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35th Fighter Group Mustang Aviation Prints by Nicolas Trudgian.
PCK2147. 35th Fighter Group Mustang Aviation Prints by Nicolas Trudgian. Aviation Print Pack.
Items in this pack :
Item #1 - Click to view individual item
DHM2670B. Hot Pursuit by Nicolas Trudgian. Flying a bomber escort mission, a P- 51 Mustang of the 357th Fighter Group engages Me109s about to descend upon a formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses. Slight Damage - Rippling on the corner, not noticeable when framed. Last 2 prints remaining of this edition with minor damage. Signed by Kit Carson,
Major Richard Bud Peterson (deceased),
Hauptmann Ernst Wilhelm Reinert (deceased)
and
Major Erich Rudorffer (deceased). Limited edition of publishers proofs. Paper size 32 inches x 25 inches (81cm x 64cm)
Item #2 - Click to view individual item
NT5. Warm Winter's Welcome by Nicolas Trudgian. As the Autumn of 1944 turned to winter, the USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers were penetrating ever deeper into enemy territory, attacking distant targets in central and south-east Germany. Large formations of seven or eight hundred bombers, escorted by as many fighters, darkened the skies over the Reich. Central to the massive daylight raids was the long-range capabilities of the P-51 Mustang, the most versatile fighter of the war. Despite incessant pounding from the air, the Luftwaffe were putting up determined resistance, particularly in the south, often sending up several hundred fighters to meet the challenge. Huge aerial battles were fought between the opposing groups of fighters, and though the Allied pilots usually gained the upper hand in these encounters, the air fighting was prolonged and furious. Typical of those encounters, on a single mission in November the Allied estimate of Luftwaffe sorties flown against them exceeded 750, but often the German fighters were handicapped by poor direction from the ground, hampering their effectiveness - on the 27th, several Gruppen were vectored directly towards the P-51s of the 357th and 353rd Groups believing them to be in-coming bombers. They paid the price, the Leiston based pilots of the 357th bagging 30 enemy fighters before they knew what hit them. Successful as they were, the long-range escort missions flown by the P-51s were both hazardous and grueling. The weather, particularly in winter, was often appalling, and even an experienced pilot could become disoriented after hectic combat, and lost in the far reaches of the Reich. The return to base in England after combat over distant enemy territory was always exhilarating, and the pilots often hedgehopped gleefully over towns and villages on their way home after crossing the English coast. Nicolas Trudgians painting depicts such a scene, with P-51 Mustangs of the 357th Fighter Group racing over a typical English village as they head for Leiston and home. As the evening light fades, the peace and tranquillity of the snowy village, broken momentarily by the roar of Merlin engines, seems to bid the returning fighter boys a warm winters welcome.
Published 2000.
Signed by four P-51 Mustang pilots who flew with the 357th Fighter Group in combat during World War II. Less than 12 copies remaining. Signed by Colonel C E Bud Anderson,
Captain Robert P Winks (deceased),
First Lieutenant John Skara
and
First Lieutenant Raymond T Conlin (deceased). Signed limited edition of 500 prints. Image size 23 inches x 17 inches (58cm x 43cm)
Item #3 - Click to view individual item
DHM415. Guardian Angel by Anthony Saunders. Depicting Mustang aircraft escorting Flying Fortresses on a bombing raid over Germany. Signed limited edition of 2500 prints. Image size 12 inches x 8 inches (31cm x 20cm)
Website Price: £ 640.00
To purchase these prints individually at their normal retail price would cost £820.00 . By buying them together in this special pack, you save £180
All prices are displayed in British Pounds Sterling
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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 | 
Hauptmann Ernst Wilhelm Reinert (deceased)
*Signature Value : £60 (matted)
| Ernst Wilhelm Reinert flew with JG77, before transferring to the Eastern Front in 1941. He was posted to Tunisia in January 1943 where he became the most successful Luftwaffe Ace in North Africa during that period. On January 2nd 1945 he was given the leadership of IV./JG27. In March he transferred to III./JG7 flying the Me262. In his 715 missions Reinert scored 174 aerial victories. he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Born 2nd February 1919 in Lindenthal, died 5th September 2007. | 
Leonard Kit Carson (deceased)
