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Robert Taylor Prints  US Air Force  Liberator |
[UP] - Mustang - Flying Fortress - Tomahawk - Lightning |
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| Text for the above items : |
Savage Skies by Robert Taylor. The weather on the morning of 31 December, 1944 was already unpleasant. In the Ardennes, hard-pressed German troops were battling Allied ground forces advancing through several inches of snow. Above, darkening skies heralded the arrival of more snow. At 10.45am, in deteriorating weather, a battle formation of 30 Fw190D fighters climbed out of Varrelbusch and headed south over the snowcovered landscape. Under the command of 12./JG54 Staffelkapitan, Oblt. Hans Dortenmann, and initially tasked to provide air cover to their beleaguered comrades below, the group was re-assigned to intercept enemy aircraft in the region of Limburg almost immediately the pilots were airborne. Flying south they ran directly into the oncoming weather, and with visibility dangerously reduced, Dortenmann elected to climb through the solid cloud into clear air. As the Fw190s broke cloud above the area of Koblenz they sighted a formation of nine 2nd Air Division B-24 Liberators and formed up for an attack. Some 6000 feet above, top-cover P-51 Mustangs had watched the Fw190s climbing through the banks of clouds, and turned 180 degrees to position behind the Luftwaffe fighters. Diving in from their height advantage, the Mustang pilots entered the fray and within seconds the sky was filled with swirling dogfights. |
Hostile Sky by Robert Taylor A B-24 has been hit and is losing touch with the main bomber formation, as Luftwaffe pilots concentrated their attentions on the unfortunate aircraft. Two Fw190s, are zooming up for the kill on the damaged B-24. Seeing the desperate situation, a P-38 escort pilot has made a head-on attack, splitting the pair of Fw190s, and thwarting their attempt to finish off the B-24. Another P-38, aware of the situation, is turning into the path of the Fw190s, and Robert makes it clear in his dramatic portrayal that the action has some way to go before any conclusion will be reached. |
Ploesti, The Vital Mission by Robert Taylor. Col Leon Johnson aboard the damaged Suzy Q emerges through an inferno of intense ground fire and dense palls of acrid burning oil. More seriously hit and smoking, another B-24 Liberator completes its bombing run. By the end of that first day of May 1943, the Ploesti oil fields were in ruins and the B-24 crews of the 8th and 9th Air Forces had dealt a vital blow to the Axis war machine. |
Welcome Sight by Robert Taylor. SOLD OUT. |
| Liberator Pilot and aircrew signature details |
  Colonel William R Cameron Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2013 | Colonel William R Cameron Bill Cameron flew all his 38 combat missions with the 44th Bomb Group. He first saw combat in Nov 1942. He was the only pilot who came over to Europe with 44th BG and returned with them at the end of the war. Described by General Leon Johnson as 'one of the best combat leaders we had', Bill was the pilot of 'Buzzin' Bear' on the Ploesti Raid. Before the mission he asked British anti-aircraft gunners which plane, in a low flying formation, they would fire at. They told him they would shoot the highest: Bill Cameron took 'Buzzin' Bear' through the Ploesti inferno lower than most other pilots and got her home with only minor damage, earning the DSC for his part in the historic raid. William R. Cameron died on his 93rd birthday on June 24th 2013 |
Keith Compton Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2004 | Keith Compton Keith Compton was born in 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri, and graduated from Central High School there in 1933. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, in 1937. He entered military service in February 1938 as an aviation cadet at Randolph Field, Texas, and received his pilot's wings a year later. Compton spent the next two and a half years at Langley Field, Virginia, with the 2nd Bomb Wing, the first unit equipped with the B-17 Flying Fortress. In April 1942 he became commander of the 409th Bomb Squadron and later, at Fort Myers, Fla., operations officer for the 93rd Bomb Group. In February 1943, Compton became commander of the 376th Bomb Group in Africa and, on August 1, 1943, led the disastrous air attack on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. He was reassigned as assistant to the air chief of staff for operations, Fifteenth Air Force, in North Africa in March 1944 and returned to the United States in July that year as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and training, Second Air Force, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Following several command assignments and graduation from the Air University, Compton was assigned in June 1948 to the Air Proving Ground Command, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, as deputy for operations, a position he held until February 1953. It was during this tour of duty that Compton, flying an F-86 Sabrejet, won the National Air Races Bendix Trophy for 1951, setting a new national speed record for the route. In February 1953, Compton transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC). Several successful command assignments in SAC resulted in his designation in September 1961 as SAC director of operations. In June 1963 he became SAC's chief of staff. In August 1964 he was assigned to be the Inspector General of the U.S. Air Force. Six months later he was designated the deputy chief of staff for plans and operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. With these duties he also became the Air Force's operations deputy sitting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force. He assumed his last position in February 1967. He retired August 1, 1969. Military decorations awarded Compton include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters, the Air Force and the Army Commendation medals. In addition he holds his college's outstanding Alumni Achievement Award and is one of the few holders of aviation's famed Bendix Trophy. Keith K. Compton sadly died on June 15th 2004 aged 88. Allied leaders determined to bomb Ploesti during the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 and Gen. Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold delegated the problem to Col. Jacob Smart of his Advisory Council. Smart, the principle architect and planner for Operation TIDALWAVE, proposed, in complete antithesis of USAAF bombing policy, a low-level massed raid on the nine most important Ploesti refineries by five B-24 bomb groups, two from North Africa and three borrowed from Eighth Air Force in England. By July 1943, the five groups - the 44th, 93rd, and 389th Bombardment Groups from England had joined the 98th and 376th Bombardment Groups at Benghazi, Libya, where they made final preparations and conducted additional low-level training under the direction of Ninth Air Force. Commanded by Brig. Gen. Uzal G. Ent, the force of 178 B-24s took off on the morning of 1 August, followed a route across the Mediterranean, passed the island of Corfu, crossed the Pindus Mountains into Rumania, and approached Ploesti from the east. While over the Mediterranean the formation divided into two parts: the first led by Col. Keith K. (K.K.) Compton commander of the 376th, consisted of the 376th and 93rd Bomb Groups; the second led by Col. John R. (Killer) Kane, commander of the 98th, included the 98th, 44th, and 389th Bomb Groups. Mandated radio silence prevented the leaders from reassembling the formation. The goal of a single, mass attack disappeared. Compton's formation reached Rumania well ahead of Kane's. It descended to low level and, in error, made its planned turn to the south at Targoviste, miles short of the correct Identification Point (IP). Compton led two bomb groups toward Bucharest. Col. Addison L. Baker, commanding the 93rd Bomb Group following Compton, saw Ploesti to his left, turned his group and led it into the target first. Meantime, Compton found that he was heading to Bucharest and turned, almost reversing course, and bombed Ploesti from the south. As the two groups emerged from Ploesti and escaped to the south, the 98th and 44th Bomb Groups led by Kane plunged into Ploesti where they found many of their targets in flames. They sought alternate targets of opportunity. Far to the north, the 389th Bomb Group successfully bombed its target, a separate refinery at Campina, as planned. |
Brigadier General Henry Huglin Our estimated value of this signature : £55 Died : 2005 | Brigadier General Henry Huglin Henry Huglin was Born in Iowa, in 1915. After being director of B-24 training, in 1944 Henry Huglin became deputy group commander of the 9th Bombardment Group at McCook, Nebraska, which in that year was organized and trained as a B-29 Group. In February 1945 he accompanied the group in its overseas deployment to Tinian in the Marianas Islands where it became part of the 20th Air Force conducting the strategic air campaign against Japan. In March 1945 he became group commander and remained as the group commander through the end of World War II six months later. During this period, he led his Group on 17 of their 75 bombing and mining missions (comprising more than 2,000 sorties of 3,000 miles each) in the war against Japan, including participating in the first low-level fire raid on Tokyo March 5, 1945. Promoted to Colonel in June 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Bronze Star. After the end of World War II, Colonel Huglin served as chief of the Operations Branch in the U.S. Strategic Air Force Headquarters on Guam, a month with Headquarters, Far East Air Forces in the Philippines, a year as chief of staff of the 308th Bomb Wing in Korea, and seven months as commanding officer of Nagoya Air Base, Japan. In January of 1948, Colonel Huglin reported to Air Force Headquarters in the Pentagon where he served until October of that year as chief of the Personnel Statistics Division, Office of the Comptroller, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. On the 10th of June 1959, Colonel Huglin was promoted to Brigadier Generaland became deputy U.S. representative to the NATO Military Committee and Standing Group, Nov. 1, 1959. Sadly Brigadier General Huglin died on the 10th of December 2005. |
