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A deluxe copy of the book 'Robert Taylor - Air Combat Paintings Volume V' with a matching-numbered copy of the Limited Edition print Little Friends.
Robert Taylor - Air Combat Paintings Volume V:
Another fine addition to the growing series of books featuring the work of the world’s leading aviation artist, Robert Taylor. A showcase for 32 images produced mainly between 2000 and 2005, this volume also contains a great many pencil drawings. The colour plates are supplemented with many additional plates showing detail areas of the paintings. The quality and accuracy of detail in Robert’s work makes this another essential must-have volume for his collectors around the world.
The book is issued with a blue cloth slip case with the artist’s signature gold blocked on the front cover. The book is signed and numbered inside by the artist.
Publisher's narrative for the print Little Friends:
When the American Eighth Air Force arrived in England with their remarkable B-17 Fortresses it was thought the Bomb Groups would fly deep into enemy air space in broad daylight without fighter escort in relative safety. It was not to be.
With machine gun turret positions in the nose, atop the fuselage, under the belly, in the tail, and with two side gunner positions, it was anticipated no hostile fighter would penetrate a B-17 defensive formation. The sheer mass of defensive fire from a group of B-17s flying in geometrically calculated boxes, would be enough to see off any Luftwaffe fighter pilot brave enough to make an attack. But to their terrible cost, the B-17 crews quickly learned their masters' theory didn't stand up when they met Messerschmit Me109 and Focke Wulf Fw190 pilots in mortal combat.
With no escort fighters to worry about, the Luftwaffe fighters circled their prey, carefully chose their line of attack, and ripped into the American bombers from angles they were least able to defend. They were chopping the B-17s down seemingly at leisure. Urgent change in USAAF tactics came in the form of close escort P-5l Mustangs, P-47 Thunderbolts, and P-38 Lightnings, initially with limited range, but enough to stem the flow of losses. Soon, fitted with long range tanks, the American fighters were able to provide support all the way to targets deep inside the Reich, and this combination ultimately helped bring industrial Germany to it knees.
Known to the bomber crews as "Little Friends", the escort fighters added massively to the effectiveness of the USAAF bombing operations, and were much loved by their crews. Robert Taylor's evocative painting Little Friends depicts a scene typical of almost any 8th Air Force raid over enemy territory: P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group provide close support for "Bit-O-Lace", the B-17 having sustained severe flak damage over Kiel, Germany, 4 April 1945. The "Little Friends" brought her home that day.
Each copy of Robert Taylor's Limited Edition, Little Friends, is individually signed and numbered by the artist and:
First Lieutenant Leonard L Spivey
Lieutenant Colonel Clyde B East.
For more information on this edition see the review in the One Artist Books section.
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