Wing Commander Clive Caldwell, DSO, DFC and Bar

Place Oceania: Australia, Victoria, Melbourne
Accession Number ART26990
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 70.4 x 55.2 cm
Object type Painting
Physical description oil on canvas on plywood
Maker Freedman, Harold
Date made 1947
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

An early product of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Clive Caldwell became a notable Spitfire fighter pilot whose air victories earned him the nickname "Killer". He served in the United Kingdom and Middle East before commanding and leading No. 1 Fighter Wing based at Darwin during 1943. He then raised and commanded No. 80 Fighter Wing. Caldwell was awarded the DSO for flying operations in the north-western area, the DFC for his work in the Middle East and a Bar to the DFC for shooting down enemy aircraft. During the Second World War Freedman enlisted in the RAAF and was appointed as a war artist attached to the RAAF Historical War Records Section and he worked here from 1944 to 1945, in Borneo, Noemfoor and around Australia.