Naval History by Country :
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This edition is sold out, but here are some similar items which may be of interest : |
Operation Tidal Wave by Nicolas Trudgian. £150.00 | B-24 Liberator by Nicolas Trudgian. £50.00 |
While the edition above is no longer available, there may be other editions below which are still available : |
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Signatures on this item | |
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
Name | Info |
Captain Everett R Jones *Signature Value : £45 | A pilot of B-24 Liberators, he completed a tour of 21 missions with the 466th Bomb Group. He also later piloted the P-47 Thunderbolt, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. |
Captain George E Hammond *Signature Value : £40 | Flew as bombardier on B-24 Liberators with the 389th Bomb Group, including the raid on Ploesti on 1st August 1943. |
Captain J Richard Butler *Signature Value : £45 | 'Dick' Butler joined the service in January 1942 and was posted to the 44th Bomb Group, with whom he flew B-24s throughout the war. His first combat mission was in April 1943 and he saw action in Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean. On the Ploesti Raid, Dick was co-pilot of 'Earthquake McGoon'. Badly damaged and flying at tree-top height it was only the skill of Dick and pilot Walter Burke that kept 'Earthquake' in the air and brought the crew home. |
Colonel Charles H Booth *Signature Value : £40 | Charles Booth entered the military in July 1941, two years after he received a pilots license. Pilots such as Wylie Post and Charles Lindbergh were Booths idols. Charles Booth was a major in the Army Air Force on March 8, 1944, when he, as command pilot, led one section of a heavy bombardment group on a mission against military installations in Germany. When anti-aircraft fire struck his B-24 Liberator above Hanover, Booth was still about an hour of flight time from his destination of Berlin. Wounded in both legs and one hand, Booth dragged himself to the flight deck and continued to direct the battle against enemy fighter attacks until the bombing run ended about two hours later, according to an award citation. The March 1944 mission to Berlin was only his second. He flew 28 more before his service in the war ended. |
Lt Col Elmo W Geppelt *Signature Value : £40 | Lt Elmo W. Geppelt was the DR Navigator. He had trained with the crew in the States and had flown to England with them. Geppelt was elevated to Assistant Squadron Navigator for the 755th in December 1944, completing his tour in February 1945. |
Lt Col James P Dyke (deceased) *Signature Value : £40 | A pilot of B-24 Liberators, he completed 35 missions flying Star-Eyes with the 733rd Bomb Squadron of the Eighth Air Force flying from England. He died on 11th April 2012 aged 91. |
Lt Col Robert Dubowsky (deceased) *Signature Value : £40 | Bob was born on the 19th of February 1921 in Mineola, NY. After graduating from high school at 18, he embarked on an ambitious coast to coast road trip in 1931. Robert Dubowsky attended Hofstra College and enlisted in the US Army Air Corp and while waiting to be called up he worked for Grumman. He became a B24 bomber pilot during WWII and flew 35 missions out of East Anglia, England. His first mission was on July 20th, 1944 and he completed his last mission March 24th, 1945. He was shot down on mission 33 on January 16, 1945 en route to a bombing raid on Dresden, Germany but all crew members survived. He received the DFC, Air Medal, 4 OLC commendation medals, and the Purple Heart. Dubowsky held a BS in Military Science from the University of Maryland. Finally retiring from the military in 1964 he went onto a career in the Civil Service at the Eastern Test Range as a down range manager for multiple missile projects over a period of 20 years. Robert Dubowsky passed away peacefully at home on February 5th, 2011. |
S/Sgt C W Will Lundy *Signature Value : £40 | Served with the United States Eighth Air Force in England. At the time he served, B-24 Liberators were flying daylight missions in support of operations on the ground in the advance through Europe after D-Day. |
S/Sgt Vernon R Swain *Signature Value : £40 | Flew in B-24 Liberators with the 328th Bomb Group, 93rd Bomb Squadron. Enlisted in 1942, he was part of the Eighth Air Force flying from Norfolk England. |
T/Sgt Perry Morse *Signature Value : £40 | Flying as tail gunner in B-24 Liberators with the 506th Bomb Squadron, he completed 35 missions between June and November 1944 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Flying with the Eighth Air Force from England, they once came back with more than 200 holes in the aircraft. |
The Aircraft : | |
Name | Info |
Liberator | he initial production batch of B-24As was completed in 1941, with many being sold directly to the Royal Air Force. Sent to Britain, where the bomber was dubbed "Liberator," the RAF soon found that they were unsuitable for combat over Europe as they had insufficient defensive armament and lacked self-sealing fuel tanks. Due to the aircraft's heavy payload and long range, the British converted these aircraft for use in maritime patrols. Learning from these issues, Consolidated improved the design and the first major American production model was the B-24C which also included improved Pratt & Whitney engines. In 1940, Consolidated again revised the aircraft and produced the B-24D. The first major variant of the Liberator, the B-24D quickly amassed orders for 2,738 aircraft. Overwhelming Consolidated's production capabilities, the aircraft was also built under license by North American, Douglas, and Ford. The latter built a massive plant at Willow Run, Michigan that, at its peak (August 1944), was producing fourteen aircraft per day. Revised and improved several times throughout World War II, the final variant, the B-24M, ended production on May 31, 1945. he United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) took delivery of its first B-24As in mid-1941. Over the next three years, B-24 squadrons deployed to all theaters of the war: African, European, China-Burma-India, the Anti-submarine Campaign, the Southwest Pacific Theater and the Pacific Theater. In the Pacific, to simplify logistics and to take advantage of its longer range, the B-24 (and its twin, the U.S. Navy PB4Y) was the chosen standard heavy bomber. By mid-1943, the shorter-range B-17 was phased out. The Liberators which had served early in the war in the Pacific continued the efforts from the Philippines, Australia, Espiritu Santo,Guadalcanal, Hawaii, and Midway Island. The Liberator peak overseas deployment was 45.5 bomb groups in June 1944. Additionally, the Liberator equipped a number of independent squadrons in a variety of special combat roles. The cargo versions, C-87 and C-109 tanker, further increased its overseas presence, especially in Asia in support of the XX Bomber Command air offensive against Japan. So vital was the need for long range operations, that at first USAAF used the type as transports. The sole B-24 in Hawaii was destroyed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. It had been sent to the Central Pacific for a very long range reconnaissance mission that was preempted by the Japanese attack. The first USAAF Liberators to carry out combat missions were 12 repossessed LB-30s deployed to Java with the 11th Bombardment Squadron (7th Bombardment Group) that flew their first combat mission in mid-January. Two were shot up by Japanese fighters, but both managed to land safely. One was written off due to battle damage and the other crash-landed on a beach. US-based B-24s entered combat service in 1942 when on 6 June, four B-24s from Hawaii staging through Midway Island attempted an attack on Wake Island, but were unable to find it. The B-24 came to dominate the heavy bombardment role in the Pacific because compared to the B-17, the B-24 was faster, had longer range, and could carry a ton more bombs. In the European and North Africa Theatres On 12 June 1942, 13 B-24s of the Halverson Project (HALPRO) flying from Egypt attacked the Axis-controlled oil fields and refineries around Ploiești, Romania. Within weeks, the First Provisional Bombardment Group formed from the remnants of the Halverson and China detachments. This unit then was formalized as the 376th Bombardment Group, Heavy and along with the 98th BG formed the nucleus of the IX Bomber Command of the Ninth Air Force, operating from Africa until absorbed into the Twelfth Air Force briefly, and then the Fifteenth Air Force, operating from Italy. The Ninth Air Force moved to England in late 1943. This was a major component of the USSTAF and took a major role in strategic bombing. Fifteen of the 15th AF's 21 bombardment groups flew B-24s 1st August 1943 Operation Tidal Wave: A group of 177 American B-24 Liberator bombers, with 1,726 total crew, departed from Libya to make the first bombing of the oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania, the major supplier of fuel to Germany. The mission temporarily halted oil production, but 532 airmen and 54 of the planes were lost. After a 40% loss of production, the refineries would be repaired more quickly than projected.[1] Germany's Radio Reconnaissance Service had intercepted and decrypted the Allied messages about the raid and the departure from Libya, and anti-aircraft defenses were in place despite the low-level approach of the bombers. |
Me262 | The Messerschmitt Me-262 Swallow, a masterpiece of engineering, was the first operational mass-produced jet to see service. Prototype testing of the airframe commenced in 1941 utilizing a piston engine. General Adolf Galland, who was in charge of the German Fighter Forces at that time, pressured both Goring and Hitler to accelerate the Me-262, and stress its use as a fighter to defend Germany from Allied bombers. Hitler, however, envisioned the 262 as the aircraft which might allow him to inflict punishment on Britain. About 1400 Swallows were produced, but fortunately for the Allies, only about 300 saw combat duty. While the original plans for the 262 presumed the use of BMW jet engines, production Swallows were ultimately equipped with Jumo 004B turbojet engines. The wing design of the 262 necessitated the unique triangular hull section of the fuselage, giving the aircraft a shark-like appearance. With an 18 degree swept wing, the 262 was capable of Mach .86. The 262 was totally ineffective in a turning duel with Allied fighters, and was also vulnerable to attack during take off and landings. The landing gear was also suspect, and many 262s were destroyed or damaged due to landing gear failure. Despite its sleek jet-age appearance, the 262 was roughly manufactured, because Germany had lost access to its normal aircraft assembly plants. In spite of these drawbacks the 262 was effective. For example, on April 7, 1945 a force of sixty 262s took on a large force of Allied bombers with escort fighters. Armed with their four nose-mounted cannons, and underwing rockets the Swallows succeeded in downing or damaging 25 Allied B-17s on that single mission. While it is unlikely that the outcome of the War could have been altered by an earlier introduction or greater production totals for this aircraft, it is clear to many historians that the duration of the War might have been drastically lengthened if the Me-262 had not been too little too late. |
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