On 12 August, Dr Jonathan Black of Kingston University will discuss '‘Havoc from
the Heavens’: The Contribution of British Air Power to the Destruction of
Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Turkish Forces in 1918 through the eyes of British
War Artist Lieutenant Sydney Carline RAF.'
TALK OUTLINE
The
lecture will argue that Sydney Carline (1888-1929), in the work he
produced for the British Ministry of Information 1918-19, offered a
unique perspective of the successful application of British airpower in
the destruction of Austro-Hungarian Armies in North-Eastern Italy and of
Ottoman Turkish forces in Palestine, September-October 1918.
Carline
was the one official British war artist who was also a trained fighter
pilot and had two kills to his credit by the end of the war. He
volunteered for the RFC in 1915, flew during the Somme Campaign in
August 1916 (and was shot down and seriously injured). Towards the end
of 1917, he was posted as part of an RFC force of five (later increased
to seven) squadrons sent in support of the British Expeditionary Force
to Italy hurriedly dispatched to keep the country in the war after its
catastrophic defeat at Caporetto in October-November 1917.
Between
January and July 1918 Carline flew over a hundred combat missions over
the Austro-Hungarian lines; in August 1918, he was appointed an official
war artist by the Ministry of Information’s recently established RAF
Fine Art Section understandably keen to promote the achievements of the
new Royal Air Force.
Carline
accompanied missions which strafed and bombed retreating
Austro-Hungarian forces during the Battle of Vittorio Vento in
October-November 1918. Carline described the RAF as having unleashed
‘havoc from the heavens’ on the enemy, pursuing them ceaselessly to the
point of utter disintegration.
After
the war, Carline and his brother Richard were sent by the RAF to
Palestine and Syria to record evidence for the significant role played
by six (later nine) RAF and RAAF squadrons in the destruction of Ottoman
forces in the area during Allenby’s September-October 1918. After three
months they moved to Mesopotamia and accompanied RAF missions against
rebellious Kurdish tribesmen. They recorded evidence of the new ‘air
control’ policy of cost-cutting Imperial policing. The Carlines were
recalled in November 1919 and Sydney held a well-received exhibition of
over 300 works from Italy and the Middle East in London in March 1920.
LOCATION AND TIME
This lecture will be held in the RAF Museum lecture theatre at 12:30PM on Friday 12 August 2016.
TICKETS
This lecture is free of charge however we do ask that you pre-book a
free ticket as seats are limited. Booking is quick and easy, we just
need some basic contact information.
https://royalairforcemuseum.digitickets.co.uk/event/1586481?catID=6400" rel="nofollow - BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE TODAY
ABOUT DR JONATHAN BLACK
Jonathan
Black read History with History of Art at the University of Cambridge,
then spent five years in the wine trade. Between 1997 and 2003, he
obtained an MA and Ph.D. in History of Art from University College,
London. Hi MA focused on the English Futurism of CRW Nevinson
(1913-1916) while his Ph.D. explored the image of the British soldier,
or 'Tommy', in the First World War Art of C.R.W. Nevinson, Eric
Kennington, and Charles Sargeant Jagger.c 1915-1925. Jonathan has
curated several exhibitions and his 2011 monograph, The Face of Courage: Eric Kennington, Portraiture and the Second World War,
coincided with the opening of an exhibition with the same title at the
Royal Air Force Museum. This exhibition comprised of 40 of Kennington's
Second World War pastel drawings and lithographic prints. He is
currently Senior Research Fellow in History of Art at Kingston
University.
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