On 26 November, 1943, the P-47s of the 56th Fighter Group were tasked to escort B-24 Liberators of the 392nd Bomb Group on a dangerous mission to attack the heavily defended industrial and dockyard facilities in the German port of Bremen.
Read moreCards
The Wolfpack
Robert Taylor’s magical English winter landscape welcomes another American Fortress crew home to safety. For those on the ground there were few sights more stirring than a B-17 Fortress on its final approach from a combat mission, and Robert Taylor’s outstanding painting Winter’s Welcome is no exception.
Read moreWinter’s Welcome
Designed by Sydney Camm in the early 1930s, the Hurricane was the RAF’s first fighter capable of flying at over 300mph. Compared to Mitchell’s radical new Spitfire the Hurricane was built using the traditional methods that underpinned the high regard pilots had for Hawker aircraft.
Read moreWinter Combat
On Sunday 2 September 1945 the formal surrender document to conclude WWII was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. At 09.25 hrs with General Douglas MacArthur, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admirals Halsey and Sherman presiding, the Instrument of Surrender was completed.
Read moreVictory Fly Over
As the New Year of 1945 dawned, the snow had already spread to blanket the southern half of England. The festivities of Christmas had passed and the relentless pounding of German cities and industrial targets continued unabated. On every front Hitler’s once-fabled armies were in full retreat.
Read moreTowards the Home Fires
A CLASSIC NEW ROBERT TAYLOR MASTERWORKLIMITED EDITION COMMEMORATING THE INDOMITABLE AIRCREWSOF RAF BOMBER COMMAND
Read moreStrike and Return
St Croix Sur Mer
Briefing at 0500 hours on the morning of 14 October 1943 brought the crews of the 92nd Bomb Group news they didn’t want to hear: “It’s Schweinfurt again!” The same message was being repeated in USAAF bomb group briefing rooms all over eastern England in the early hours of what was to become forever known as “Black Thursday”.
Read moreSchweinfurt the second Mission
On Sunday 17 September 1944, the first day of Operation Market Garden, C-47 Dakotas of the 439th Troop Carrier Group dropped thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions into Holland, a hundred and fifty miles behind enemy lines.
Read moreThe Road to the Rhine
Flying low over the picturesque village of Thaxted,in the cold winter of 1944-45, the P-51D Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group return to Duxford after a tiring eight hour escort mission. With dusk approaching, low on fuel, the fighters have about 20 miles to run.
Read moreReturn to Duxford
There can be few more stirring sights than a B-17 Flying Fortress coming home after a long and arduous daylight mission over occupied Europe, and Robert Taylor’s inspired painting Return of the Belle has come to symbolise the huge role played by the bombers of the U.S.
Read moreReturn of the Belle
The steel mill at Thai Nguyen was vital to North Vietnam and in 1967 its destruction was a top priority for the USAF. There was a problem however; it was one of the most heavily and well defended installations in the country.
Read morePhantom Strike
In one of the boldest precision raids of World War II, the valiant men of 617 Squadron breached the mighty dams of Germany. They were the Dambusters. On the night of 16/17 May 1943, nineteen Lancasters and 133 men from the recently formed 617 Squadron carried out one of the most spectacular precision raids in the history of air warfare.
Read moreOperation Chastise
With the end of the war in sight P-51 Mustangs of the 55th Fighter Group sweep unopposed through the beautiful Rhine valley: One of Robert Taylor’s most iconic images Mustangs on the Prowl depicts the master Ace of the ground attack, Colonel Elwyn Righetti of the 55th Fighter Group.
Read moreMustangs on the Prowl
Battle-torn B-17 Flying Fortresses of the US Eighth Air Force make their final approach following a gruelling raid over Germany. Having taken a pounding by enemy fighters, the weary crews descend into the welcome tranquillity of the English countryside.
Read moreMission Completed
The engineers at Rolls-Royce had worked their magic. They had somehow managed to squeeze every available ounce of power out of the current Merlin engine and by D-Day on 6 June 1944 the sleek Mk.IX Spitfires of Fighter Command reigned supreme in the skies over Normandy.
Read moreMidwinter Dawn
Robert Taylor’s stunning painting, beautifully captures a group of Bf109Gs from III./JG26, as they return to their forward base after a long fighter sweep along the Channel coast in early 1944.
