Incident in which Flight Sergeant Rawdon Middleton [VC] lost his life

This eerie scene depicts the final moments of Middleton's life. Despite the painting being based on a true story, Smith has evoked an unreal modernist seascape. The falling parachutes of the surviving members of the crew, backlit by the moon, have a menacing quality. A crew member is standing on the chalky Dover cliff edge with his discarded parachute slowly collapsing as Middleton's plane descends into the ocean. Smith served on the same squadron as Middleton, and was intimately aware of the landscape and lighting at the scene of Middleton's sacrifice.

Pilot Officer 402745 Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton, VC, was captain and first pilot of a Stirling bomber of No.149 Squadron in an attack on the Fiat works at Turin, Italy. On the night of 28/29 November, 1941. Over the target the aircraft was severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire and a shell burst in the cockpit. Middleton suffered wounds to the face and lost an eye; the second pilot was wounded in the head and both legs. The aircraft received more hits during the bombing run. Middleton was determined to reach the English coast, although his strength was rapidly failing. Over the French coast four hours later more hits from enemy ground fire were sustained. After crossing the English Channel fuel for only five minutes flying remained. Middleton ordered the crew to leave by parachute. Five did so successfully, while two remained to assist Middleton. The aircraft then headed out to sea and crashed.

David T. Smith was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he attended the Technical School, also Lowestoft and Norwich Schools of Art. From 1939–40 Smith was visiting art master at Framlingham College, then he served in Royal Air Force, 1940–5; a collection of his Air Force pictures toured the country in aid of a forces’ charity, finishing at Cooling Galleries, opened by Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader. After the war Smith studied at Slade School of Fine Art, winning Abbey Major Rome Scholarship at British School, Rome, 1949. (ref: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company).