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Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian. - Cranston Military Prints

Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian.


Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian.

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.
Item Code : NT0263YRocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions AvailableExtra....

Detail Images :







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DESCRIPTIONSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSPRICEPURCHASINGPACKS
Signed limited edition of 600 prints. Image size 13 inches x 8 inches (33cm x 20cm)
Woidich, Franz

Died : 2004
Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved
Signature Value : £65
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PROFILE
 
+ Artist : Nicolas Trudgian


Signature(s) value alone : £65
£35 Off!
Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!
Now : £95.00

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Limited edition of 25 artist proofs. Image size 13 inches x 8 inches (33cm x 20cm)
Woidich, Franz

Died : 2004
Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved
Signature Value : £65
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PROFILE
 
+ Artist : Nicolas Trudgian


Signature(s) value alone : £65
£15 Off!
Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!
Now : £140.00

Quantity:
Limited edition of publishers proofs. Image size 13 inches x 8 inches (33cm x 20cm)
Woidich, Franz

Died : 2004
Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved
Signature Value : £65
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PROFILE
 
+ Artist : Nicolas Trudgian


Signature(s) value alone : £65
£45 Off!
Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!
Now : £145.00

Quantity:
Remarque Edition prints. Image size 13 inches x 8 inches (33cm x 20cm)
Woidich, Franz

Died : 2004
Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved
Signature Value : £65
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PROFILE
 
+ Artist : Nicolas Trudgian


Signature(s) value alone : £65
£280.00

Quantity:
**Signed limited edition of 600 prints. (2 prints reduced to clear) Image size 13 inches x 8 inches (33cm x 20cm)
Woidich, Franz

Died : 2004
Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved
Signature Value : £65
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PROFILE
 
+ Artist : Nicolas Trudgian


Signature(s) value alone : £65
£60 Off!Now : £70.00

Quantity:


Some other related items available from this site.

 With the words of his Group CO ringing in his ears, a pilot of the 332nd Fighter Group returns to protect a crippled American B17 bomber after downing two Me109s in quick succession.  Agonisingly, two more enemy fighters were left to escape but the pilot knew that under the strict leadership of Colonel Benjamin O Davis, his mission, and that if the other all-black pilots of the 332nd, was solely to protect the bombers.  That iron discipline was to earn this famous unit the respect and admiration of hundreds of bomber crews, and to create a legend.  Despite lingering racial prejudice and some opposition within the Air Force, President Roosevelt had ordered the USAAF to form an all-black fighter pilot unit, its crews to be trained at Tuskegee in Alabama.  To the surprise of their critics, the Tuskegee Airmen were to prove their detractors spectacularly wrong from the first day they went into action in Italy in May 1943.  Flying first with the Twelfth Air Force, then the Fifteenth, the four squadrons of the 332nd completed over 15,000 combat sorties, destroyed over 250 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and on the ground, 950 railway trucks and locomotives, and even sunk a destroyer by machine gun fire!  The Group was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, their pilots decorated with over 1000 medals for gallantry.  But above all, with the spinners and tails of their P-51 Mustangs brightly painted red, the Red Tails as they were affectionately known, became the only US Fighter Group that never lost a bomber in their care.  The Tuskegee Red Tail pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group are a more than welcome sight as they close in to escort home a damaged B17 Fortress of the 483rd Bomb Group. Seen high over the Italian Alps during the summer of 1944 this poignant scene conveys precisely the story of the legendary Red Tails.

Red Tail Escort by Richard Taylor.
 A pair of P51D Mustangs of the 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, escort a damaged B17G Flying Fortress of the 381st Bomb Group back to its home base of Ridgewell, England, during the Autumn of 1944.

