A TOUCHING mural to a heroic Second World War fighter pilot has been unveiled on the side of a Rochford art studio.
Dan Kitchener, a muralist from Rochford, painted the artwork for his 92-year-old friend, Brian Muggleton, whose brother Reginald flew Hawker Hurricanes before being killed in Burma at just 21-years-old.
The mural features a portrait of Reginald as well as a Hawker Hurricane flying in the skies above Southend and was created to coincide with VJ Day on Friday.
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Dan said: “My friend Brian Muggleton has lived in the same Rochford flats as me for the past 20 years and when he suddenly became ill I wanted to do something to help.
“I thought it would be nice to cheer him up and remembered Brian telling me about Reginald, a fighter pilot who grew up in Rochford and was killed in Burma at 21.
“I wanted to really celebrate the sacrifice that these brave guys made and wanted to be able to show Brian something that honoured his brother and others like him.”
The mural, painted on the side of 50-year-old Dan’s Rochford art studio, took roughly two days to complete.
Dan described the process as being particularly emotional and said he had a strong sense of who Reginald was throughout.
“Brian is such an incredible man, and can even remember Spitfires taking off from Southend and fighting in the sky during the Battle of Britain,” said Dan.
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“It’s been a wonderful experience to capture this sort of image in a time when the younger generation seems like they need more positive and heroic role models.”
Dan is a well-known figure among south Essex’s creative community and has painted many large scale murals in the past.
One of those, painted on the side of the Grey Goose pub in Rochford in 2018, was demolished last year as part of work to convert the site into a new block of flats.
According to Dan, Brian was very touched to see photos of the mural depicting his heroic brother alongside the Hawker Hurricane.
The mural is available to view at Unit 19, Three Bays Farm, Canewdon Road.
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