'Operation Carthage' The story behind the painting of the Shell House raid. By Terence Fox Copyright © Terence Fox 2008 INTRODUCTION Telling the story behind a picture of a Royal Air Force operation undertaken in World War Two would normally entail presenting the facts about the raid itself, including details of the aircrew involved, and the aircraft they flew. The reasons for the raid would often be explained, and the planning and training described, along with details of any special weapons employed. An example that comes to mind is the story of the famous Dams Raid, where numerous accounts have been written, and many pictures produced. However, this is the story behind the story, so to speak, explaining about the picture itself, how it came to be painted, the research involved, and the reason it was eventually published as limited-edition prints. In the mid 1980's, I was a Technical Representative with Kodak Limited in England, employed in the Graphics Imaging Systems Division, dealing with an area that covered the north of England and all of Scotland. At the time, one or two 'new' products had been 1 introduced, in direct competition with the Company's nearest rival, who dominated a particular niche within the Graphics and Printing Industry market. It was my job to ensure that sales of these products, mainly through a network of distributors, would be increased, and I was put in charge of the sales effort through these distributors, providing training and support, and assisting their sales teams in the field. These new products were excellent, being as good as, and in many ways far better than, the competition. But, unlike the opposition, the Company lacked the necessary exposing and processing equipment to compliment these items and, as a result, didn't quite achieve the initial sales results expected. It occurred to me that, to be truly competitive in Europe, and particularly Britain, this equipment should be made available; the situation in the United States was slightly different, as the particular competitor was not, at that time, as dominant in America as they were in Europe. I made these feelings known to my managers, offering a few suggestions as to the possible sources of the required hardware, and I was soon given the go-ahead to speak to contacts I knew, through my dealings with the network of distributors. These 'contacts' were representatives from a respected Danish company, Eskofot A/S, who manufactured and supplied high-quality process cameras, and film and paper processors, handled in the U.K. by one of 'my' distributors. Very soon after, arrangements were made to market and sell Eskofot equipment, under the Kodak label, which included certain design features not found on the 'stock' products. As a result of this, and because of my initial involvement, I was packed off to Hjørring, in North Jutland, Denmark, to learn all about the equipment that would soon become part of the Kodak graphics package across the World, eventually passing on this new-found knowledge to others within the Company. The reader might, at this stage, be wondering what all this has to do with an aviation painting produced in 1995, almost ten years after the events described above. The answer is, everything! If I hadn't been sent to Denmark in the summer of 1986, it is probable that the 'Shell House' picture would not have crossed my mind. And, without support from Eskofot, the prints from the painting would possibly never have been produced! * * * HOW IT STARTED During my first visit to Eskofot, I bumped in to a person I had met before, briefly, in England. His name was Derek Carter, who was English, originally from Norwich, and had lived and worked in Denmark for many years. It didn't take Derek long to discover that I had once served with the Parachute Regiment, and that I had always had a keen interest in aircraft, and aviation in general. It transpired that Derek also had an interest in aviation, and had started a small collection of militaria items related to the 'Paras'! With our common interests, we soon hit it off and, on the odd occasion when we were able to meet during the next couple of years, we talked about various aviation and military subjects and swapped a couple of books and other information. 2 Since childhood I have been a keen modeller, when time allows, specialising mainly in World War 2 aircraft, with the odd 'modern' aircraft thrown in, and some armoured vehicles. I have also been drawing and painting aircraft from an early age, and the latter hobby really expanded when I joined my local Aero Club. A requirement of both of these hobbies, if one strives for accuracy, is thorough research of the subject concerned and, as a result, it is almost inevitable that, in time, one will become an amateur historian of sorts! With these combined 'skills', I started painting more aviation pictures, accepting commissions from friends and colleagues, which led in turn to a series of 'word of mouth' recommendations, leading to more commissions. By the time I met Derek, I had produced a respectable number of aviation oil paintings, and many pencil drawings, often using model aircraft to 'pose', in order to achieve proportion and the correct perspective in my pictures. My clients ranged from friends, members of the Aero Club and Bomber Command Association to the United States Army. (But that's another story!) It was about this time, I think late in 1988, when I met Derek again, at a large printing exhibition we were both working at. We chatted about the usual work-related things, then the conversation turned, as usual, to aviation. I knew that Derek was involved with an aviation group and a small air museum in Denmark, and thought that he could perhaps help me with research for a painting I intended to produce. I had long wanted to paint a decent picture of the De Havilland Mosquito, which I have always thought to be a beautiful aircraft. Due to an involvement in the airshow 'scene' over the years, I had had the privilege of meeting various aircrew, past and present, and had been able to sit in, and photograph the Mosquito T III operated out of Hawarden, near Chester, by British Aerospace, now BAe. (Sadly, some years later this aircraft was to crash at Barton, Manchester, with the tragic loss of both crew members.) Being so close to such a classic aircraft, and having met the display crew at that time, and a number of former R.A.F. 'Mossie' crews, really inspired me, and I was itching to get to work on a picture. The problem was, I couldn't decide on which way to portray the aircraft, or even which Mark to depict. At the time, more than one of the 'top' aviation artists had issued limited edition prints of the Mosquito, taken from their original paintings, the most recent being pictures of the Amiens prison attack, 'Operation Jericho', and later the attack on Gestapo H.Q. at Aarhus, Denmark. I didn't want to just paint a Mosquito; I wanted to depict a specific operation. The main problem was, it seemed that most of the famous 'ops' had been covered by other artists, and I didn't want to repeat the 'story'. But, I hadn't seen any pictures depicting some of the other key low-level raids, particularly those on various other Gestapo Headquarters buildings. Although I was aware of low-level attacks in Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium, I didn't have much detailed information, and all my reference sources gave only brief accounts, lacking the detail required to produce an accurate painting. Consequently, I asked Derek if he could find out a bit more about the well known low-level Mosquito attacks in Denmark, mentioning the recently depicted Aarhus raid as an example. At the time, I thought that, being based in Copenhagen, he might be able to provide some details, possibly gained from 'local knowledge' which would help me depict one of the raids. What I was basically looking for was detailed information on the squadrons 3 involved, perhaps serial numbers and code letters of individual aircraft, with the names of the crews if possible, but, above all, details of the target buildings, attack angles, terrain, and weather and so on. It is this sort of detail that really helps in providing authenticity and accuracy; without it, it would just be 'a picture of Mosquitoes!' By coincidence, some years earlier Derek had already started research into this part of Denmark's wartime history, along with some of his associates in the aviation group. He told me that he would do what he could, but that I had to understand that he was away from home a lot, due to work schedules, so it might take some time. This, and the fact that Derek lived near Copenhagen and I lived in the north of England would, I knew, mean that regular communication would not be as easy or as convenient as it would if we lived near to each other. Remember, this was, of course, before the introduction of the 'Internet', and mobile 'phones were still a novel rarity. I recall telling Derek that it was not a problem, and there was no rush; it was just something I'd like to do, eventually. I don't think either of us knew, at the time, just how long things would take, or how involved the project would become! * * * PAINTINGS CONTINUE, THE JOB DOESN'T! Not long after seeing Derek at the printing exhibition, I was asked if I could paint a picture portraying American involvement with R.A.F.