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Clipped Signature - William Wheeler. - Cranston Military Prints

Clipped Signature - William Wheeler.


Clipped Signature - William Wheeler.

Flew the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang in Italy with the 302nd Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen. Credited with destroying 3 Luftwaffe bombers on the ground, on his last mission he lost consciousness at 36,000ft and only recovered his spinning P-51 at 8,000ft - after this he was medically discharged. In later life he gave talks about the Tuskegee Airmen. He died in 2011.
Item Code : CLP2170Clipped Signature - William Wheeler. - Editions Available
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Clipped Signature.
Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!
Wheeler, William

Died : 2011
Lt Col William Wheeler (deceased)
Flew with the 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen. William Wheeler earned his wings as a fighter pilot in March 1944 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He began combat fighter training in the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and completed his training at Walterboro Army Air Corps Base, SC, in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. He was then sent to Eglin Army Air Base, FL, where he completed bombing and aerial gunnery training. Lt. Wheeler was sent to Ramitelli, Italy in August 1944, as a replacement
Signature Value : £65
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Often described as the most effective fighter escorts in the US Army Air Force, the famous red-tailed Tuskegee airmen could proudly boast that they never lost a single bomber to enemy fighters in all the missions flown. Nearest aircraft here is the P51C of Lt. Lee A Archer Jr, who finished the war with four confirmed victories and one shared. His personal aircraft was named <i>Ina the Macon Belle</i> after his wife.

Red Tails by Ivan Berryman.		 With their brightly coloured checkertail tails there was no mistaking the P.51 Mustangs of the 325th Fighter Group. Escorting B-24s over Austria in August 1944, tangled with a group of Fw190 fighters. The ensuing dogfight spiraled down below the mountain peaks as Herky Green led the Checkertails in a low-level chase. Herky nails one Fw190. Behind him his pilots will take out the two Fw190. When all is done this day the 325th will be credited with 15 enemy fighters destroyed.

Checkertail Clan by Nicolas Trudgian		 At the time of World War II there was still a great deal of prejudice in America, and this extended to all the branches of the military. Although black soldiers and seaman fought with dignity and bravery during WW I, many thought that blacks were incapable of handling difficult assignments. It was therefore with great uncertainty and trepidation that the Army Air Corps authorized the training of black pilots in 1941. The Air Corps proposed that a segregated training program be established. Judge William Hastie, Dean of the Howard University Law School, who was serving as a Civilian Assistant for Negro Affairs to the Secretary of War, protested about the segregated training, but his complaints were ignored. Hastie also proposed that the Army consider affiliating with the Tuskegee Institute which had already established a pilot training program. The Army allocated $1 million for the construction of the Tuskegee Army Air Field. The men sent to Tuskegee had to pass rigorous physical tests and pass nine weeks of ground school. They then received their basic flight instruction from instructors with the Civilian Instructor Corps. Those who passed moved on to more sophisticated military training for another seventy hours of flight time. A third phase of advanced training followed after which pilot cadets received their wings and were appointed to an initial rank of either 2nd Lieutenant or Flight Officer. Only about 60% of the cadets made it through the program, and many were killed or injured in flying accidents during training. Captain Noel Parish who oversaw much of the training at Tuskegee was a vocal supporter of the men under his command. Despite their ability to successfully handle the Air Corps training program, considerable hostility was still evident and the Army was reluctant to assign Tuskegee graduates to combat units. This created a difficult morale problem for those who had earned their wings and were now anxious to see combat. Finally, in the spring of 1943, the 99th Fighter Squadron headed for North Africa. In June of 1943 the 99th finally saw combat flying P-40s. On July 2 Lt. Charles Hall became the first black aviator to record an aerial victory in WW II. The 99th played an important role in preparing for the invasion of Sicily. The 332nd Fighter Group (under the command of then Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.) consisting of the 100th, 301st, and 302nd fighter squadrons entered combat in Italy flying P-39s in early 1944. By mid-1944 the Group was receiving P-47s, but in another about face the Air Corps quickly substituted P-51s. At this time the 99th FS was folded into the 332nd FG. From mid-1944 until the end of the War in Europe the Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd FG flew an incredible number of missions. They generally escorted Fifteenth Air Force bombers on their attacks into Germany from bases in Italy. The red-tailed fighters of the 332nd FG had the distinction of having a perfect record - losing no escorted bombers to enemy fighter attack during the entire War. In Stan Stokes painting, the P-51 piloted by Charles E. McGee, who would also go on to fly combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam, is depicted over a Czech airfield on August 24, 1944. On this mission McGee would down an Fw-190.