*Signature Value : £75 (matted)
| Leonard 'Kit' Carson with 18.5 victories was the top ace of the 357th Fighter Group. His first victory was on April 8th 1944. He scored all his 18.5 victories flying five mustangs all named Nooky Booky. Kit Carson went onto to run the 357th's combat training school or 'Clobber College'. Captain Leonard K. Kit Carson, on the 38th mission of his second tour and having nine previous credits, became the second 357th pilot to become an ace in a day. He was squadron commander between 8 April 1945–1 November 1945. He died on 8th March 1994. | 
Major Erich Rudorffer (deceased)
*Signature Value : £65 (matted)
| Erich Rudorffer was born on November 1st 1917 in the town of Zwickau in Saxony. Erich Rudorffer joined the Luftwaffes I./JG2 Richthofen in November 1939, and was soon flying combat patrols in January 1940 and was assigned to I/JG 2 Richthofen with the rank of Oberfeldwebel. He took part in the Battle of France, scoring the first of his many victories over a French Hawk 75 on May 14th, 1940. He went on to score eight additional victories during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. Rudorffer recalled an incident in August 1940 when he escorted a badly damaged Hurricane across the Channel - ditching in the English Channel was greatly feared by pilots on both sides. As fate often does, Rudorffer found the roles reversed two weeks later, when he was escorted by an RAF fighter after receiving battle damage. By May 1st 1941 Rudorffer had achieved 19 victories, which led to the award of the Knights Cross. In June 1941 Rodorffer became an Adjutant of II./JG2. In 1942 Rudorffer participated in Operation Cerberus (known as the Channel Dash) and flew over the Allied landings at Dieppe. Erich Rudorffer along with JG2 was transferred to North Africa in December 1942. It was in North Africa that Rudorffer showed his propensity for multiple-victory sorties. He shot down eight British aircraft in 32 minutes on February 9th 1943 and seven more in 20 minutes six days later. After scoring a total of 26 victories in Tunisia, Rudorffer returned to France in April 1943 and was posted to command II./JG54 in Russia, after Hauptmann Heinrich Jung, its Kommodore, failed to return from a mission on July 30th 1943. On August 24th 1943 he shot down 5 Russian aircraft on the first mission of the day and followed that up with three more victories on the second mission. He scored seven victories in seven minutes on October 11th but his finest achievement occurred on November 6th when in the course of 17 minutes, he shot down thirteen Russian aircraft. Rudorffer became known to Russian pilots as the fighter of Libau. On October 28th 1944 while about to land, Rudorffer spotted a large formation of Il-2 Sturmoviks. He quickly aborted the landing and moved to engage the Russian aircraft. In under ten minutes, nine of the of the II-2 Sturmoviks were shot down causing the rest to disperse. Rudorffer would later that day go on and shoot down a further two Russian aircraft. These victories took his total to 113 and he was awarded the Oak Leaves on April 11th 1944. Rudorffer would on the 26th January 1945 on his 210th victory receive the addition of the Swords. In February 1945 Rudorffer took command of I./JG7 flying the Me262. He was one of the first jet fighter aces of the war, scoring 12 victories in the Me262. He shot down ten 4-engine bombers during the 'Defense of the Reich missions'. He was the master of multiple scoring - achieving more multiple victories than any other pilot. Erich Rudorffer never took leave, was shot down 16 times having to bail out 9 times, and ended the war with 222 victories from over 1000 missions. He was awarded the Knights Cross, with Oak Leaves and Swords. Erich Rudorffer died on 8th April 2016. | 
Major Richard Bud Peterson (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50 (matted)
| Bud Peterson was born in Hancock in 1923 and attended the University of Minnesota before joining the Army Reserve. He went through the cadet program and became a second lieutenant. He was sent to Europe to join the 357th Fighter Group. He scored his first victory in March 1944, bringing down an Fw190 in his P-51 Mustang. He eventually became the top scorer in 364th Fighter Squadron, with a final tally of 15.5 victories, and was the 10th Ace of the 357th Fighter Group. All his victories were scored in the P-51 Mustang, and he also scored 3.5 ground victories, and has the distinction of scoring victories over every piston-engined Luftwaffe aircraft flown in WWII. Peterson flew 150 missions over Europe. Major Richard Bud Peterson became a major at age 21, at the time the youngest person to achieve that rank