On the Covers

摘要

Shortly after retiring from the air force in 1972, RCAF Wing Commander James F. "Stocky" Edwards took up the pastime of painting. Self-taught, in the last forty years he has created over a hundred original works of art. "I watched other people and read books, and found that the colours came naturally," he says. Not all of his subjects are aviation, like the one on the front cover of this issue of the Journal, which depicts one of his greatest air combats. It occurred on 19 February 1944 while patrolling over the Anzio beachhead in Italy, some 90 miles (145 km) from his base. In that battle his squadron shot down a total of six German fighter aircraft - Messerschmitt Bf109s and Focke-Wulf Fw190s. Three of the victories were credited to Stocky, one '109 and two '190s. The painting depicts his Spitfire JF502 of 92 Squadron, Royal Air Force, after shooting down an Fw190 in flames. Stocky pulled up after coming within 100 feet (30 m) of the ground and his aircraft was hit by 88mm fire from a Panzer tank, with one shot going right through the fuselage of the Spitfire, but Stocky made it safely back to base. Inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013, Edwards was one of the top RCAF fighter aces of the Second World War.