and his first confirmed victory at the end of that April. After flying over 500 missions during the war, he joined the family brewery business and lived to the age of 78. |
Kapitanleutnant zur See Friedrich Christiansen by Ivan Berryman. (PC) During a patrol on 6th July 1918, Christiansen spotted a British submarine on the surface of the Thames Estuary. He immediately turned and put his Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 floatplane into an attacking dive, raking the submarine C.25 with machine gun fire, killing the captain and five other crewmen. This victory was added to his personal tally, bringing his score to 13 kills by the end of the war, even though the submarine managed to limp back to safety. Christiansen survived the war and went on to work as a pilot for the Dornier company, notably flying the giant Dornier Do.X on its inaugural flight to New York in 1930. He died in 1972, aged 93. |
Repulsing a Frontal Attack with Rifle and Bayonet by Cyrus Cuneo. (PC) No text for this item |
Captain Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Standing just five feet two inches tall, Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor had to have his SE5a specially modified to accommodate his small stature, but the diminutive South African was a giant in the air, claiming a total of 54 victories before the end of the war, many of them observation balloons which made him one of the top balloon-busting aces of the RFC. But many aircraft fell to his guns, too, as here when on 21st August 1918 he claimed an Albatros C-Type as victory number 34 whilst flying D6856 of 84 Squadron. |
Zeppelin Gunners by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Droning over the coast en route to another night attack on mainland Britain, the Zeppelins top gun platform goes into action as BE.2 fighters wheel around the gas-filled giants, trying desperately to fire their Brock, Pomeroy and Sparklet ammunition into the volatile gasbags that lay beneath the Zeppelins skin. Often freezing cold, always vulnerable, the defensive gunners occupied a tiny, sunken recess on the very top of the airship, shielded from the buffeting winds only by a shallow screen and their thick leather flying suits. Just a handrail and a shallow step lay between them and a vertiginous drop over the rolling sides of their massive craft. Their air-cooled Parabellum MG.14 machine guns did little to repulse their attackers, whilst the great Zeppelins offered themselves as huge, bloated targets for ground artillery as well as the brave pilots of the RFC. |
Brothers in Arms by Ivan Berryman. (PC) On the morning of 13th April 1917, five RE8s of 59 Sqn, RFC, took off from their base at La Bellevue on a photographic sortie, A3203 carrying a camera, with the other four flying as escorts. Spads of 19 Sqn and some 52 Sqn Fe.2s were to have joined them as fighter cover, but the rendezvous was never made and the RE8s found themselves alone. For some unknown reason, this flight of aircraft seemed to have drifted some way north of their intended target - and into the clutches of a group of Jasta 11 Albatros scouts, led by none other than Baron Manfred von Richthofen. In a relatively short combat, all five RE8s were shot down by their German opponents, one by the Red Baron himself and two by his brother, Lothar, who claimed his fourth and fifth victims, thus becoming an ace, the others being downed by Festner and Wolff in similar aircraft. For the Red Baron, this was a day of particular significance. Not only had he now scored more victories than his mentor, Oswald Boelcke, by shooting down his 41st victim, he was later to claim a further two victories that same day - his first triple. He is depicted here flying Albatros D.III Nr.2253/17. |
Not All Landings Are Good Landings by Ivan Berryman. (PC) An ignominious end for an Albatros C.III demands an act of compassion by a British medical team who are first on the scene of a crash in the early years of World War 1. |
HMS Agincourt by Randall Wilson. (PC) HMS Agincourt is shown alongside HMS Erin with ships of the 1st Battle squadron of the Grand Fleet, on the eve of the Battle of Jutland. |
Tribute to Erich Lowenhardt by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Erich Lowenhardt was one of the most famous German Aces of World War One. A rival of the likes of Ernst Udet and Lothar von Richthofen in number of victories, he racked up an impressive 54 victories before his death in August 1918, caused by a failed parachute when he bailed out after a collision. He is depicted here, not in his final Fokker D.VII, but in an Albatros D.III, claiming one of his tally of 9 observation balloons - this one in May 1918. The fortunate balloon observer has managed to take to his parachute to escape this time, a measure the observers were often forced to employ by the German balloon busters. |
Christmas Hunt - Bristol Fighter F2B by David Pentland. (PC) 139 Squadron RAF in North Italy, December 1917. |
