Exhibited: – A Working Method,Young Gallery Salisbury, March- April 2016, Sotheran’s, April-May 2016; ‘Terrain & Conflict: Repercussions’, Young Gallery, Salisbury, November 10, 2018 – December 29, 2018

Literature: Charles Cundall – A Working Method, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, published by Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, February 2016.

This is probably a study for Prestwick Airport now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.

This painting by Cundall has a number of curious characteristics: the aircraft appears to combine the features of a Lockheed Hudson and a Lockheed Ventura
(both of which were used by Coastal Command), whilst omitting the
glazed dorsal gun-turrets characteristic of both. The nose looks like
that of a Bristol Beaufighter, while other aspects resemble the more
obscure Reid and Sigrist Snargasher. Though Cundall sometime
approximated features, a natural consequence of sketching rapidly on
the spot, he was usually an accurate observer of aircraft and
demonstrated considerable knowledge of them. The bright yellow clothing
of the ground staff appears to be yellow oil-skins: high-visibility
clothing was not introduced until the 1970s. On the basis of the
landscape in the background, with a coal-tip pyramid and coal-pit
machinery visible, the setting appears to be the North of England.

We are grateful to Michael Barker and Andrew Cormack for assistance.