A RARE wartime painting created by a late artist-turned RAF Helensburgh recruit has been shared exclusively with the Advertiser.
The scene, produced around 80 years ago, depicts a Short Sunderland patrol bomber flying low over the Gareloch prior to landing at the former base in Rhu.
The painting, by artist Alfred Nixon Moores, would have been inspired by such a scene during his time at RAF Helensburgh.
Retired journalist Robin Bird, whose father served at Helensburgh as an airborne photographer, told the Advertiser: "RAF recruit Moores, of Bristol, was posted to RAF Helensburgh at the start of the war.
"He swapped civilian brushes and paint for paper and pencil to illustrate top secret RAF reports.
"These documents concerned trials of airborne anti-submarine warfare carried out at Helensburgh.
"Moores relaxed off duty painting tranquil scenes of Scottish landscapes on his doorstep. He also painted a few flying boat scenes reflecting his day job at Helensburgh."
Art curator Michael Newstead, of Bristol 1904 arts group, has exclusively shared the flying boat scene (pictured above) with the Helensburgh Advertiser.
Robin, who said Moores' flying boat scenes are "something of a rarity", added: "It was painted circa 80 years ago. Before the war Moores was at Bristol School of Art. He then became an apprentice in an established studio designing advertising and packaging.
"In 1939, he joined the RAF and was one of the first to be posted to Helensburgh’s newly-established flying boat base.
"In 1942 his painting Winter Snowscape was accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy.
"Towards the end of the war Moores was in Rangoon when the Japanese surrendered. He sailed there from Greenock aboard the troop ship Oranto which was based in the Gareloch for commando landing exercises.
"Here his paintings were influenced by the orient. Post war Moores was known for landscape paintings. He was a lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art.
"His paintings continued to be exhibited including the National Gallery. His lectures explored the link between photography and art which reflected a lifetime’s work."
Image courtesy of Bristol 1904.
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