Group Captain Brian Kingcome DSO DFC Our estimated value of this signature : £65 Died : 1994 | Group Captain Brian Kingcome DSO DFC Brian Fabris Kingcome was born in Calcutta on May 31st 1917. Brian Kingcome was educated at Bedford and in 1936 entered the RAF College, Cranwell. Soon after he began his pilot course he was seriously injured in a car accident and was told by the RAF medical board that he would never fly again as he was expected to suffer permanent double vision. But after months in hospital and with Brians strength of character he proved the board wrong. In 1938 he was posted to No 65, a biplane Gladiator fighter squadron based at Hornchurch. Brian Kingcome took part in the Battles of France and Dunkirk but transferred to 92 Squadron as a flight commander and flying Spitfires in May 1940 scoring his first victories in June 1940. Brian Kingcome became acting commanding officer during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain. During this time he and his pilots achieved the highest success rate of any squadron in the entire Battle of Britain. After being shot down by Me109s and wounded, he returned to active operations. In February 1942 he was posted to command 72 Squadron, followed by promotion to Wing Leader at Kenley. In May 1943 he was posted to lead 244 Wing in the Mediterranean during the invasion of Sicily. An Ace, Brian Kingcome flew Spitfires in combat continually until the end of 1944, his tally finishing at 8 and 3 shared destroyed, plus a score of probables and damaged. One of the prewar Cranwell elite, Brian Kingcome was to become one ofthe Second World Wars great fighter leaders, alongside such immortals as Douglas Bader, Bob Stanford Tuck and Johnnie Johnson. At the outbreak of war he was serving in 65 Squadron, but in May 1940 was posted to 92 Squadron as flight commander. On 25 May he shared a Do 17 and on 2 June destroyed two He l l Is and damaged a third. He shared a Ju 88 with two others on I0 July, and again on the 24th. On 9 September he probably destroyed a Bf 110 and two days later shot down a He 111. On the 14th he damaged another. He shot down a Bf 109 on the 23rd and next day probably destroyed another and damaged a Ju 88. Three days later he shared a Ju 88 again, damaged two others, probably destroyed a Do 17, and damaged one of these also. Around this time he was awarded a DFC for six victories, and on 11 October got a Bf 109 He claimed another next day, and also damaged one. In 1941 he became commanding officer, having frequently led the squadron. It will be noted that he claimed many probables and damaged during the Battle of Britain, and this was due to his view that it was more important to hit as many as possible than to try and confirm victories. On 16 June 1941 lie probably destroyed a Bf 109, and on 24 July shot one down. He was then rested until late in the year, when he was posted to command 72 Squadron, and in February 1942 gave escort cover to the Fleet Air Arm pilot Eugene Esmonde, who won the VC trying to attack German capital ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and and the cruiser Prinz Eugen with Swordfish during the Channel Dash. In atrocious weather Kingcome caught a fleeting glimpse of tbe Scharnhorst - Oh what a beautiful battleboat! he exclaimed, just as a shell made a hole the size of a dustbin lid in his port wing. During 1941 he received a Bar to his DFC, having brought his score to 10. He was promoted to lead the Kenley wing, and on 15 April 1942 damaged a Fw 190. He probably destroyed a Bf 109 on 28 May, and during the year was awarded a DSO, having added another victory to his score. In 1943 he was posted to North Africa to lead 244 Wing, and lead this for 18 months, becoming a Gp. Capt. after the invasion of Italy. By the end of his stay with the wing he had brought his score to 18, and was then posted as SASO of a Liberator group, and flew an operation as a waist gunner over northern Yugoslavia after taking up this appointment. Sadly Group Captain Brian Kingcome passed away aged 76 in 1994. |
First Lieutenant Don Nielsen Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | First Lieutenant Don Nielsen A pilot with the 457th Bomb Group, Don Nielson had joined up in February 1943, originally training for combat flying on B24 Liberators. In November 1944 he was posted to England, joining the 751st Squadron, 457th Bomb Group at Glatton flying B17 Fortresses - first as co-pilot and then as First Pilot, undertaking the first combat mission of his tour on 12 December 1944. On 3 February 1945 he took part in the big raid on Berlin, which was the heaviest concentration on the German capital so far in the war, encountering some of the most intense and accurate flak ever experienced by the Eighth. During his tour Don took part in a total of 34 raids, all on B17s. |
  Colonel Albert Shower Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2001 | Colonel Albert Shower Al Shower was the only Group Commander in the Eighth Air Force to bring a Group to the U.K. and to command it until the end of hostilities. His dedication and leadership on 30 missions, gave the 467th Bomber Group's B-24s the best overall standing for bombing accuracy in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. Colonel Albert J Shower passed away on 15th October 2001. |
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