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- "Flying home" - aviation art by Simon Cattlin
"Flying home" - aviation art by Simon Cattlin
"Flying home" - aviation art by Simon Cattlin
"Flying home" tells the strange story of USAF Sergeant Paul Meyer who, early on May 23rd 1969 after a night out drinking, decided to "borrow" a C130E from USAF Mildenhall where he was based in an attempt to fly home to the eastern seaboard of the US to see his wife.
Whilst he held a private pilots licence he was not a serving USAF pilot and was not trained to fly 4 engined aircraft. As an avionics engineer he was familiar with the type and had ground taxi experience plus recent cockpit passenger time on type.
For some of the detail on this extroadinary event take a look at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43800089https://youtu.be/gujs3eJr1C8
https://www.deeperdorset.co.uk/finding-meyers-missing-hercules/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/979818757/finding-meyers-missing-hercules?
This is a commissioned original painting of C130E 63-7789 of the 36th TAS flying low along the channel coast south of Brighton early in the morning of May 23rd 1969, the sun rose at 4.53 BST that day although the weather was not good during May 1969 and Sergeant Meyer had flown south to the coast from Mildenhall before turning west over the sea at a relatively low level to maintain visual contact with the coast. The aircraft was destroyed some minutes after the scene in the painting and there are two theories about what actually happened resulting in the destruction of the aircraft and the death of the pilot. There was a lot of historic research behind this painting including the historic UK and US official files, press reports, the prevailing weather in May '69, the takeoff / departure / route from Mildenhall, the aircraft type / markings and what actually might have happened. Did he loose control climbing through cloud or was he shot down ?
I'd like to thank Grahame, Emily and Simon at Deeperdorset.co.uk for contacting me about this story and commissioning the work. I'm looking forward to tracking the exploration of the wreckage north of Aldernay.
Original oil on canvas, image size 76cm x 61cm. Signed by the artist.
SOLD
Limited edition print details will be announced shortly via Deeperdorset.
"Flying home" tells the strange story of USAF Sergeant Paul Meyer who, early on May 23rd 1969 after a night out drinking, decided to "borrow" a C130E from USAF Mildenhall where he was based in an attempt to fly home to the eastern seaboard of the US to see his wife.
Whilst he held a private pilots licence he was not a serving USAF pilot and was not trained to fly 4 engined aircraft. As an avionics engineer he was familiar with the type and had ground taxi experience plus recent cockpit passenger time on type.
For some of the detail on this extroadinary event take a look at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43800089https://youtu.be/gujs3eJr1C8
https://www.deeperdorset.co.uk/finding-meyers-missing-hercules/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/979818757/finding-meyers-missing-hercules?
This is a commissioned original painting of C130E 63-7789 of the 36th TAS flying low along the channel coast south of Brighton early in the morning of May 23rd 1969, the sun rose at 4.53 BST that day although the weather was not good during May 1969 and Sergeant Meyer had flown south to the coast from Mildenhall before turning west over the sea at a relatively low level to maintain visual contact with the coast. The aircraft was destroyed some minutes after the scene in the painting and there are two theories about what actually happened resulting in the destruction of the aircraft and the death of the pilot. There was a lot of historic research behind this painting including the historic UK and US official files, press reports, the prevailing weather in May '69, the takeoff / departure / route from Mildenhall, the aircraft type / markings and what actually might have happened. Did he loose control climbing through cloud or was he shot down ?
I'd like to thank Grahame, Emily and Simon at Deeperdorset.co.uk for contacting me about this story and commissioning the work. I'm looking forward to tracking the exploration of the wreckage north of Aldernay.
Original oil on canvas, image size 76cm x 61cm. Signed by the artist.
SOLD
Limited edition print details will be announced shortly via Deeperdorset.