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The Memphis Belle by Philip West. - Cranston Military Prints

The Memphis Belle by Philip West.


The Memphis Belle by Philip West.

Over three years of continuous air combat the 91st Bombardment Group The Ragged Irregulars were based at Bassingbourn in England. They flew 340 missions with honor and bravery, over occupied Europe and bore such B-17 legends as Memphis Belle, Shoo Shoo Baby, General Ike and Nine O Nine. On this day, however, the Memphis Belle is going to have to wait for the snow to be cleared before it can depart on yet another dangerous mission over enemy territory. In the meantime, to enable the Memphis Belle to leave at the earliest opportunity when the weather clears, ground crew carry on with their maintenance work in support of a crew and aircraft they all look upon with affection and admiration.
Item Code : DHM2649YThe Memphis Belle by Philip West. - Editions Available
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Signed limited edition of 250 prints. Paper size 27.5 inches x 17.5 inches (70cm x 45cm)Artist : Philip West£25 Off!
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Limited edition of 25 artist proofs. Paper size 27.5 inches x 17.5 inches (70cm x 45cm)Artist : Philip West£60 Off!
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Limited edition of 15 remarques. Paper size 27.5 inches x 17.5 inches (70cm x 45cm)Artist : Philip WestSOLD
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**Signed limited edition of 250 prints. (Two prints available only). Paper size 27.5 inches x 17.5 inches (70cm x 45cm)Artist : Philip West£65 Off!Now : £100.00

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Some other related items available from this site.

It required more than a little nerve to fly a fighter into the barrage of fire sprayed out by the gunners of a box of B17 bombers; it took even greater courage to do so in the rocket propelled Me163 Komet. With rocket science still in its infancy, these small aircraft were still in the experimental stage, and piloting what amounted to a flying bomb was in itself a perilous business, let alone flying them into combat. But these were desperate times. The day and night bombing assault on Germany was bringing the mighty war machine to its knees, and aything that might help stem the tide was thrown into battle. Powered by a mixture of two highly volatile chemicals, the slightest leak, or heavy landing could cause a huge explosion, and the mix was so corrosive that in the event of even a minor accident, the pilot could literally be dissolved. Sitting in a cramped cockpit, surrounded by dangerous chemicals and ammunition, the intrepid aviator would be launched into the sky on what was, at best, a four minute mission. After, hopefully, engaing the enemy, he would glide powerlessly back to the nearest airfield to be refuelled so as to attempt the hazardous operation all over again. Though limited to a handful of victories, the Komet did make the Allied crews wonder what else the Luftwaffe had hidden up its sleeve, and had the distinction of being the forerunner of aircraft technology that eventually took aircraft into space. Capable of nearly 600mph and climbing to 30,000ft in less than two minutes, this tiny rocket propelled Me163 Komet was typical of Germanys ingenuity in its desperate attempts to stem the havoc being wreaked by the USAAFs daylight bombers.

Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian. 		Depicting Mustang aircraft escorting Flying Fortresses on a bombing raid over Germany.

Guardian Angel by Anthony Saunders. 		The first successful daylight raid on Berlin. Nicolas Trudgians painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th B.G. are attacked. Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I charge into the bomber stream. With throttles wide open, 56th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolts come hurtling down to intercept. B-17 gunners are working overtime; the air is full of cordite, smoke, jagged pieces of flying metal and hot lead. We are in the midst of one of the fiercest aerial battles of the war.

First Strike on Berlin by Nicolas Trudgian. 		The winter of 1944 / 45 wasn't the coldest ever recorded in England but it came close. The weather was bitter and, in what would turn out to be the last Christmas of the war, temperatures plunged across the country, bringing ice, freezing fog and deep banks of drifting snow. Airfields across East Anglia stood bleak and frost-bound, runways kept clear of snow when conditions allowed, whilst the heavy bombers of the US Eighth Air Force remained under wraps, engines oiled, warmed and ready for any break in the banks of murky fog that would allow them to fly. And when those breaks came, the bombers were back in action ready to play their part in the final destruction of Hitler's Third Reich. The end game was rapidly approaching and both sides knew it. Clearing Skies portrays one such break in the weather when, with recent heavy snow beginning to thaw, the B-17 Fortresses of the famous 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk are being prepared for a new mission to Germany in early 1945. Earning the nickname 'The Bloody Hundredth' due to the heavy losses they suffered, Robert has fittingly chosen the 100th BG to represent all those who flew so heroically with the Eighth Air Force in England during World War II. The Eighth flew its final bomber operations of the war on 25th April 1945, the last of 968 combat missions involving over 523,000 sorties; they had dropped some 700,000 tons of bombs, inflicting destruction on a scale from which the enemy could never recover. Yet the cost of the victory in which they had played such a major part made for sober reading; they had lost some 6,130 bombers and fighters along with some 47,000 casualties, including more than 26,000 dead - half of the entire US Army Air Force losses during the conflict.

Clearing Skies by Robert Taylor.
Squadrons Related to This Print
91st Bomb Group
Aircraft Related to This Print
Flying Fortress

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