The forward fuselage of a Wellington Mark X bomber of No 142 Squadron RAF (LP 209 - J), showing ...

The forward fuselage of a Wellington Mark X bomber of No 142 Squadron RAF (LP 209 - J), showing the forward gun turret with twin .303 inch Browning machine guns. The forward turret was unmanned and sealed, giving the aircraft a small increase in speed. The nose art is a piece of decorated aircraft fabric (Irish linen) which has been painted with a boomerang, a Welsh leek, a white Tudor rose, a white five pointed star of India and a green Canadian maple leaf on a white scroll. Later, a paper cut-out of a springbok was also added. Each symbol related to the nationality of a crew member. The bomb log records 34 missions and the two swastikas denote two German aircraft (both Me 110 night fighters) shot down (one probable and one definite) by this bomber on 1 June 1944 during a raid against a synthetic oil plant in Hungary. The bomber was shared by two alternating crews and the pilots were 414577 Warrant Officer (WO) (later Flying Officer (FO)) Robert John Leftwich, DFC and 414499 Pilot Officer Walter Cameron (Wal) Morton, DFC, who both saw service in Tunisia and Italy during the Second World War. The decorated aircraft fabric was returned to FO Leftwich after the war and it is now part of the National Collection held at the Australian War Memorial.