HMS Barham leads the 5th Battle Squadon at Jutland by Anthony Saunders. (PC) The greatest naval battle of the First World War took place on the 31st of May and the 1st of June 1916, near the Danish province of Jutland. It was the first and only sea battle between the British and German fleets, and certainly proved to be the clash of the Titans that the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, had long planned. Decisive victory was claimed by both sides, but, desperately fought though it was, the outcome was indecisive. The Royal Navy suffered higher losses in both men and ships, but the German fleet never ventured out of harbour to seek battle again. During the daylight fighting HMS Barham, under Rear Admiral Evan-Thomas, lead the 5th Battle Squadron (Valiant, Warspite and Malaya) and is seen here at 4.50pm exchanging with Hippers battle-cruisers to the south. |
1st Lieutenant Paul Baer by Ivan Berryman. (PC) The outstanding qualities of the Spad S.VII were exploited to the full by Lieutenant Paul Baer, who was to become the first ace of the United States Air Service whilst serving with the 103rd Pursuit Squadron. This former Lafayette Flying Corps volunteer is also recorded as the highest-scoring Spad pilot in the USAS, claiming 9 confirmed victories before being shot down on 22nd May 1918 and being taken prisoner. His aircraft is shown here in combat with Albatross scouts of Jasta 18. |
Nery by Brian Palmer. (PC) Action at Nery, 1st September 1914. During the fighting retreat from Mons, battery L of the Royal horse artillery bivouacked by a small town of Nery. Their temporary halt was interrupted during the early morning cavalry patrol warning of the imminent arrival of a large German force of cavalry, infantry and artillery. almost immediately German shells began bursting amongst the battery, accompanied by a rifle and machine gun fire. 3 guns were knocked out before they could be brought into action and two more were disabled soon afterwards, while the British gunners sustained heavy casualties. the remaining no. 6 gun with a scratch crew managed to maintain a steady fire for some two hours inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans until reinforcements arrived, driving off the surviving German unties. Three Victoria crosses (one posthumously) and two French medaille militaire were awarded and two NCOs were commissioned after the action. |
HMS Tiger - Battle Survivor by Ivan Berryman (PC) During the First World War, HMS Tiger was fortunate to survive both the Battle of Dogger Bank and the Battle of Jutland, having been hit multiple times in both engagements. At Jutland, HMS Queen Mary exploded and sank just a few hundred yards ahead of HMS Tiger, the latter taking evasive action to dodge the wreckage and resulting smoke cloud. |
The Rittmeister by Ivan Berryman. (PC) The greatest ace of WW1, Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron is depicted here flying Fokker Dr.1, serial No 425/17, in its final guise following the introduction of the Balkenkreuze. This was the only Triplane flown by the Rittmeister that was painted all red and was also the aircraft in which he lost his life on 21st April 1918, the celebrated ace having scored a confirmed 80 victories against allied aircraft over France. |
Tribute to Manfred von Richthofen by Ivan Berryman. (PC) The legendary Red Baron would score 80 confirmed victories in World War One, making him the conflict's top Ace. It was in a Fokker Dr.I - as depicted here - that he scored his final two victories, claiming two Sopwith Camels on 20th April 1918. It was in the same aircraft on the following day that he was shot down and killed. There are few pilots who gain such cultural significance as the Red Baron, still widely known more than a century after the events that gave him fame. |
Brandenburg D.1 by Ivan Berryman. (PC) Designed by the great Ernst Heinkel, the diminutive D.1 was an essential stop-gap that provided the Austro-Hungarian pilots with a front line fighter until they were able to re-equip with Albatros scouts in the Summer of 1917. This little aircraft performed well and was generally held in high regard by its pilots, although it did have some shortcomings, namely that forward vision was extremely limited and the Schwarzloses gun was completely concealed in the overwing pod that made it inaccessible in the air. Most unusual of all was its interplane strut arrangement, designed to reduce drag, which gave it the nicknames Starstrutter or Spider. These examples are shown passing above the German cruiser Derfflinger. |
A Zeppelin over London by Ivan Berryman. (PC) From 1915 to 1917, there existed a very real threat of a bombing campaign on mainland Britain as the giant German airships drifted silently and menacingly across the English Channel and the North Sea to deliver their deadly cargo on the towns and cities of the east coast. Countermeasures were soon put into action as powerful searchlights picked out the Zeppelins for the anti-aircraft batteries and RFC pilots to pour their unrelenting fire into the raiders, sometimes with little effect, sometimes with catastrophic results. Here, 2nd Lieutenant Brandons BE.2 climbs for position, its exhaust pipes aglow in the dark, whilst flak bursts all around the massive bulk of the L.33 as she passes over the east end of London on the night of 23 / 24th September 1916. |
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