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Against All Odds by Philip West. (AP) Geoffrey Wellum joins combat head-on with a Dornier during the Battle of Britain. He was part of a small group of 10 spitfires from Biggin Hill facing 150 plus enemy bombers and fighters. Other friendly fighters joined battle but the defenders were still vastly out numbered, a scene repeated on many occasions in the summer of 1940. On this particular day Geoff scored a Heinkel destroyed, together with a Dornier as a probable. Item Code : DHM2327AP Against All Odds by Philip West. (AP) - This Edition TYPE EDITION DETAILS SIZE SIGNATURES OFFERS YOUR PRICE PURCHASING ARTIST PROOF Limited edition of 25 artist proofs Sold out at the publisher. Paper size 26 inches x 16 inches (66cm x 41cm) Brothers, Peter Henshaw, Alex Wellum, Geoffrey + Artist : Philip West Signature(s) value alone : £190 £50 Off! Now : £190.00 All prices on our website are displayed in British Pounds Sterling

Other editions of this item : Against All Odds by Philip West. DHM2327 TYPE EDITION DETAILS SIZE SIGNATURES OFFERS YOUR PRICE PURCHASING PRINT Signed limited edition of 100 prints. Paper size 26 inches x 16 inches (66cm x 41cm) Wellum, Geoffrey + Artist : Philip West Signature(s) value alone : £55 £50 Off! Now : £125.00 VIEW EDITION... General descriptions of types of editions :

Extra Details : Against All Odds by Philip West. (AP)

About all editions : A photograph of an edition of the print :

Signatures on this item
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare.
Name	Info
Air Commodore Peter Brothers CBE, DSO, DFC* (deceased) *Signature Value : £65	Learnt to fly at the age of 16 and joined the RAF two years later in 1936. He first saw action in 1940 when as a Flight Commander in 32 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill, he flew his Hurricane against the fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. He recalls this as an intensely busy period, during which he shot down an Me109 - his first enemy aircraft; by the end of August that same year his tally of enemy aircraft shot down increased to eight. Awarded the DFC, he was transferred to 257 Squadron where he joined Bob-Stanford Tuck as a Flight Commander. Promoted in 1941 to Squadron Leader, Pete Brothers then took command of 457 Squadron RAAF, equipped with Spitfires. A year later when 457 Squadron returned to Australia, Pete took command of 602 Squadron. In the early autumn of 1942 he went on to become Wing Leader of the Tangmere Wing, succeeding his old friend, Douglas Bader. By the end of the war Pete Brothers had amassed 875 operational hours over a 44-month period. He was credited with having personally shot down 16 enemy aircraft and damaged many more. He later went on to command 57 Squadron during the Malaya campaign. Upon return to the UK Pete Brothers joined the V-Force, flying Valiant-4 jet bombers. He retired in 1973. Sadly, Pete Brothers died 18th December 2008.
Chief Test Pilot Alex Henshaw (deceased) *Signature Value : £70	Alex Henshaw perhaps understands the Spitfire better than any other pilot - for he was Vickers Chief Test Pilot on Spitfires at the new Spitfire factory at Castle Bromwich during World War II. By the end of the war he had personally test flown a total of 2360 different Spitfires and Seafires - more than ten per cent of the entire production. It is often stated that those lucky enough to have seen Alex handle the Spitfire in flight, that it is an experience that can never be forgotten, he was acknowledged as a virtuoso in aerobatics. Alex Henshaw died 24th February 2007.
Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wellum DFC (deceased) *Signature Value : £55	Joined the RAF with a Short Service Commission in August 1939. He joined 92 Squadron flying Spitfires in June 1940 at the time of Dunkirk. He flew throughout the Battle of Britain, later completing over 50 fighter sweeps and escorts over northern France and Belgium until August 1941. He then joined 65 Squadron as Flight Commander in March 1942 operating over northern France and flew off aircraft carrier HMS Furious on Operation Pedestal, to Malta. Geoff was a Flight Lieutenant during Operation Pedestal. He returned to the UK as a test pilot for Gloster Aircraft and finished the war as a Pilot Attack Instructor. Geoffrey was credited with three destroyed, four probables and several damaged and was awarded the DFC in July 1941. Geoffrey Wellum died on 18th July 2018.

The Aircraft :
Name	Info
Spitfire	Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.
Do17	The Dornier 17 first saw action during the Spanish Civil war (1936-39) where it was faster than the enemies fighters and was nicknamed by the Spanish as Bacalaos which means Cod Fish. Full production started in March 1937 with a variety of variants including DO 17E and DO 17F for use as fast reconnaissance aircraft. During the opening months of world war two the Dornier 17 along with the older He 111 was the main bomber for the Luftwaffe, with three of the bomber groups operating Dornior 17's - KG2, KG3 and KG76. At the outbreak of the war a total of 533 Dornier were in frontline service. The aircraft did well during the Polish campaign - with a speed of 265 mph which was faster than the Polish defenders fighters. But during the Battle of Britian, when faced with the fast Royal Air Force fighters, the Dornier with its light armament was no match. In1940 with the new JU 88 being produced the Dornier was gradually replaced and production of the Do 17 ended in 1940

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