An Officer from Trinidad, 319: Sqdn Ldr Philip Louis Ulrich Cross DFC, DSO by Edith Honor Earl, chalk on paper

Known as Ulrich, Philip Louis Ulric Cross (1917-2013) arrived in Britain from Trinidad and Tobago in November 1941 and trained as a navigator, after which he was commissioned as an officer and assigned to No. 139 (Jamaica) Squadron, based at RAF Marham.

A skilled navigator, Cross was selected to join RAF Bomber Command's Pathfinder Force, marking targets for bombing raids with precision, which earned him a promotion to Flying Officer. He completed over 80 missions over occupied Europe and Germany, later explaining, 'I crash landed I think five or six, seven times ... the strange thing is that when you’re really young you feel immortal. You knew that obviously the possibility existed, that every time you got up in an aeroplane and flew over Germany you wouldn’t come back.' In 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and in 1945 the Distinguished Service Order for his 'exceptional navigational ability' - ribbons for these decorations, as well as his Pathfinder badge, are depicted on his uniform in the portrait. After ascending to Squadron Leader, Cross left the RAF in 1947 and pursued a legal career in Africa, before returning to Trinidad and Tobago to become a High Court Judge and, later, the country's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Edith Honor Earl drew Cross'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. In 1941 she established the All Nations Voluntary Service League for the welfare of war refugees in Britain and she 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 learned about their lives and countries of origin, and was, she explained, ‘saddened to discover how hurt they were by the woeful ignorance and complete lack of interest they found in so many of the people they met in this country’. Earl 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'. She devoted proceeds of the exhibition to their welfare and hospitality. Purchased in 1988. Copyright: the Artist's Estate / RAF Museum.