Diapositiva 1

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Wartime Aviation Art
World War 2
Music George Fenton Theme " Memphis Belle "
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HIGH FLIGHT Keith Ferris
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And
danced the skies on laughter-silvered
wings Sunwards Ive climbed and joined the
tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds - and done a
thousand things You have not dreamed of - wheeled
and soared and swung    High in the sunlit
silence. Hovering there, Ive chased the shouting
wind along and flung My eager craft through
footless halls of air, Up, up the long delirious
burning blue Ive topped the wind-swept heights
with easy grace, Where never lark, or even eagle,
flew   And, while with silent, lifting mind Ive
trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put
out my hand, and touched the face of God. John
Gillespie Magee RCAF ( Dec 11, 1941) Compuso
este poema tras un vuelo de alta cota en su
Spitfire. Pocos días después falleció.
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FOURTH MISSION OF THE DAY Gil Cohen
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COASTAL PATROL - Richard Taylor
August 1940 Battle of Britain Mk1 Spitfires of
610 Sqn from Biggin Hill patrol The White Cliffs
near Dover.
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B17 NINE-O-NINE - Steve Heyen
1944 - B17 bombers of 333 Sqn Bomb face Me109
fighters over Germany
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DAUNTLESS AGAINST A RISING SUN - William Phillips
JUN 1942 - Battle of Midway 2 SBD-3 from USS
Yorktown fly towards the Japanese fleet.
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CLOSING THE GAP - Robert Taylor
August 1944 - Hawker Typhoons of 247 Sqn launch
rocket and gun attacks on German Panzer tanks in
Normandy. In one day these air strikes destroyed
175 tanks.
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FW190 STURMGRUPPE FORMATION - John Wallin Liberto

DEC 1944 - Flying at high altitude, the Fw190A-8
'Sturmbock' of the JG 300 is directed to meet the
formations of Allied B-17 and B-24 bombers.
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FW190 STURMGRUPPE FORMATION (detail) - John
Wallin Liberto
Oberstleutnant Walther Dahl in his 'Blue 13'
leads the FW190s from JG300 "Wild Boar". Dahl was
involved in 128 dogfights , one ramming a B-17.
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DESERT SHARKS - Heinz Krebs
P-40 fighters of 325th FG, 12th AF, the dreaded
Checkertail Clan, attack a German tank column
during the defeat of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's
Afrika Korps' in Tunisia in early 1943.
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SPLASH LANDING Gareth Hector
1943 J.G. Boon von Ochssee, a Dutchman serving
aboard HMS Speaker, ditches his Grumman Hellcat
JW867 into the Indian Ocean. He was picked up
safely by a destroyer escort and would continue
flying Hellcats until the end of the war.
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GALLANDS ACES - Dieter Meyer
1945 - Adolf Galland and Heinz Bär lead a group
of Me-262's towards an encounter with Allied
B-24's high above the clouds.
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August 1944 This one depicts a Spitfire MkXIVe
flown by Flying Officer Burgwal of 322 (Dutch)
Squadron, a high scoring V-1 killer with 19
kills. This image shows one of his kills, this
time by tipping over the V-1 flying bomb that was
headed for London. This would make the V-1 crash
as it had no ailerons or internal systems that
could compensate for this imbalance.
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CAUGHT ON THE SURFACE - Robert Taylor
JUL 1943 - A Sunderland of 461 Sqn RAAF,
identification letter U, destroys submarine
U-461, a type XIV tanker, one of three German
submarines caught on the surface by Allied
aircraft in the Bay of Biscay on July 30, 1943.
At extreme low level, Sunderland U braves a
barrage of gunfire from all three encircling
German submarines to deliver a successful depth
charge attack, sinking U-461 in a single pass. In
an act of grace, the Sunderland pilot returned to
the scene to drop a dingy to the U-boat survivors.
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DAYS OF THUNDER - Richard Taylor
MAY 1944 - Four P-47D Thunderbolts of 78 Fighter
Group depart Duxford aerodrome for a low-level
strafing mission over the north of France.
