We are coming soon to the 'personal projects' part of the art course, and I have elected to follow the 'biro-on-ephemera' exercise that produced the immediately previous picture and poem here on Pointypoems, but this time using old aeronautical charts and famous (or, as you will see, not-so-famous) figures from aviation. While searching for a suitable WW2 pilot photo to draw onto a chart showing Biggin Hill, I came across an article about LC Wade. Never heard of him? Neither had I, and that's the point. No celebrated Douglas Bader he, LC Wade (christened LC when he was born in Texas in 1915) was rejected by the US Air Force because he did not have a college education, and volunteered for the RAF, getting in by embellishing his CV somewhat. Long story short, he was a brilliant fighter pilot, had many many kills to his name, and rose through the ranks to Wing Commander. So why isn't he famous? Well, partly at least because a number of his 'kills' were only credited later by historians. Most of the action he saw was in the North African theatre, often with few witnesses, and in order to have a kill credited to them, a fighter pilot had to have it witnessed by at least one other airman at the scene. There was also some business about not crediting kills to foreign-born RAF pilots, but if you want more detail you can read all about LC 'Wildcat' wade in the excellent article by Michael D. Montgomery here. https://www.historynet.com/lance-wade-world-war-ii-raf-ace-fighter-pilot/ For now, have a squint at my drawing effort - hopefully the first in a series of this ilk - and see what you think of the poem. I've gone for a radically different rhyme scheme. Is anybody reading this stuff? If you are, please do let me know. It would be great to hear from you.
Comments