Last One Home by Ivan Berryman.
 John Davy Crockett was trained as a navigator by Pan Am in mid-1941 because the USAAF did not have its navigator school in operation. Davy was assigned to the 36th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group flying the new B-17C Flying Fortress. Davy found that most Air Corps pilots were used to doing their own navigating, so his job would be easy. Davy experienced a crash in a B-17 while training, but the crew walked away from the wreck. In late 1941 his crew was informed that they would be flying to Clark Field in the Philippines. On December they left Albuquerque and flew to Hamilton Field in California. They received a briefing on expected weather and left on the evening of December 6 for their first stop at Hickham Field, Oahu Hawaii. Flying into the darkness over the vast Pacific, the pilot for the first time in Crocketts career turned the navigation over to Davy. Realizing that the Hawaiian Islands were only small dots on the charts of the vast Pacific, and that his aircraft would have little fuel reserves left when it arrived, sent chills up Crocketts spine. As dawn broke Davy saw lots of islands where there were not suppose to be any. His panic subsided when he realized that they were only clouds. The pilot, Earl Cooper, came on the intercom at that moment to ask for an ETA. As Davy responded, the gunners in the back came on the intercom to report a large formation of aircraft about ten miles north of their position. They must be Navy aircraft. Minutes later they had descended to about 1200 feet when eight fighter aircraft came straight at them with their guns blazing. As the aircraft flew bye the flight engineer, Jesse Broyls, yelled out, Rising Sun ! The zeros reformed behind the unarmed B-17, and as Cooper dove the lumbering giant towards the wave tops, Crockett could hear the thump of bullets hitting his plane. The No. 2 engine was hit and Cooper shut it down. Rounding Diamond Head at about 300-feet the crew saw smoke and fire everywhere, and Japanese planes all over the sky. They passed over Hickham Field at about 1000-feet, realizing that this was no time and place for a landing. They turned towards Ford Island and passed directly over the USS Arizona minutes after the ship had exploded. Crocketts B-17 now became a target for nervous anti-aircraft gunners on the ground, and the B-17 had its No. 4 engine shot out. Cooper prepared the crew to bail out, but he then saw an opportunity to bring the big bird into Wheeler Field. He came straight in and belly-landed the B-17 with almost no fuel left. The plane slid to a stop on the turf just short of a group of P-40s. The entire crew got out of the B-17 and ran for cover in a patch of nearby woods. The B-17s on the flight from the mainland were scattered all over the island, with most of them seriously damaged. Fortunately, there were only two casualties, a flight surgeon who was killed and a bombardier who was injured when they were strafed while running from their plane. Crockett would survive a third crash in another B-17 on December 25th when he would spend six days in a life raft.

Flying Into a War by Stan Stokes.
 Franz Woidich, depicted here in the distinctive Me163 Komet aircraft, was an Ace with over 100 victories before being selected to fly this unusual aircraft.  He had initially served in North Africa before scoring the bulk of his victories on the Eastern Front including two victory claims during the Battle of Kursk.  With his total at 109 victories and having been awarded the Knight's Cross he was one of the elite pilots selected to fly the rocket-powered Me163 Komet with JG400 and rarer still, his final 'kill' of the war was one of just 16 made in this aircraft, taking his final total to 110.

Tribute to Franz Woidich by Ivan Berryman.
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




Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased)
Died : 2004
*Signature Value : £65

Editions signed :

Signed limited edition of 600 prints.
Limited edition of 25 artist proofs.
Limited edition of publishers proofs.
Remarque Edition prints.
**Signed limited edition of 600 prints. (2 prints reduced to clear)


Woidich, Franz
(Oberleutnant Franz Woidich (deceased))

Franz Woidich was posted to North Africa to join II./JG27 in July 1941. In April 1942 he transferred to 3./JG52 in Russia. In August 1944 he was selected as one of a group of elite fighter pilots for training on the Me163 Komet, and joined Erganzunstaffel 400 at Gutenfeld, near Breslau. A month later he joined II./JG400 as Staffelkapitan. Franz Woidich served with JG400 until the end of the war. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in June 1944, flew over 1000 combat missions and achieved 110 victories.Franz Woidich passed away on 5th July 2004.
Aircraft Related to This Print
Flying Fortress
Me163

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