LAC W Pickett - official Royal Air Force photographer at Tarrant Rushton
The story of how many unique images were captured and saved
Leading Aircraftsman W. Pickett moved onto camp at Tarrant Rushton in early 1944(?) and clearly brought a lively approach to his role in the photographic unit. Fortunately for us many of his photographs, some of him on duty, survived and form the basis of this short story. Here he is, leaning into a room somewhere on camp seemingly intent on what is going on within; and below that we see him about to enjoy a smoke before heading out on a guard duty.
An insight into the daily life on camp amongst many black and white images that came to light a few years ago and are now in the collection of Andrew Wright.
The camp photographer.
While many of his photographs illustrate a lighter side to Pickett’s character his work would have been important for the effective running of squadron life at Tarrant Rushton. Here we see him handling the large format cameras used during flying operations to record the results from operations and training of the glider pilots preparing for their role in the operations that started out from Tarrant Rushton. The camera he is working on is {mark detail required}
This image by Pickett illustrates admirably the hazards associated with glider flying at Tarrant Rushton. A Horsa glider has landed just a little too close to a Halifax glider tug parked up on one of the dispersal areas.
We don’t have a full record of the event, fortunately there was no sign of fire and hopefully the glider pilots survived the impact while repairs would soon have RJ 262 back in the air.
Pickett would have be responsible for processing photographs taken of the action that unfolded during flying operations. In this image we see a Hamilcar and Horsa glider approaching their target over Normandy on June 6th 1944, part of Operation Mallard that reinforced the airborne troops landed earlier that day around Caen.
In this image of course we have the clear indication of just how successful was operation Coup de Main at Pegasus bridge over the Caen canal. The first of the three gliders has landed just 50 yards or so from the east bank of the canal bridge in the top left of the image.
In this last image we saw the landing ground for the parachute element of airborne forces at a site again near to the bridges at Caen, targets for operations Mallard and Tonga.
One of the more exciting landings at Tarrant Rushton was captured on film by Pickett when an American air force Boeing flying fortress made a forced landing on its way home to its base in ???? The photographs show a relatively lightly damaged craft with some bent propellors and a partially detached nose, which of course would have held the top secret Norden bomb sight. The Tarrant ground crew are removing any fuel left in the tanks whilst taking a keen interest in the American bomber. With a crew of ten the fortress was the backbone of the United States Army Air Force during its bombing campaign from mid 1942 through to 1945. Concentrating on daylight bombing over xxxx were shot down with the loss of yyyy men, a very heavy price for their role.
Happy Days at TR
In this last shot we find W Pickett turned out rather smartly underneath one of the huge Halifax glider tugs at a dispersal area on the airfield. Many of the veterans from Tarrant Rushton talk of those days as some of the happiest of their lives, this image seems to prove that.
Judging by the relaxed air of the scene this is probably in the summer of 1944 after the success of D-Day but with the operations to Arnhem just around the corner.
