As I researched Jaroslav Novak, I found his story stirring and my reaction to it visceral. Perhaps it is shocking simply because it is an account well documented, or maybe because he was married just two weeks before he died. However, what haunts me most are his last words, spoken with a remarkably calm dialogue, so accepting of his fate. I have offset Novak, calm and serene, against the chaos likely racing through his mind as his fellow pilots radioed him, ‘Goodbye Yardeskie and good luck,’ and as he replied, ‘Goodbye boys, give my best wishes…’ 

While Novak’s Spitfire was shot down in the waters of Guernsey, I felt it important to also contemplate other elements of his life beyond this final mission. The painting’s background presents both an allegory of family life, a reference to a life unlived, and the chaos that reigns with the horrors of war. It draws inspiration from two Czech artists: František Kupka (1871-1957), in particular his 1910 painting ‘Family Portrait’, and Emil Filla (1882-1953). Filla was active between the two World Wars and, after surviving two concentration camps, made an etching entitled ‘Nazism II’. I have used Filla’s winged monster of this etching to overshadow the island of Guernsey as 22 remaining Spitfires fly away from their mission, with one spitfire lost.