DUAL VICTORY

Description

Photo Reconnaissance called for very special skills and qualities in a pilot. Almost always flying alone, the recon pilot had to penetrate deep behind enemy lines to gather vital information, his primary ally being height and speed.

“I am delighted to have been involved with this outstanding new painting and Richard has done a remarkable job, capturing the event exactly as I remember it”

Lieutenant Colonel Clyde. B. East

Many reconnaissance aircraft, including the Spitfire and Mosquito, were stripped of all armament in the quest for speed, leaving only the pilot’s flying skills to get him out of a jam.  The P-51 Mustang F-6 had the best of both worlds.  Powered by the Merlin engine it had fantastic performance, yet was equipped with the same armament as its fighter escort brothers.  With cameras fitted into the side of the fuselage, and alignment marks painted on the wings, the pilot flew over the target at a predetermined altitude and precise angle of bank, to record the vital images required by the boffins back home.  The Mustang F-6 variant became the outstanding recon aircraft of WWII.

Equipped for battle as the F-6 was, it was the recon pilot’s job to avoid aerial combat and get his photographs home.  But looking at one 10th Tactical Recon Group pilot’s record, that of Captain Clyde East, it seems he was unable to resist the chance of a fight whenever it presented itself.  Few recon pilots became Aces but Clyde East destroyed 14 ½ enemy aircraft, mostly Me109s and Fw190s, just missing out on achieving the Ace distinction three times over.

Clyde East flew daily and almost always alone, recording photographs and making notes of enemy road, river and rail traffic, reporting conditions of marshalling yards, docks and airfields, and results of air strikes.  He holds the distinction of recording the first air victory over the Normandy beaches on D-Day, and on one occasion shot down three German aircraft in a single morning.

This superb painting brings to life Captain Clyde East pulling his famed Mustang F-6D, Lil Margaret, into a sharp dive in pursuit of an enemy fighter over Eisenach, on March 24th 1945. Having intercepted a formation of six Me109’s whilst returning from a recce patrol to Schweinfurt, he has already dispatched one German fighter and lines up on another to score two victories in rapid succession.