An Officer from New South Wales, Australia, 276: F/O Arthur Edward Kell by Edith Honor Earl, chalk on paper

Flying Officer Arthur Edward Kell DFC (1918-1968) was an Australian pilot who undertook two operational tours and 59 sorties with RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War.

In August 1941 Kell enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Sydney. He undertook basic flying training in Tasmania and advanced training with the Empire Air Training Scheme in Ottawa, Canada, before learning to fly heavy aircraft in the UK, at RAF Cottesmore. In 1943 he was assigned to No. 463 Squadron RAAF in 5 Group Bomber Command, based at RAF Waddington. Commissioned as an officer, he commenced operations in July 1943, flying Lancaster bombers in raids over Germany and Italy. In January 1944 he and his crew were posted to No. 617 Special Operations Squadron to prepare for and undertake Operation Chastise, the 'Dambusters' raid (16-17 May 1944). He also served in Operations Paravane, Obviate, and Catechism which led to the sinking of German battleship, the KMS Tirpitz, in Norway in November 1944. On 23 May 1944 Kell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his service with No. 617 Squadron, in which he displayed 'high skill, fortitude and devotion to duty', and on 6 February 1945 the Bar for three sortie attacks on the Tirpitz battleship in which he showed 'a high degree of skill and courage in his determination to make every sortie a success'. After the war he rejoined the RAF, serving from 1949-1961, before returning to Australia to became a flying instructor with the Royal Aero Club of New South Wales. Kell died in a flying accident in 1968. Edith Honor Earl drew Kell's portrait for her exhibition 'Warriors of the Empire' with the Royal Empire Society, which opened in London’s Grosvenor House in December 1944. It is one of 22 portraits by her in the RAF Museum collection (besides others elsewhere) which celebrate the contributions of Service personnel from the British Commonwealth and colonies. Earl, who came from a wealthy and influential family, used her influence for philanthropic ends and staged wartime exhibitions of her work in aid of charities. She intended for her 'Warriors of the Empire' portraits to raise awareness of, and foster social cohesion with, the ‘thousands of men and women who came from all over the Commonwealth to help win the war … soldiers, sailors and airmen, representing every part of what was then termed the “Dominions” and “Colonies”’. Drawing personnel she met in club rooms or had contacted through Services organisations, she celebrated the distinctive identities of her sitters' native countries, drawing small evocative vignettes of landscapes in the corners of the portraits to educate people about their origins and 'make the British people more aware of the enormous debt of gratitude we owed to those splendid people'. Earl devoted proceeds of the exhibition to their welfare and hospitality. Purchased in 1988. Copyright: the Artist's Estate / RAF Museum.