in the Army Air Force. He would later be awarded the Air Medal, the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Major Richard Bud Peterson also received the Croix de Guerre, one of France's highest honors for bravery. After the war he was selected as a staff officer to interview Adolf Galland, commander of the German Air Force fighter forces, on aerial combat tactics and strategy. He later pursued his architecture career and worked for such companies as Cerny Associates Inc. before co-founding Peterson, Clark & Griffith, Architects, in 1960. He was involved in the construction of many Twin Cities buildings and the Minnesota Zoo. Bud Peterson, died Sunday 4th of June 2000 of cancer at a Walker Methodist home in Minneapolis. He was 77. |
| Signatures on item 2 | | *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 Robert P Winks (deceased)
*Signature Value : £40 (matted)
| Robert Winks joined the service in 1943, and after training was posted to England. Flying his first combat mission in July 1944, he served with the 364th Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group. His year long tour in Europe took in the heavy fighting over the Battle of the Bulge, the missions to support the Arnhem operations, and the Battle of Berlin, when the 357th destroyed 56 enemy aircraft. During this time he flew some 69 combat missions. His personal P-51D was 'Trusty Rusty'. His victories included an Me262 jet fighter claimed on 15th January 1945. Sadly, he died on 19th May 2008. | 
Colonel C E Bud Anderson (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50 (matted)
| Bud Anderson went to England with the 357th Fighter Group in 1943, the first Eighth Air Force Group to be equipped with the P-51 Mustang. He got himself on the score sheet on one of the first Berlin missions, dog fighting with a bunch of Me109s who had set upon a straggling B-17. On 29th June 1944, leading his squadron on a mission to Leipzig, they ran into a formation of Fw190s. In the ensuing battle Anderson shot down the leader, and two more Fw190s. After a short rest in the U.S., Bud returned for a second tour, just in time for the 357th's big day on 27th November 1944. With the 353rd they took on a huge formation of some 200 enemy fighters, Anderson adding three more to his score. He finished the war with 16 air victories and many more probables. Sadly Bud passed away on the 17th of May 2024. | 
First Lieutenant John Skara
*Signature Value : £35 (matted)
| John Skara joined the service in June 1942. After training he was posted to England to join the 357th Fighter Group at Leiston in Suffolk, flying both the P51B and later the P51D. He undertook his first combat mission in March 1944, and took part in the long and hazardous escort missions both to Russia, and to Italy. For most of his combat tour he flew as wingman to Bud Anderson | 
First Lieutenant Raymond T Conlin (deceased)
*Signature Value : £40 (matted)
| 'Ted' Conlin joined the service in July 1942, arriving in england in March 1944 to join the 362nd Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, flying P-51s. He flew the first of his combat missions on 13th May 1944, and the next few weeks saw much activity in the build up to D-Day. In September he took part in the air operations in support of Market Garden, the airborne landings in Holland around Arnhem and Nijmegen, and also escort on the 'Russian Shuttle' missions. He finished his combat tour in November 1944. Ted Conlin died on 12th March 2012. |
| Artist Details : Nicolas Trudgian | | Click here for a full list of all artwork by Nicolas Trudgian |
Nicolas Trudgian
Cranston Fine Arts have now taken over all remaining stocks of Nicolas Trudgian prints from his previous publishers. We have made available a great many prints that had not been seen for many years, and have uncovered some rarities which lay unnoticed during this transition. Having graduated from art college, Nicolas Trudgian spent many years as a professional illustrator before turning to a career in fine art painting. His crisp style of realism, attention to detail, compositional skills and bright use of colours, immediately found favour with collectors and demand for his original work soared on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, more than a decade after becoming a fine art painter, Nicolas Trudgian is firmly established within a tiny, elite group of aviation artists whose works are genuinely collected world-wide. When he paints an aircraft you can be sure he has researched it in every detail and when he puts it over a particular airfield, the chances are he has paid it a recent visit. Even when he paints a sunset over a tropical island, or mist hanging over a