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DAMBUSTERS BREACHING THE EDER DAM - Robert Taylor
MAY 1943 -Four Avro Lancasters of 617 Sqn,
modified to carry the huge dam-busting bouncing
bombs designed by Barnes Wallis, breach the Mohne
and Eder dams in one night under the leadership
of Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
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FLY FOR YOUR LIFE - Robert Taylor
DIC 1943 - Maj. Greg 'Pappy' Boyington and his
F4U Corsairs of VMF-214 "Black Sheep combat a
group of Japanese Zeros over Rabaul.
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RAIDERS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC - Roy Grinnell
1942 The Blohm and Voss B V-138 reconnaissance
flying boats out of Norway oversee a Ju-88s
attack against Allied merchant ships in the
Norwegian Sea.
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CAN'T TALK NOW. GOTTA SHOOT - Dan Zoernig
7 JUL 1944 -Cap. 'Bud' Anderson, of 357 Fighter
Gp, surprising two 3 Me-109s in close formation.
When he hears on the radio "Bud, where are you?
he replies with the phrase that forms the title
of the painting.
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INTO THE TEETH OF THE WIND - Robert Taylor
18 ABR 1942 -Jimmy Doolittle, flying his B-25
Mitchell, takes off from the carrier USS Hornet,
to launch his daring raid on Tokyo, the first
strike at the heart of Imperial Japan four months
after Pearl Harbour.
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HARTMANN'S LAST VICTORY - Mark Postlethwaite
MAY 1945 - The highest scoring fighter pilot in
history, Erich Hartmann shoots down his last
victim, his 352nd, a Soviet Yak-9 Fighter over
Brno in Slovakia. Hartmann is shown piloting his
Messerschmitt ME109 "Black Tulip", on 8 May 1945,
the last day of the war.
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - Roy Grinnell
18 APR 1943 -An ambush by 16 P-38 Lightnings ends
with the shooting down by Lt. Rex Barber of the
Japanese 'Betty' bomber carrying Japans
Imperial Fleet Commander Admiral Yamamoto,
architect of the attack on Pearl Harbour. US
intelligence had discovered Yamamoto would be
flying to Ballale Island and the Lightnings flew
400 miles at 50ft above the water to make the
avenging kill.
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AMBUSH - Heinz Krebs
German Me 262 jet fighters, were vulnerable to
fighter attacks during take-off and landing. To
counteract mounting losses special units were
formed to provide cover. In order to make these
aircraft clearly discernable to the German
anti-aircraft gunners, their undersides were
painted red with white stripes, thus the legend
of the "parrot wing" was born. One of this unit's
elements was the so-called "strangler swarm" led
by Lt. Heino Sachsenberg seen here in his Focke
Wulf 190 Dora 9, as he attempts to protect the
approaching jet fighters from the P.51 Mustangs'
attack.
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BLACK FRIDAY - Mark Postlethwaite
9 FEB 1945 - At 14.00 on February 9 1945, 31
Bristol Beaufighters of 445 (RAAF), 404(RCAF) and
144 Squadron (RAF) took off for a strike against
a small German Naval Force hidden in Fordefjord.
By 19.00 that evening, 404 Squadron were coming
to terms with the loss of six of their aircraft,
11 men dead one POW. In total, nine Bristol
Beaufighters were lost that day along with one
North American Mustang. The Germans lost 5 Focke
Wulf 190s. Fourteen Allied aircrew and two German
pilots were dead.
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NARROW ESCAPE - Heinz Krebs
SEP 1940 Battle of Britain an ailing He111 is
harassed by a Spitfire of the RAF. Just in time,
two Me109 of JG26 fly to the rescue.
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CLASH OF EAGLES - Roy Grinnell
MAY 1944 - Lt. Hubert Hackmann, his guns jammed,
rams his Messerschmitt into Capt. Joseph H.
Bennets 336 Ftr Sqn P-51B Mustang, destroying
it. Bennett was captured after parachuting safely
over Germany. He and Hackmann became friends,
meeting regularly for reunions after the war.
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TYPHOON SCRAMBLE - Richard Taylor
Led by Squadron Commander Roland Bee Beamont,
Hawker Typhoons of 609 Squadron are illustrated
as they scramble from their base at Manston in
April 1943.