A Perfect Record by Stan Stokes. 		Obersalzberg, a spectacularly picturesque area of southern Germany in the Bavarian Alps, became a focal point for the Allies as World War II was drawing to its close. This mountain village had become a Nazi stronghold after the Third Reich had seized houses, farms, and some 600 acres, and built private residences for Martin Bormann and Hermann Goering, an SS barracks, and erected a 30kmn fence around the perimeter to deter intrusion. At its centre was the Berghoff, Adolf Hitlers private mountain retreat. Crowning Bormanns lavish building programme was the house he had built on a rocky spur almost 3000 feet above the Obersalzberg, some 6000 feet above sea level. Reached via a twisting road blasted out of the mountainside, the house was approached after entering a tunnel via a large brass two story elevator rising over 400 feet to the building. The Kehlsteinhaus was Martin Bormanns present for Hitter on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1939. It was known by the Allies as the Eagles Nest. Believing the Obersalzberg to be where Hitler and his closest henchmen would make their final stand, in April 1945 Allied bombing raids reduced much of the area to ruins. The Eagles Nest, intended as a private retreat from which Hitler could gaze over a conquered Europe, being an isolated target, survived this onslaught, and endures to this day. Nicolas Trudgians painting shows P-51Ds of the 339th Fighter Group roaring over the rooftop of Hitlers now abandoned folly. With Germany and the Third Reich on the brink of defeat, this majestic aviation image conveys the poignant irony of the greatest lost cause in human history, with P-51 Mustangs providing a fitting symbol of victory over tyranny.

Mustangs Over the Eagles Nest by Nicolas Trudgian.
Signatures on these products
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature and is for the unmatted version where available. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare.
NameInfo




Lt Col William Wheeler (deceased)
Died : 2011
*Signature Value : £65

Editions signed :

Clipped Signature.


Wheeler, William
(Lt Col William Wheeler (deceased))

Flew with the 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen. William Wheeler earned his wings as a fighter pilot in March 1944 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He began combat fighter training in the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and completed his training at Walterboro Army Air Corps Base, SC, in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. He was then sent to Eglin Army Air Base, FL, where he completed bombing and aerial gunnery training. Lt. Wheeler was sent to Ramitelli, Italy in August 1944, as a replacement pilot assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron for the 332nd Fighter Group. He qualified in the P-51D Mustang and flew combat missions to Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Albania and Greece, escorting allied bombers and strafing enemy troops, vehicles and airfields. He was credited with destroying three bombers on strafing missions: two Heinkel HE-111s and a Junkers JU-52. On his last mission, he became anoxic and lost consciousness at 36,000 feet over Germany. His P-51 spun out of control until he regained consciousness and recovered at 8,000 feet. Miraculously, he was able to return safely to his home base. This near-fatal incident led to a medical inquiry which determined that Lt. Wheeler's respiratory problems would render him vulnerable to repeated anoxic attacks on missions requiring the use of oxygen. He asked to be transferred to the Eighth Air Force which was flying low-level missions, but his request was denied because the Army Air Corps was still segregated at that time. Lt. Wheeler was Honorably Discharged in August 1945. Later he joined The Tuskegee Airmen's Speakers Bureau and spoke at many events about the history of the Tuskegee airmen. He died on 19th July 2011.
Squadrons Related to This Print
332nd Fighter Group
Aircraft Related to This Print
Thunderbolt

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