TAS Newsletter Spring 05 Vol 3 p3

CERTA CITO

Certa Cito is the motto of the Royal Corps of signals of the British Army—it means “swift and sure”. I was a swift and sure wireless operator with the 14th Army signals at Imphal in Assam in 1943. Our radio mechanic was a gentleman named Jimmy Rackham, a former school master in Southampton, now a corporal in the 14th Army.

Off duty , I was always sketching planes, our surroundings, etc. on any available piece of paper and one day Jim asked me if I would draw some pictures of aeroplanes for him to send back home to his young son. I was only too glad to oblige, because Jimmy was very popular with all our signals personnel.In those days I was mostly known as George Austin so I signed the pictures GA.

Nearly 62 years passed … on 8th December 2004 Mary and I were at the T.A.S. meeting to see Roy Fisher’s excellent slide programme when Roy mentioned that two other photographers were in the audience—Mr & Mrs Rackham. I looked around and spotted a man who could have been Jimmy Rackham!

During the interval we chatted and of course Tony turned out to be Jimmy’s son! I later gave him some photos of his Dad at Imphal and in return , Tony gave me photocopies of the aeroplanes I had drawn for him 62 years earlier, saying that he’d always wondered about the identity of GA. I then revealed that I was the mysterious artist! That was my first (and last) commission!

Bunny Austin

*Spring 2005 Volume 3 No. 1 Page 3*		THIS ISSUE PAGES 1 2 - 4 5 6 7 8 9 OTHER ISSUES © TOTTON ART SOCIETY All text and images are copyright and should not be copied without permission.
CERTA CITO Certa Cito is the motto of the Royal Corps of signals of the British Army—it means “swift and sure”. I was a swift and sure wireless operator with the 14th Army signals at Imphal in Assam in 1943. Our radio mechanic was a gentleman named Jimmy Rackham, a former school master in Southampton, now a corporal in the 14th Army. Off duty , I was always sketching planes, our surroundings, etc. on any available piece of paper and one day Jim asked me if I would draw some pictures of aeroplanes for him to send back home to his young son. I was only too glad to oblige, because Jimmy was very popular with all our signals personnel.In those days I was mostly known as George Austin so I signed the pictures GA. Nearly 62 years passed … on 8th December 2004 Mary and I were at the T.A.S. meeting to see Roy Fisher’s excellent slide programme when Roy mentioned that two other photographers were in the audience—Mr & Mrs Rackham. I looked around and spotted a man who could have been Jimmy Rackham! During the interval we chatted and of course Tony turned out to be Jimmy’s son! I later gave him some photos of his Dad at Imphal and in return , Tony gave me photocopies of the aeroplanes I had drawn for him 62 years earlier, saying that he’d always wondered about the identity of GA. I then revealed that I was the mysterious artist! That was my first (and last) commission! Bunny Austin		Bunny Austin