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FORTRESSES UNDER FIRE - Keith Ferris
This image is the 25 foot high by 75 foot wide
mural in the World War II Gallery of the National
Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC. The B-17G, 42-38050, Thunder
Bird of the 303rd Bomb Group, based at
Molesworth, England, is seen at 1145 AM, 15
August 1944, over Trier, Germany, on its return
to base from a mission to Weisbaden. B-17Gs
Bonnie B, Special Delivery, and Marie, are
seen below as a Messerschmitt 109G and Focke Wulf
FW 190 attack Thunder Birds element. Jeff
Ethells research for the mural revealed the
names and aircraft identities of all U.S. and
many German participants in this battle in which
the 303rd lost nine Fortresses in this attack by
Luftwaffe fighters.
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LEO OF THE ZODIAC BOMBERS - Roy Grinnell
1944 Painting on the nose of one of the B-24
Liberators of the famous 834 'Zodiac Squadron of
the 486 Bomb Group based at Sudbury in England,
which had Zodiac signs on every plane.
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SEAWOLVES - Nicolas Trudgian
1942 - The German submarine U-552 Red Devil
returns to its base at St Nazaire during the
Battle of the Atlantic, escorted by a Fw200
Condor and three Ju88Ds of KGR 106.
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DESPERATE DAYS - Gareth Hector
1945 - Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9's of JG-26 squadron
intercepting B-24s high above Germany during the
last desperate months of the war.
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CLOSE COMBAT - Mark Postlethwaite
DEC 23 1944 - Feldwebel Wilhelm Hopfensitz of
IV/JG3 piloting his Focke Wulf F190, closes in on
a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 838th BS over
Belgium.
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THE FAMOUS FOUR MINUTES R. G. Smith
4 JUN 1942 -Battle of Midway One of the defining
moments of the Pacific War. In just 4 minutes
Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers from the
Enterprise and Yorktown, destroy the Japanese
carriers Kaga, Akagi and Soryu.
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INTO THE TEETH OF THE TIGER - William Phillips
Theres more than one way to bring down an
opposing fighter, as 1st Lt. Don Lopez learned on
December 12, 1943. He and his comrades of the
75th Fighter Squadron were at 6,000 feet over
South Central China when the young airman
experienced his first scramble. Lopez ripped his
P-40 into the middle of a flight of Japanese
Oscars and quickly engaged one of them, flying
directly at one another, firing steady hits.
Lopez expected his opponent to break off, but
neither did so. Head-on only a few feet apart,
the Oscar swerved right too late. Lopez lost
three feet off the end of his wing, but the
Japanese pilot lost substantially more, including
control of his aircraft, which plunged toward the
earth. Undaunted, Lopez pressed the attack again
and scored enough victories to join the ranks of
ace fighter pilot.
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FIRST KILL- Roy Grinnell
SEP 1st 1939 On the first day of WW2 2nd Lt.
Wladek Gnys in his gull-winged PLZP-11 fighter
shot down two Dornier Do-17E over the pre-dawn
skies of Poland as the Germans launched their
surprise attack on his country.
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SEMPER FI SKIES John D. Shaw
21 MAY 43 - This scene depicts Corsairs of
VMF-112 Wolfpack in combat near Guadalcanal in
1943. On May 21, Captain Archie Donahue became an
ace in a day by shooting down 5 enemy aircraft
in one mission. He would repeat this feat 2 years
later while serving aboard the USS Bunker Hill.
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RAID ON THE CHINA COAST - Roy Grinnell
APRIL 1945 - The plane shown is Lady Lil of the
Air Apaches 345th Bomb Group, 498th Bomb
Squadron, a B-25 piloted by Lt. Albert J. Beiga
as he attacks Japanese shipping off the coast of
China, between Amoy and Swatow, west of Formosa.
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STAR OF AFRICA - Heinz Krebs
Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille, known as the
Star of Africa, was probably the most formidable
opponent the British ever encountered in the air.
