Anzac Day tribute to lost bomber crew
The faces of the young Australian Lancaster bomber crew are a study of anxious preoccupation – all are looking away from each other.
They were captured in the painting Bomber Crew by the Australian war artist Stella Bowen who first made sketches of the men as they prepared for take off from a Royal Air Force base at Binbrook in Lincolnshire, east England, on April 27, 1944.
Contemplating that night’s mission over Germany, the men expressed no special interest in Bowen’s attempt to draw them but their bravery and youth captivated her, according to the Australian War Memorial, which has the painting in its collection.
Their flight took them over Friedrichshafen, an industrial centre in southern Germany. By the morning, Bowen’s subjects were reported missing.
The artist had made only initial sketches and returned to her London studio to finish the painting. She wrote: ‘‘It was horrible having to finish the picture after the men were lost. Like painting ghosts.’’
The image of the lost crew of Australia’s No 460 Squadron, has been reproduced on a stamp released by Australia Post for Anzac Day on Saturday, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian War Memorial notes: ‘‘The crew is depicted in front of the menacing image of their Avro Lancaster bomber, looming above them like a bird. Their names appear on the helmets and are repeated on the wreath-like ribbon that scrolls across the canvas, complete with their RAAF wings floating like cherubs.’’
Pilot Officer Thomas Lynch, a rear gunner, was the only survivor. He wrote in his diary: ‘‘ I woke up in hospital on the 5th of May 1944 in a place I was later to learn was Baden Baden.’’ A nurse told him that his war ‘‘was over’’. It was only when she left the room that he learnt that his right leg had been amputated.