COMBAT OVER THE REICH

Description

Approaching their target at he oil refinery at Zwickau, 60 miles south west of Dresden, the 452nd Bomb Group’s B-17 Fortresses were bounced by 28 Me262 jets from JG 7. Screaming in from the six o/clock position, the jet pilots single out the 3rd division just as they began their bombing run.

The crew of a B-17 Fortress desperately defend their unwieldy bomber against the determined, high-speed attack by the Me262 jet interceptors.  Closing at almost three times the speed of their targets, each Me262 pilot has just fractions of a second to find his mark.  The B-17 gunners have milliseconds to return their fire.  Each interception is over in the blinking of an eye.

Robert’s brilliantly constructed and magnificently painted composition, portrays with stunning beauty the awesome reality in aerial engagement that was commonplace in the skies above Europe during World War II.

In this brief, poignant cameo, the outcome is indecisive: The B-17 has lost part of its tailplane which will make handling difficult on the way home.  But its gunners, undeterred by the fearsome attack, are laying a wall of lead in the path of the enemy jet.  The Luftwaffe pilot will be lucky to escape unscathed.  In the distance, more Me62s are diving into the fray, but shortly, 8th Airforce fighters will storm storming into the arena.  The Fortress crews will not be short of guardians on the return journey to England.

THE SIGNATURES

Each print in Robert Taylor’s Combat over the Reich, the first in his “Wings of the Luftwaffe” collection, is signed and numbered by the artist, together with five of the Luftwaffe’s most respected Aces who flew the Me262 during World War II.

Oberst HERMANN BUCHNER KC
Leutnant VIKTOR PETERMANN KC
Oberstleutnant ERNST-WILHELM REINERT KC WITH OAK LEAVES AND SWORDS
Major WERNER ROELL
Major ERICH RUDORFFER KC WITH OAK LEAVES AND SWORDS

THE GICLÉE STUDIO PROOFS ON CANVAS