He was victorious in 158 aerial combats against
the Royal Air Force, 154 of which were fighter
aircraft. Marseille died undefeated whilst
bailing out of his Me 109 which had developed an
engine problem on the return leg of an uneventful
sortie. Marseille is seen here at the moment of
his 150th aerial victory on September 15th, 1942,
when he fought and defeated no less than seven
Curtiss Kittyhawk fighters in an incredible
eleven minutes.
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SHARK SIGHTING - John D. Shaw
1942 - Kunming, China. Before the pilots of the
legendary 1st American Volunteer Group The
Flying Tigers could take to the skies against
the enemy, the all-important task of boresighting
the .30 caliber wing guns of their P-40's had to
take place! Their ingenious armourers were often
forced to improvise, but as the Tigers'
incredible combat record can attest, these great
Americans got the job done! Artist John D. Shaw
has recreated this scenario, featuring likenesses
of actual AVG personnel, such as "Tex" Hill and
armourer Chuck Baisden.
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ONE MAN AIR FORCE - Wade Meyers
Captain Don S. Gentile of the Debden-based 336th
Fighter Squadron manoeuvers his P-51B-7-NA
Mustang 'Shangri-La' while engaging an FW-190A-7
on April 8, 1944. For his actions this day,
Gentile was awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross, America's second highest award for valor
in combat. General Dwight D. Eisenhower presented
the award personally, and when introduced to the
young fighter pilot, Eisenhower remarked, 'You
seem to be a one-man air force!'
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OPEN ASSAULT - Robert Taylor
The Junkers Ju87 Sturzkampfbomber, known to the
British simply as the Stuka, had a deadly
reputation, its siren screaming as the ungainly
dive-bomber struck terror into the hearts of
those below. In 1940 they crossed the Channel to
terrorise the southern towns and ports of
England. Robert Taylors painting Open Assault,
depicts Hurricanes of 501 Squadron attacking a
force of Ju87 Stukas as they dive-bomb naval
vessels and installations in the port of Dover on
29 July 1940. Four Stukas and two Me109s are
dispatched, for the loss of just one RAF
aircraft.
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DAVID AND GOLIATH Roberto Zanella
JUN 1943 A Macchi MC205 Veltro from A Squadron
'Ace of Wands' shoots down a B-17G over Italy.
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OPERATION CERBERUS - Philip West
The Channel Dash (officially known as Operation
Cerberus) was one of three operations during the
Second World War for which the Fairey Swordfish
was to become the most famous. Heavily outgunned
in the Straits of Dover on this day, February 11,
1942 by the German warships Scharnhorst,
Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen, with their
accompanying flotilla of destroyers and motor
torpedo boats, and with top cover provided by
deadly fighter aircraft of the Luftwaffe, all six
Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish were shot down.
Only five of the eighteen aircrew survived. Here
we see the Swordfish flown by Sub. Lt. Kingsmill
and Sub. Lt. Samples with PO Bunce in the rear,
fighting for their lives with his machine gun.The
bravery of the Fairey Swordfish aircrew in this
and all other operations is a matter of history
and must never be forgotten.
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TIRPITZ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - Mark Postlethwaite
12 NOV 44 - Avro Lancasters of 9 and 617 Sqns
sink the battleship Tirpitz, as it shelters in
Tromso Fjord in Norway. During World War Two,
Tirpitz had become the scourge of the Royal Navy
and had been moved to northern Norway where she
threatened the Arctic convoys, too far north to
be attacked by air from Britain. She had already
been damaged by an attack by Royal Navy midget
submarines and a series of attacks from
carrier-borne aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, but
both attacks had failed to sink her.
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PLAYING THE LAST ACE - Heinz Krebs
1945 - The Messerschmitt Me-163 rocket fighter
aircraft, perhaps better known as the Komet, was
possibly the most radical German manned fighter
aircraft design in WW II. Here Me-163 Komet
fighters climb vertically through an 8th Air
Force bomber formation and its top fighter cover
before swooping down on the heavies for their
short but often deadly attack.