Read moreThe Long Short Days
The largest dam in Europe, the fortress-like walls of Möhne held back nearly 140 million cubic metres of water essential to the industry and factories of the Ruhr. The Air Ministry had long ago decided that if the Möhne dam, and the two other major Ruhr dams were destroyed, it could deliver a massive blow to the Nazi war machine.
Read moreThe Dambusters – Last Moments of the Möhne Dam
Last Flight Home must be one of the most acclaimed and well-remembered of all Robert Taylor’s great MasterWork paintings. Painted in warm glowing colours and set within the glorious confines of the beautiful English countryside, this is one of the most memorable studies of the mighty Avro Lancaster bomber ever created.
Read moreLast Flight Home
Robert Taylor's magnificent study of the legendary Hurricane captures wonderfully the spirit of that cataclysmic aerial conflict fought so long ago. Nearest, young Pilot Officer Geoffrey Page powers his Mk I Hurricane over the country lane at the edge of the airfield.
Read moreGlorious Summer
With the Battle of Britain reaching its climax, Mk.Ia Spitfires from 92 Squadron return to their new base at Biggin Hill in early September 1940. As if in tribute to fallen comrades, a bright swathe of second- flowering corn poppies greet their thunderous arrival.
Read moreFields of Glory
Escorted by Spitfires of 504 Squadron, the battle damaged Lancaster UL-M2 approaches the friendly coast of England after a grueling raid over Germany. Between early 1943 and the end of 1944, the legendary bomber completed 140 operational sorties - more than any other Lancaster in RAF Bomber Command during WWII.
Read moreEscort for the Straggler
P-51 Mustangs of the 353rd Fighter Group make a low level run over towns and villages along the Rhine.
Read moreEagles over the Rhine
COMMEMORATING THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY – JUNE 6th Fighter Ace Johnnie Johnson leads MkIX Spitfires of his 144 Canadian Wing back to their base at Ford after a long day of operations over Normandy shortly after D-Day.
Read moreDawn Till Dusk
Robert Taylor has painted an aviation masterpiece which captures the very essence of the Dams raids carried out more than 60 years ago: “Dinghy” Young, flying Lancaster AJ-A, heading through flak and machine gun fire towards the Möhne Dam at precisely 60ft, has just released his cylindrical, hydrostatically-triggered bouncing bomb
Read moreDambusters – The Impossible Mission
On Saturday, 9 August 1941 the unthinkable happened: the legendary Fighter leader Douglas Bader failed to return from a mission over northern France. Immediately, without thought for their own safety, the fiercely loyal pilots of his Tangmere Wing set out on a sweep to search for him, hoping that he may have successfully baled out into the Channel.
Read moreBader’s Bus Company
Coastal Patrol, a new painting by the remarkably gifted young artist Richard Taylor, depicts Mk I Spitfires of 610 Squadron flying a defensive patrol low over the White Cliffs during the height of the Battle of Britain in August 1940. A superb painting that symbolises a crucial period in history.
Read moreCoastal Patrol
As Typhoon Mk1b fighter-bombers of 247 Squadron exit the target area near Falaise at full throttle, the havoc wreaked in their wake bears witness to the devastation of their powerful rockets.
Read moreClosing the Gap
As dusk brought the end to the day’s action for some, it was just the beginning of things to come for many others. RAF raids continued throughout the night as the heavy bombers headed for targets across occupied Europe supported by one of the most versatile aircraft of them all; the DeHavilland Mosquito.
Read moreBroken Silence
One of World War Two’s best known P-51 Mustangs, Glamorous Glen III, flown by one of the aviation’s best known pilots, Chuck Yeager, together with pilots of the 357th Fighter Group head out of Leiston in Suffolk, on escort duty to an 8th Air Force bombing mission to Germany, October 1944.
Read moreAmerican Eagles
A flight of Spitfire MK IX's, generally considered to have been the greatest of all the Spitfire marks, return to their base at R.A.F.
Read moreAfter the Battle
The ancient Norman monastery on Mont St. Michel provides the majestic backdrop as a group of Me109s race across the coast returning to their forward base in northern France after a fighter sweep across the English Channel in early 1941.
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