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United States Air Force Print List
Nicolas Trudgian Prints  US Air Force  US Air Force Print List |
[UP] - Mustang - Flying Fortress - Liberator - Lightning - Corsair - Invader - Thunderbolt - Mitchell - Skyhawk - Catalina - Havoc - Black Widow - Dakota - Hellcat - Superfortress - Tomahawk - US Air Force Print List |
Full list of Aviation art prints of the United States Air Force and Marine Corps by outstanding aviation artist Nicolas Trudgian. This complete list of back catalogue art prints include some very rare art prints which have not been available for many years and this is certainly your last chance to get hold of these historically important art prints with some of the best American fighter Pilot signatures available and sadly many of these heroes are no longer with us. Just click on the image of interest and you will be transferred to our secure ordering site and larger image. Throughout the 1970s Nick was much involved with a railway preservation society near Plymouth and it was through the railway society that he had his first pictures reproduced as prints. But Nick felt he needed to advance his career and in summer 1985 Nick moved away from Cornwall to join an energetic new design studio in Wiltshire. Here he painted detailed artwork for many major companies including Rolls Royce, General Motors, Volvo Trucks, Alfa Romeo and, to his delight, the aviation and defence industries. He remembers the job as exciting though stressful, often requiring him to work right through the night to meet a client's deadline. Here he learned to be disciplined and fast.Towards the end of the 1980's Nick had the chance to work for the Military Gallery. This was the break that for years he had been striving towards and with typical enthusiasm, flung himself into his new role. After completing a series of aviation posters, including a gigantic painting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Nick's first aviation scene to be published as a limited edition was launched by the Military Gallery in 1991. Despite the fact he was unknown in the field, it was an immediate success.
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| Text for the above items : |
Thunderbolts and Lightnings by Nicolas Trudgian. The relief of Bastogne turned the tide in the Battle of the Bulge and Hitlers final great offensive of World War II lay in ruins. P47 Thunderbolts of the 406th Fighter Group, in company with P38 Lightnings, support the advancing armor of General George Pattons US Third Army as they prepare to relieve the battered 101st Airborne Division from their heroic defence of Bastogne during the final climax to the Battle of the Bulge, 24 December 1944. The Battle of the Bulge was one of the largest land battles of WWII with more than a million American, British and German troops involved, incurring huge casualties on all sides and this release pays tribute to the sacrifice of Allied Forces, during this important milestone in World War II. Published 2005. |
Pacific Glory by Nicolas Trudgian. One of the most successful of the P-38 equipped units was the 475th Fighter Group, Satans Angels, and it is the P-38s of this famous unit that Nicolas Trudgian has portrayed in his tribute to the American Air Forces that made Victory in the Pacific possible. It is March 1945 and the P-38s of the 475th FG are involved in a huge dogfight with Japanese Zeros over the coast of Indo-China. Flying Pee Wee V is Lt Ken Hart of the 431st Fighter Squadron, who has fatally damaged a Zero in a blistering head on encounter. The second P-38 - Vickie - belongs to Captain John Rabbit Pietz, who would end the War an Ace with six victories. |
V.E. Day - Heading Home by Nicolas Trudgian. Only 50 copies available. |
Teamwork by Nicolas Trudgian. P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group make a low pass over B-17s of the 401st Bomb Group at Deenethorpe, as they return to their base at Kingscliffe in late 1944. |
Mustangs Over the Eagles Nest by Nicolas Trudgian. Obersalzberg, a spectacularly picturesque area of southern Germany in the Bavarian Alps, became a focal point for the Allies as World War II was drawing to its close. This mountain village had become a Nazi stronghold after the Third Reich had seized houses, farms, and some 600 acres, and built private residences for Martin Bormann and Hermann Goering, an SS barracks, and erected a 30kmn fence around the perimeter to deter intrusion. At its centre was the Berghoff, Adolf Hitlers private mountain retreat. Crowning Bormanns lavish building programme was the house he had built on a rocky spur almost 3000 feet above the Obersalzberg, some 6000 feet above sea level. Reached via a twisting road blasted out of the mountainside, the house was approached after entering a tunnel via a large brass two story elevator rising over 400 feet to the building. The Kehlsteinhaus was Martin Bormanns present for Hitter on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1939. It was known by the Allies as the Eagles Nest. Believing the Obersalzberg to be where Hitler and his closest henchmen would make their final stand, in April 1945 Allied bombing raids reduced much of the area to ruins. The Eagles Nest, intended as a private retreat from which Hitler could gaze over a conquered Europe, being an isolated target, survived this onslaught, and endures to this day. Nicolas Trudgians painting shows P-51Ds of the 339th Fighter Group roaring over the rooftop of Hitlers now abandoned folly. With Germany and the Third Reich on the brink of defeat, this majestic aviation image conveys the poignant irony of the greatest lost cause in human history, with P-51 Mustangs providing a fitting symbol of victory over tyranny. |
