Tags: Charles Cundall oil topography transport war World War II Paintings by British Artists Cundall: A Grand Tour
Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist's Daughter
Exhibited: - A Working Method,Young Gallery Salisbury, March- April 2016, Sotheran's, April-May 2016; WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Morley College London, 28 October -23 November 2016, cat 47.
Literature: Charles Cundall - A Working Method, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, published by Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, February 2016. WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, July 2016, cat 47, page 86-87.
This is a sketch for Coastal Operational Training Unit (RAF Museum, Hendon). When the finished painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1943, it was titled O.C.T.U. Station. Painted for the Nation’s War Records, no. 59. The setting (not indicated at the time for security reasons) is Limavady, Northern Ireland.
The painting shows Wellington bombers, the revolutionary (geodetic) aeroplane designed by Barnes Wallis in 1933; the Wellington MK II, introduced into service in 1940, was, according to the RAF Handbook, ‘a remarkably fine bomber … used extensively on night bombing raids on enemy targets, including those in Italy’ (Eric Sargent, circa 1941).
