Norman Wilkinson (British, 1878-1971) Raid on Sylt, 19th March 1940 signed 'NORMAN WILKINSON' (lower right) oil on canvas 102 x 127cm (40 x 50in). Footnotes: Provenance Commissioned from the artist by Air Vice-Marshall William Ernest Staton, CB., DSO., MC Andover, Hants. Jean Patricia Primrose (bequeathed by her husband William Staton); Staton Estate Sale, 1998. Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale). Literature Winged Words – Our Airmen Speak for Themselves, London, 1941, illustrated (please note that a copy of this book will accompany the sale of the painting). A striking depiction of Wing Commander William Staton's twin engined Whitley bomber silhouetted over the target at Sylt, under a fierce barrage of German flak hosing the sky red, yellow and white. One of the most historic air offensives of World War Two, Bomber Command's raid on Sylt, 19-20th March 1940, was a reprisal for a Luftwaffe attack on the home fleet based in Scapa Flow on the 16th March 1940. On the night of 19th March 1940, 30 Whitleys of 4 Group in formation with 20 Hampdens from 5 Group, took off for the first attack of the war against a land target - the seaplane base at Hörnum on the island of Sylt, a few miles west of the German-Danish coast. Of seven Whitleys in 10 Squadron, first in the air at 1930-hours was Wing Commander William 'Crack 'Em' Staton – a canvas bucket in his cockpit equipped with a razor and personal escape kit offered contingency should he be brought down. A larger than life career airman, distinguishable by a fearsome scar that followed the breaking of a chair over his head at a rackety mess party in 1917, Bill Staton, 'a huge burly rhino of a man', was a rare survivor of a band of Royal Flying Corps Bristol fighter pilots on the Western Front who opposed Baron von Richtofen's deadly 'Flying Circus'. Before the outbreak of war, Staton, known to contemporaries as 'King Kong', was stationed on the North West Frontier before he was gazetted as commander of 10 Squadron, stationed at Dishforth, Yorkshire (where his officers' quarters were 'smart as hell' on account of his aptitude for borrowing paintings and furniture from select landowners of the county). He was passed 'indecently fit' for active service, aged 42 years. Talk of enemy beams cutting bomber magnetos led the indomitable Staton to test the rumour by circling over the heavily defended target for 15 minutes before, to the express relief of his courageous novice crew, they dropped their bomb load. The bombing on Sylt lasted six hours and saw only one of the 50 RAF aircraft being brought down by German guns. The effectiveness of the raid was never really clear as there were conflicting reports, but it did mark a new phase in strategic bombing in the war and the raiding of land targets. Sylt also led to the development of a new style of bombing which saw pathfinder planes leading an assault by accurately marking targets with flares. The excitement surrounding the Sylt strategic night operations by the RAF saw the press descend on Dishforth and next morning's readers of the Daily Mirror read about 'Crack 'Em's' achievement - leading by example and personality whilst defining the limits of airmanship that had to be learned. As a tribute, a Whitley of 77 Squadron dropped leaflets over the station printed, 'Congratulations to 'Crack 'Em' and Co, the heroes and leaders of Sylt'. Norman Wilkinson (1878-1971) born in Cambridge, and a former St.Paul's chorister, studied figure painting in Paris and was a prominent oil, watercolour and drypoint artist. On top of this, during the War he developed the Navy's striking dazzle paint schemes on their ships. His work forms part of a number of collections and galleries, including the Royal Academy, Fine Arts Society and Royal Society of Arts. Elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and Royal Institute of Oil Painters, he was the long-standing President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and gifted 54 of his paintings to the nation. Wilkinson was created CBE in 1948. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com