In Gallant Company by Robert Taylor – Framed Collectors Piece

Description

As the Allied forces battled through the Pacific, the US Marine Corps carved a niche in American history that, half a century later, is revered with awesome admiration in all military circles.  Within that elite corps of men, none are held in higher esteem than its small band of fighter pilots, who flew and fought throughout the Pacific Campaign.

The cutting edge of its fighter force during the early campaigns was the Grumman F4F Wildcat.  Flying this tubby, highly maneuverable little fighter, its Marine pilots put up heroic resistance to the Japanese onslaught until the arrival of the F4U Corsair and F6F Hellcat in 1943.

That year saw some of the fiercest aerial fighting in the Pacific.  As Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Lieutenant Colonel Ken Walsh recalls:  “Day after day we scrambled everything we’d got to intercept large formations of Japanese bombers and fighters.  We fought violent air battles and incessant exchanges of strikes between opposing airfields in the struggle for control of the skies.”

Air combat over the ocean meant the ever-present danger of ditching or parachuting into the vast expanse of the Pacific, usually with little chance of ever being picked up.  Exhausted from the exertions of combat, perhaps wounded, a pilot might have to nurse home a damaged aircraft over hundreds of miles of sea.  A slip in concentration, or even consciousness, could bring a fighter pilot’s career to an abrupt and watery end, and in such situations fellow pilots quickly rallied around a pilot in trouble to help bring their compatriot safely home.

Robert Taylor’s evocative painting depicts a nail-biting drama in the Solomons during the great struggle for air supremacy in 1943. Marine Corps F4F wildcats and F4U Corsairs have fought a bitter air battle. Weary from the contest pilots head back for base. An F4F Wildcat has been raked across its fuselage by gunfire, taking out the radio and puncturing an oil pipe. The pilot is injured but in control, and thus far has been able to maintain speed. His C.O. and wingman have closed in to give support, but with land in sight the F4F has started to trail smoke. From here on in it is courage, determination, and luck that will bring this Marine pilot back to fight another day.

The genius of Robert Taylor bestows upon him that elusive ability to portray moments of great drama with a reality that amazes even those who took part in events half a century ago.  With signatures of all five surviving Marine Corps pilots who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, this is a collectors’ print worthy of the legend it portrays.

Sold out for many years this has become one of the most famous pieces in Robert Taylor’s extensive portfolio and combined with these original autographs is a historically important piece.