Texas Raiders by Nicolas Trudgian. Issued to help raise funds for B-17 'Texas Raiders' of the Gulf Coast Wing, Houston, Texas. |
The Jolly Rogers by Nicolas Trudgian. With its macabre skull and crossbones insignia, and a reputation for total disdain of authority, VF-17 arrived in the Pacific with a variety of nicknames ranging from the Irregulars to the Cast-offs, but under the dynamic leadership of their Squadron Commander, Tom Blackburn, VF-17 made their presence felt immediately upon their arrival in the fall of 1943. Equipped with the F4U Corsair, VF-17 pilots had what Blackburn was convinced was the best fighter aircraft of World War II, and on 1st November, during the invasion of Bougainville, VF-17 pilots shot down 6 Japanese planes in their first taste of battle - 2 falling to the guns of their C.O. Over the next 8500 hours of combat in the Solomons, its pilots shot down 156 enemy aircraft, 8 Japanese aircraft for each plane it lost, and produced the highest number of Aces of any squadron in the Navy. Blackburns Fighting 17 were the toast of the Navy brass, earned the respect of their peers, and became known throughout the Pacific as The Jolly Rogers. |
Dawn Chorus by Nicolas Trudgian. (B) June 1944, dawn is breaking over a sleepy English village, and P-38 Lightnings shatter the silence as they climb out from a nearby air base, en route to the Normandy beach heads. |
P-51 Mustang by Nicolas Trudgian. Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. |
D-Day Armada by Nicolas Trudgian. There was never a greater concentration of air power deployed in an active theater of war as over the English Channel in May and June 1944. As D-Day approached, the USAAFs Ninth Air Force had assembled over 3500 aircraft a day, they were pounding enemy positions all the way from Pas de Calais to the coast of Normandy. 6 June 1944, arguably the most decisive single day in modern military history, saw the sky filled with waves of troop carrying aircraft towing gliders, dropping over 20,000 highly trained men in support of the massed sea-borne landings on the beaches below. Grabbing all the airspace they could find, the combat wings of the Ninth Air Force were creating havoc among the German ground forces as they scrambled to get troops and armor to the battlefront. |
B-17 Flying Fortress by Nicolas Trudgian. Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. |
Thundering Home by Nicolas Trudgian. (B) When the U.S. Air Forces arrived in Europe in 1942 it was the beginning of a three year aerial campaign, the scale of which had never been seen before, nor since. The 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces constituted the mightiest aerial armada in history. With outstanding leadership and sustained courage, they blazed a trail of glory across the skies of war-torn Europe that today is legend. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. Air Forces campaign in Europe, the talented aviation artist Nicolas Trudgian has painted a spectacular canvas, bringing to life the men and machines of that epoc-making era, half a century ago. Set in a dramatic and powerful evening sky, B-17 Fortresses come thundering home after a mid over enemy territory. Joining the formation are a pair of B-24 Liberators which have become separated from their own group, and P-51 fighters fly in close escort for the perilous journey home. Aboard the aircraft, pilots and gunners scan the horizon for enemy fighters. Flight engineers are busy coaxing their ships along, some having to deal with overheating engines, damaged fuel lines, leaking hydraulics and other inflicted damage. Some have injured on board. Glistening in the strong evening sunlight the lead aircraft fills the canvas. Clearly visible are the pilot and upper turret gunner, and all the fine detail of this legendary warbird as it thunders through the sky. Below, reflecting the evening glow, is the forbidding North Sea, providing a constant reminder that the dangers of the mission are not yet ever. |
Ruhr Valley Invaders by Nicolas Trudgian. When the seasoned B-26 crews of the 386th Bomb Group took delivery of their Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft in September 1944, the arrival of their new fast attack bombers neatly coincided with a move to France. Now based at Beaumont-sur-Oise, they were able to penetrate deep into enemy territory. The three man crews took part in the Battle of the Bulge, their twin engined aircraft being well suited to their task of destroying strategic bridges and cutting vital supply lines. After the Ardennes Campaign, now fully equipped with the A-26, the 386th BG continued to strike hard against important targets in Germany, the nimble handling characteristics of the aircraft making low-level attacks a speciality. As the Allies advanced upon Germany the 386th moved to St. Trond in Belgium, their base at the time of Nicolas Trudgians dramatic painting. Arriving at high speed over the busy German rail yard in the heart of the Ruhr Valley, barely skimming the nearby factory chimney stacks on the way into the target, the A-26 crews on the 386th deliver a devastating blow, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. With bombs away, the Invader crews strafe the area with their battery of ten forward-firing .50 cal. machine guns, the roar of their twin 2000hp engines heightening the tension and confusion on the ground. Published 2000. Signed by three distinguished A-26 Invader aircrew who flew the A-26 in combat during World War II. |
