12 December 2018

Things I Love - 58ft Towing Lighters

While searching for something completely unrelated on Google, I stumbled upon this lithographic print by Keith Ferris:



The description for this is:
The Royal Flying Corps launches a Sopwith 2F.1 Camel as a surprise for Zeppelin L.53.

The Sopwith 2F.1 Camel flown by Flight Sub Lieutenant Stuard D. Culley lifts from a "lighter" towed by the British destroyer HMS Redoubt in the North Sea on 10 August 1918. An hour later, the German Zeppelin LZ.53 was intercepted and destroyed while flying at 19,000 feet, putting an end to this unchallenged harassment of the British Fleet. LZ.53 was the last Zeppelin destroyed in WWI and Culley’s Camel ditched along side the Redoubt and was recovered.

This aircraft survives today and hangs in the Imperial War Museum in London, England.

More information on these 58ft towing lighters can be found here:
http://bumaritime.org/projects/58ft-towing-lighters/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cyril_Porte#War_service
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rumney_Samson#First_World_War

The print is available from:
https://keithferrisart.com/product/just-airborne-at-sea-lithographic-print-19-12-x-23-le-750/

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