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RED TAILED BLACK ANGELS - Stu Shepherd
1944 - The Tuskegee Airmen of 322 Ftr Gp were
known as the Red-Tailed Black Angels with their
black fuselage and red painted tails of their
P-51Bs. Here Capt. Ed Toppins destroys a
Luftwaffe Bf-109 over the skies of Italy.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR - Gareth Hector
January 1st 1945. All across western Europe
airfields are thrown into chaos as the Luftwaffe
unleashes a desperate surprise offensive to
destroy allied air power on the ground.
'Operation Bodenplatte' would instead result in
the death knell for the once formidable German
air force. However there were some successes,
Eindhoven the home of the RAF's 2nd TAF was hit
hard, firstly by Jg-3 and then in a case of
mistaken identity by Jg-6. Here, the airfield is
already burning from the first attack when Jg-6's
1st Gruppe race across the airfield causing even
more damage. Red '12' belonged to Ewald Trost, he
was luckier than most as his aircraft was shot
down but he survived and was taken prisoner.
Ironically the 1st Gruppe was to enjoy the most
success for Jg-6 that day, the rest of the unit
couldn't find their designated target at Volkel
and as a result found themselves simply trying to
stay alive and get home.
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ON WINGS AND A PRAYER - William Phillips
Dawn breaks over the English countryside. This is
September 1940 and the island nation is in the
grips of war--the Battle of Britain. A woman
riding her bicycle, hearing the roar of
approaching aircraft, stops to gaze upward. She
watches Spitfires from 92 Squadron streak across
the sky, determined to search out and destroy the
fighters and bombers of Hitler's Luftwaffe.
Silently the woman offers up a prayer.
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FLYING ON A SPECIAL D-DAY Julien Lepelletier
6 JUN 1944 - And a Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
flies over Utah Beach on an escort mission.
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RAMRAIDERS - Richard Taylor
8 JUN 44 Two days after D-Day the RAF and USAF
begin to halt the supply of oil to enemy forces
by bombing Germanys oil refineries. The
Luftwaffe are ordered to shoot down the bombers
at all costs, even by ramming. Closing at high
speed with all cannons blazing. Unteroffizier
Willi Maximowitz is seen flying his distinctive
Black 8 IV Sturm/JG3, as he dives in to attack
a formation of USAAF B-24 Liberators from the
93rd Bomb Group.
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JUNKERS Ju88 Shigeo Koike
1941 - A Ju88 A-4 bomber of III Gruppe /
Lehrgeschwader 1 flies over the Tunisian desert.
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TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - Keith Ferris
Pearl Harbor wasn't the only place that was
attacked on December 7th. Across the
International Date Line - making it officially
December 8th - lay Clark Field, which was pounded
by Japanese "Betty" Bombers, then strafed by
Zeroes.Some American pilots managed to
counterattack. Lt. Joe Moore in his Curtiss P-40B
Tomahawk is depicted at 22,000 feet over Clark
Field idefending against the Japanese attackers
as the Pacific War begins.
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ONE THE HARD WAY - Dan Zoernig
Christmas Day, 1941. American Volunteer Group
Flight Leader Parker Dupouy finds his guns jammed
during combat high over the Gulf of Martaban.
Determined to bring down his adversary, he rams
the Hayabusa Oscar of Lt. Hiroshi Okuyama of the
JAAF 64th Sentai. Though he lost four feet of his
wingtip and his entire aileron, Dupouy made it
back to base to fight another day. Lt. Okuyama's
aircraft, however, broke up in flight and carried
him to his death. Dupouy went on to score 6.5
victories in the air before war's end.
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LUCKY - Carlos García
1944 - The Anglo-Argentine pilot Dick Lucky
Lindsell in his Hurricane MkIIC leads the attack
on a bridge in Burma.
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THE EAGLES NEST - John D. Shaw
May 7, 1945 . . . With Goring's champagne and
Bavarian beer, the veterans of Easy Company
celebrate the end of World War II in Europe. Fate
could write no better ending for the paratroopers
who jumped into the darkness of Normandy, slugged
through the mud of Holland, and froze in the
woods of Bastogne. Now, in Berchtesgaden's
storybook Alps, P-51s of the "Checkertail Clan"
cap the party as the Band of Brothers enjoy the
spoils of war, the beauty of peace, and a toast
to the heroes who fell along the way.
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The End
Author Yago F. de Bobadilla