Return to Rattlesden by Nicolas Trudgian. With their crews, the 447th Bomb Group B-17 Fortresses arrived at Rattlesden in late 1943, the East Anglian base from which the group flew all its missions until the end of the war. Entering combat on December 24, the 447th targeted submarine pens, naval installations, ports and missile sites, airfields and marshalling yards in France, Belgium and Germany in preparation for the Normandy invasion. In the thick of the bomber offensive, the 447th took part in the Big-Week raids, supported the D-Day landings, aided the breakthrough at St. Lo, pounded enemy positions during the airborne invasion of Holland, and dropped supplies to the Free French forces fighting behind enemy lines. During the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 - January 1945, the group attacked marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communications centers in the combat zone, later resuming their offensive against targets deep inside Germany. When the war ended the 447th had flown over 257 individual missions, with one of their aircrew, Robert Femoyer, being awarded the Medal of Honor. Theirs was typical of the action packed campaigns flown by the American Eighth Air Force bomb groups in Europe during WWII. Published 2001. Signed by eight combat crew veterans flying B-17 Flying Fortresses for the 447th BG out of Rattlesden, England, during World War II. |
Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian. It required more than a little nerve to fly a fighter into the barrage of fire sprayed out by the gunners of a box of B17 bombers; it took even greater courage to do so in the rocket propelled Me163 Komet. With rocket science still in its infancy, these small aircraft were still in the experimental stage, and piloting what amounted to a flying bomb was in itself a perilous business, let alone flying them into combat. But these were desperate times. The day and night bombing assault on Germany was bringing the mighty war machine to its knees, and aything that might help stem the tide was thrown into battle. Powered by a mixture of two highly volatile chemicals, the slightest leak, or heavy landing could cause a huge explosion, and the mix was so corrosive that in the event of even a minor accident, the pilot could literally be dissolved. Sitting in a cramped cockpit, surrounded by dangerous chemicals and ammunition, the intrepid aviator would be launched into the sky on what was, at best, a four minute mission. After, hopefully, engaing the enemy, he would glide powerlessly back to the nearest airfield to be refuelled so as to attempt the hazardous operation all over again. Though limited to a handful of victories, the Komet did make the Allied crews wonder what else the Luftwaffe had hidden up its sleeve, and had the distinction of being the forerunner of aircraft technology that eventually took aircraft into space. Capable of nearly 600mph and climbing to 30,000ft in less than two minutes, this tiny rocket propelled Me163 Komet was typical of Germanys ingenuity in its desperate attempts to stem the havoc being wreaked by the USAAFs daylight bombers. |
Duxford Eagles by Nicolas Trudgian Base to the legendary Douglas Bader Fighter Wing during the Battle of Britain, Duxford became home to the 78th Fighter Group in April 1943. Today it appropriately houses the American Air Museum, and hosts the many summer air-shows where crowds thrill to the sight and sound of the glorious WWII warbirds. First equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts then P-51Ds, the 78th Fighter Group was credited with 688 enemy aircraft destroyed, 474 in the air, and another 406 destroyed on the ground during low-level strafing missions. Charles London of the 78th became the 8th Air Forces first fighter ace of the war and a 78th pilot, Quince Brown, was the first to down a Me262 jet in August 1944. It is March 1945. Led by Colonel John Landers flying Big Beautiful Doll, one of the 8th Air Forces most flamboyant fighters, the 78th P-51D Mustangs roar off the field to begin an escort mission taking B-17 Fortresses already airborne in the background all the way to Hamburg. |
B-24 Liberator by Nicolas Trudgian. Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. |
P-38 Lightning by Nicolas Trudgian. A P-38 Lightning from the 20th Fighter Group based at Kings Cliffe, England, during the summer of 1944. The Lightning, with its radical twin-engine, twin boom design, dubbed by the Germans the fork-tailed devil, was one of the toughest, hard-hitting and most versatile fighters of its day. |