valley in China, most probably he has seen it with his own eyes. Nick was born and raised in the seafaring city of Plymouth, the port from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in 1620, and where Sir Francis Drake played bowls while awaiting the Spanish Armada. Growing up in a house close to the railway station within a busy military city, the harbour always teeming with naval vessels and the skies above resonating with the sounds of naval aircraft, it was not at all surprising the young Nick became fascinated with trains, boats and aircraft. It was from his father, himself a talented artist, that Nick acquired his love of drawing and surrounded by so much that was inspiring, there was never a shortage of ideas for pictures. His talent began to show at an early age and although he did well enough at school, he always spent a disproportionate amount of time drawing. People talked about him becoming a Naval officer or an architect but in 1975 Nick's mind was made up. When he told his careers teacher he wanted to go to art school the man said, 'Now come on, what do you really want to do? After leaving school Nick began a one-year foundation course at the Plymouth College of Art. Now armed with an impressive portfolio containing paintings of jet aircraft, trains, even wildlife, he was immediately accepted at every college he applied to join. He chose a course at the Falmouth College of Art in Cornwall specialising in technical illustration and paintings of machines and vehicles for industry. It was perfect for Nick, and he was to become one of the star pupils. One of the lecturers commented at the time: Every college needs someone with a talent like Nick to raise the standards sky high; he carried all the other students along with him, and created an effect which will last for years to come. Two weeks after leaving art college Nick blew every penny he had on a trip to South Africa to ride the great steam trains across the desert, sketching them at every opportunity. Returning to England, in best traditions of all young artists, he struggled to make a living. Paintings by an unknown artist didn't fetch much despite the painstaking effort and time Nick put into each work, so when the college he had recently left offered him a job as a lecturer, he jumped at the chance. The money was good and he discovered that he really enjoyed teaching. Throughout the 1970s Nick was much involved with a railway preservation society near Plymouth and it was through the railway society that he had his first pictures reproduced as prints. But Nick felt he needed to advance his career and in summer 1985 Nick moved away from Cornwall to join an energetic new design studio in Wiltshire. Here he painted detailed artwork for many major companies including Rolls Royce, General Motors, Volvo Trucks, Alfa Romeo and, to his delight, the aviation and defence industries. He remembers the job as exciting though stressful, often requiring him to work right through the night to meet a client's deadline. Here he learned to be disciplined and fast. Towards the end of the 1980's Nick had the chance to work for the Military Gallery. This was the break that for years he had been striving towards and with typical enthusiasm, flung himself into his new role. After completing a series of aviation posters, including a gigantic painting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Nick's first aviation scene to be published as a limited edition was launched by the Military Gallery in 1991. Despite the fact he was unknown in the field, it was an immediate success. Over the past decade Nick has earned a special reputation for giving those who love his work much more than just aircraft in his paintings. He goes to enormous lengths with his backgrounds, filling them with interesting and accurate detail, all designed to help give the aircraft in his paintings a tremendous sense of location and purpose. His landscapes are quite breathtaking and his buildings demonstrate an uncanny knowledge of perspective but it is the hardware in his paintings which are most striking. Whether it is an aircraft, tank, petrol bowser, or tractor, Nick brings it to life with all the inordinate skill of a truly accomplished fine art painter. A prodigious researcher, Nick travels extensively in his constant quest for information and fresh ideas. He has visited India, China, South Africa, South America, the Caribbean and travels regularly to the United States and Canada. He likes nothing better than to be out and about with sketchbook at the ready and if there is an old steam train in the vicinity, well that's a bonus!
More about Nicolas Trudgian
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