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Robert Taylor Prints  More Aircraft  Zero (Japan) |
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| Text for the above items : |
Legend of Colin Kelly by Robert Taylor. December 10th 1941, Just three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, captain Colin Kellys 19th BG B-17C is heavily outnumbered by Zeros as it returns to Clark Field after completing a successful bombing attack. With his aircraft on fire. Kelly remained at the controls whilst his crew bailed out. Seconds later the B-17 exploded. Colin Kelly gave his life and was posthumously awarded the DFC. A legend was born. |
Rabaul - Fly For Your Life by Robert Taylor. For their outstanding contribution to the war in the South Pacific, the Black Sheep were awarded one of only two Presidential Unit Citations accorded to Marine Corps squadrons during the war in the Pacific. With typical mastery, Robert Taylor has brought to life an encounter over Rabaul in late December 1943, paying tribute to one of the US Marine Corps most famous fighter squadrons, and its outstanding leader. With the Japanese airbase at Rabaul visible in the distance, Pappy Boyington and his fellow pilots of VMF-214 tear into a large formation of Japanese Zekes and a series of deadly dogfights have started, one Zeke already fallen victim to their guns. |
Zero Encounter by Robert Taylor. A Japanese Zero condenses the air off its wing tips as its pilot hauls his fighter inside a Marine F4F Wildcats determined attack. The two adversaries cavort the air in a desperate duel high over the island of Guadalcanal. The sky is alive with fighting aircraft as F4Fs and Zeros are locked in deadly combat. Below, clearly visible throught the clear tropical air is the prize over which they do battle: A single tiny airstrip on a small hill, humid, almost uninhabitable island - A priceless possession providing the key to air supremacy in the South Pacific. |
Fortress under Attack by Robert Taylor. 22nd Bomb group B17s under attack by Mitsubishi Zero fighters over Rebaul November 1942. |
Rising Sun by Robert Taylor. Rising Sun is normally a companion print to The Legend of Colin Kelly. |
| Zero Pilot and aircrew signature details |
Shiro Ishikawa Our estimated value of this signature : £60 Died : 2002 | Shiro Ishikawa Ishikawa became the first Zero Pilot to be captured by Allies. Lieut. Jack Conger of VFM-212 shot down a Zero and rammed the tail of another on the Dugout Sunday. Conger parachuted but the Japanese pilot crashed with his plane. While Conger was in the water waiting to be rescued the pilot of another enemy plane, Shiro Ishikawa, drifted down and landed within half a mile of him. After the boat picked up Conger the crew went on to rescue Shiro Ishikawa, who had determined not to be rescued. He swam away but the boat overtook him. When he was being hauled on board, he whipped out his pistol to shoot Conger but it did not go off. Then Ishikawa tried to shoot himself, but the pistol again failed to fire. By this time Conger's patience was exhausted so with the help of an enlisted man, knocked Ishikawa unconscious and pulled him into the boat and so the first Zero Pilot was taken prisoner of war. Shiro Ishikawa passed away in December 2002. |
  Saburo Sakai Our estimated value of this signature : £70 Died : 2000 | Saburo Sakai This legendary Zero pilot graduated into the Japanese air force in 1937 and he scored his first victory in the China War. On December 8, 1941, Sakai participated in the raid on Clark Field and, on December 10, led the attack on Kellys B-17. He fought in New Guinea against the 8th Fighter Group, B-26s of the 22nd Bomb Group, and 75 Sqn RAAF. Badly wounded in August 1942 over Guadalcanal he was hospitalized and lost the sight of his right eye. He was pressed back into service and claimed 5 Hellcats in the final days. In over 200 combats, Sakai never lost a wingman and destroyed 64 enemy aircraft. Saburo Sakai is the Highest-scoring Japanese ace to survive the War. Sakal flew with the Imperial Navy as a noncommissioned officer in China where he attained two victories. While stationed at Tainan on Formosa, Sakais unit was involved in the attacks on American airfields in the Philippines shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese pilots had developed fuel-saving, low-speed, tactics with their Mitsubishi Zero fighters, which allowed them to make the 1200-mile round-trip flight to the Philippines, while accompanying Japanese bombers. The appearance of Japanese aircraft from bases which were thought to be out of range came as an unpleasant surprise to American forces. During this mission S akal bagged a p-40 over Clark field. During the days that would follow, Sakai's squadron would repeatedly make the long flight to the Philippines to support the advancing Japanese invasion force that was disembarking. On December 10, 1941 while patrolling at 18,000 feet, Sakal saw several bombs explode near Japanese convoy ships. Noticing a lone B-17 Flying Fortress, Sakal and nine other Zeros made for the American Bomber at full throttle. Overtaking the bomber, believed to be the one piloted by Colin Kelly, Sakal and the other Japanese fighters poured fire into the aircraft from behind. Finally, the overmatched bomber began to go down. Eight of its crew bailed out before the aircraft crashed short of Clark Field. Sakal would later have another encounter with b- 1 7s over Borneo. However, these would be later model aircraft fitted with a rear gunner's turret, and would prove to be much more difficult to bring down. In early 1942 Sakai's unit was shifted to supporting the Japanese invasion of Java. Encountering outclassed Brewster Buffaloes, P-36s, P-40s, and some Hurricanes, the Japanese fighter forces wreaked havoc in the skies. Sakai's victory tally rose to thirteen. A few months later Sakal was involved in fighting around Rabaul. This was the first time the Japanese would meet stiff resistance. In many months of fighting the Japanese forces sustained meaningful casualties. On July 22, 1942 Sakal chased a Lockheed Hudson, whose pilot put on a daring series of aerial maneuvers, before finally being downed by the Japanese ace, for his 4C Victory. In late July the morale of the Japanese fighter forces suffered a serious setback with the realization that American carrierbased aircraft were now involved in the battles in New Guinea. The Japanese forces had in fact not obtained the decisive victory that they had been told was achieved at the Battle of Midway. With the American attack on Guadalcanal, Sakai's unit was refocused on flying 11 00-mile escort missions for Japanese Bombers attacking American forces at Guadalcanal. On one of these missions Sakai mistakenly attacked a formations of Avengers. Hit by fire from the rear gunners of the torpedo bombers, Sakal was badly injured, losing sight in one eye. He successfully nursed his aircraft back to Rabaul. After recovering from his injuries, Sakai would be involved as a flight instructor and test pilot until the Japanese surrender. Saburo Sakai passed away 22nd September 2000. |
| Zero Squadron details |
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