Messerschmitt Country by Nicolas Trudgian Nobody, least of all Allied aircrew, ever doubted the tenacity of the Luftwaffe, more particularly that of the German fighter pilots. From the early encounters during the Battle of Britain to the greeat air battles in defence of their homeland late in the war, at all times they were held in high regard, even if resented as a foe. At no time was their dedication, determination, and courage better demonstrated than during the final stages of World War Two. By the summer of 1944 the Allies had gained a foothold in Normandy, and total air superiority above northern France. German installations and ground positions were being pounded daily from the air, and the Ruhr, the heartland of industrial Germany, was under constant siege. Even the factories in southern Germany were not safe from the attentions of the USAAF bombers by day, and the RAF by night. But in spite of the pressures of mounting losses and diminished supplies, the Luftwaffe fought doggedly on in best traditions of the fighter pilot. The morning of 19th July 1944 saw the USAAFs 8th and 15th Air Forces mount an attack of awesome proportion against the aircraft factories in the region of Munich. To combat a seemingly overwhelming force of 1400 bombers and almost as many fighter escorts, the Luftwaffe were able to put up just three Gruppen from JG300 and one from JG302, flying a mix of Me109Gs and Fw190s - barely 50 serviceable fighters between them. They were joined by a dozen Me109s of II./JG27, these fighters desperately trying to defend the very factories in which they were made. |
Tiger Fire by Nicolas Trudgian. In early 1941, many months before Pearl Harbor, an irrepressible bunch of American fighter pilots, together with 200 ground crew, came together and stood alone against the might of the Imperial Japanese Air Force. Under the indomitable command of General Claire Chennault, their task was to keep the vital road link open between the port of Rangoon and the city of Kunming in South West China. A treacherous unpaved track, hacked through mountain terrain and known as the infamous Burma Road, was the only lifeline for supplies into China from the outside world. With the Japanese hell-bent on its destruction, the Flying Tigers were all that stood between defeat and survival. With little support from home, and almost without replacement aircraft or spares, the P-40 Tomahawk pilots of the American Volunteer Group - the AVG - became the scourge of the Japanese Air Force and heroes to the people of China. In a six month period of combat, with no more than 50 or 60 serviceable aircraft at anyone time, and invariably heavily outnumbered in the air, they destroyed some 300 Japanese airplanes, damaging and destroying another 300, and causing incalculable damage to Japanese ground forces. During its brief existence this remarkable group became one of the most successful and famous fighter units of all time. Their short but glorious private war came to an end when on July 4th, 1942 the AVG was absorbed into the USAAF and Chennaults Flying Tigers passed into aviation folklore. Motivated by the legend of the Flying Tigers, Nicolas Trudgian has painted one of his finest pictures. Dominating the foreground is a stunning view of Chuck Olders P-40 - one of the 3rd Pursuit Squadrons, known as Hells Angels - in hot pursuit of a bunch of Zero fighters up ahead. Close by to his left another Flying Tiger finishes off a Zero, already on its way down. Below the pastoral scene is caught unawares by the sudden approach of fighters, as the fast-moving dogfight hurtles across the landscape. |
Operation Tidal Wave by Nicolas Trudgian. At first light on August 1st, 1943 a force of 178 B-24 Liberator bombers lifted off dusty airstrips in the Libyan desert. They were to fly a 2000 mile round-trip deep into enemy territory, bomb a heavily defended target, and return to their North African base - without fighter escort. So began one of the bloodiest and heroic missions in the annals of aerial warfare. The target - the oil refineries at Ploesti. One third of Germany's petroleum products were supplied from Ploesti, situated deep in Rumania and well beyond the range of Allied bombers based in England. Deprived of this vital supply of fuel, Germany's mighty war machine would grind to a halt. The high command were aware of this and the installations at Ploesti were defended accordingly. To attack such a heavily defended target with the required degree of accuracy it was necessary to bomb from a perilously low level, a task for which the B-24 was notoriously unsuited. The mission called for inspired leadership, cool determination and courage beyond the call of duty - and all of these were given in plenty. As the first wave of bombers roared into the target, some as low as 50 feet, the German defenses opened up with a barrage of fire. Within moments the entire area erupted with exploding bombs, bursting shells, gushing flames and billowing palls of smoke. One by one the gallant crews took their aircraft through the intense wall of Ack-Ack and 88mm ground fire, and into the burning inferno to deliver their deadly cargo. Of the 178 B-24s dispatched, 52 were lost and all but 35 aircraft suffered damage, one limping home after 14 hours and holed in 365 places. Ploesti witnessed countless acts of heroism, for which the crews received more decorations for bravery than any other mission of the war. |
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This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com |
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