Thread: The Dambusters, beyond the movie hype

I loved the Avro Lancasters

Quite timely, Bob, given today is the 75th anniversary of that raid.

Val wanted to do a painting of me , I refused , in the end I relented & said OK if you put me with a Lancaster , I imagine I'd be standing next to one , but oh no Im right there front and centre, the scene was based on a movie poster of the Dam Busters.

Originally Posted by goingbush

Val wanted to do a painting of me , I refused , in the end I relented & said OK if you put me with a Lancaster , I imagine I'd be standing next to one , but oh no Im right there front and centre, the scene was based on a movie poster of the Dam Busters.

Val looks to be a very good aviation artist. Would Val know of Mac Cameron? His works hang in the Smithsonian Air And Space museum, Mac was a friend of mine, he had a studio at Shorncliffe.

Originally Posted by bob10

Val looks to be a very good aviation artist. Would Val know of Mac Cameron? His works hang in the Smithsonian Air And Space museum, Mac was a friend of mine, he had a studio at Shorncliffe.

Thanks for the kind words, No she is not familiar with Mac's work, quite a feather in his cap to be hung in the Smithsonian.

here is another of Val's aviation oils, inspired after we went on a flight in that DC3 ( I had a go at the controls - yay) Im trying to talk her into doing my LandRover

Originally Posted by bob10

Val looks to be a very good aviation artist. Would Val know of Mac Cameron? His works hang in the Smithsonian Air And Space museum, Mac was a friend of mine, he had a studio at Shorncliffe.

Mac was larger than life. Born Brisbane 1921, Died Brisbane 2009.

The youngest member of the Royal Qld Art Society, accepted at age 16. Two famous Australian artists, William Bustard, and Percy Stanhope Hobday allowed him to paint sections of works in the dining room of Brisbane's Tattersall's Club, in 1939. Mac tried to enlist in the RAAF in 1941, but was rejected because of a heart murmur. The AIF accepted him , he served at Milne Bay, Lae, Buna, Finschaven and New Britain. After the war, he worked in the Moonie oil fields , and over 30 years became a much respected and experienced rotary driller and drilling superintendent. He designed and built a rotary drilling rig and a drilling tool to recover drill bits lost in drilling.

In 1958 cam's wife won a contract with Qld Irrigation and Water supply to drill bores on the Normanton to Croydon stock route. He took leave of absence from Condamine oil so his wife could honour the contract. In 1971 he went to Pakistan to oversee the drilling of of water bores in the north west frontier . In 1981, Frank Wooten , President of the Guild of Aviation Artists in the UK, acknowledged Mr Cameron's artistic talents claiming he was in the top 10 aviation artists in the World. Cam's Scottish heritage was important to him, he played the bagpipes very well. The National Serviceman's Pipes and Drums band traces it lineage to the 61st Battalion Qld Cameron Highlanders . The Battalion wore the Cameron of Erracht's tartan, Mac's family tartan.Mac painted in oil a painting for me of HMAS Perth firing on the gunline in Vietnam , with a bird dog spotter plane overhead. He was a good man, and a good friend.

Originally Posted by goingbush

Thanks for the kind words, No she is not familiar with Mac's work, quite a feather in his cap to be hung in the Smithsonian.

here is another of Val's aviation oils, inspired after we went on a flight in that DC3 ( I had a go at the controls - yay) Im trying to talk her into doing my LandRover

I replied, but mucked it up. Try again.

Mac was larger than life. Born Brisbane 1921, Died Brisbane 2009.

The youngest member of the Royal Qld Art Society, accepted at age 16. Two famous Australian artists, William Bustard, and Percy Stanhope Hobday allowed him to paint sections of works in the dining room of Brisbane's Tattersall's Club, in 1939. Mac tried to enlist in the RAAF in 1941, but was rejected because of a heart murmur. The AIF accepted him , he served at Milne Bay, Lae, Buna, Finschaven and New Britain. After the war, he worked in the Moonie oil fields , and over 30 years became a much respected and experienced rotary driller and drilling superintendent. He designed and built a rotary drilling rig and a drilling tool to recover drill bits lost in drilling.

In 1958 cam's wife won a contract with Qld Irrigation and Water supply to drill bores on the Normanton to Croydon stock route. He took leave of absence from Condamine oil so his wife could honour the contract. In 1971 he went to Pakistan to oversee the drilling of of water bores in the north west frontier . In 1981, Frank Wooten , President of the Guild of Aviation Artists in the UK, acknowledged Mr Cameron's artistic talents claiming he was in the top 10 aviation artists in the World. Cam's Scottish heritage was important to him, he played the bagpipes very well. The National Serviceman's Pipes and Drums band traces it lineage to the 61st Battalion Qld Cameron Highlanders . The Battalion wore the Cameron of Erracht's tartan, Mac's family tartan.Mac painted in oil a painting for me of HMAS Perth firing on the gunline in Vietnam , with a bird dog spotter plane overhead. He was a good man, and a good friend.

I can't go without telling this story of Mac in Milne Bay. As he told it, he was an explosives technician, and a booby trap expert. One day he was given a suspicious object, it was light, rattled when shaken, with a nipple at the end. As he was about to detonate the device, an American engineer explained it was an aerosol can, one of the first insect repellent cans introduced by the Americans. He loved telling that story.