Extensive range of Nicolas Trudgian aviation
art prints including Battle of Britain aviation art by Nicolas Trudgian,
Holding the Line and US Air Force art prints of Flying Fortress and
Mustang aviation art.
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The Battle for Point 112, a strategically positioned hill just a few miles south-west of Caen, was the scene of the most violent fighting between German and British armor, artillery and ground troops during the weeks immediately following the D-Day ......
The air war fought in the skies above the inhospitable wastelands of the North African desert were among the most hotly contested of the war. The outcome of the bitter land war raging below largely depended upon who controlled the air space above, a......
3 print editions available from £140.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
The infamous Tiger Tank, one of the the deadliest fighting machines ever built and the most successful tank ace of WWII, Michael Wittmann. Wittmanns Tiger advances towards Beauvais in June 1944 to intercept the advancing British 7th Armoured Divisio......
With their twin Merlins singing at full power, Mk FBV1 Mosquitos of 464 Squadron RAAF present a menacing picture as they set out on a precision low level mission, their streamlined, shark-like shapes silhouetted against the evening glow. Below, the ......
5 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
A dramatic low-level attack on a Japanese base near Rabaul is in progress by F-4U Corsairs of 16 Squadron, RNZAF. Taking the lead is Bryan Cox, as the Corsairs leave a trail of smoke and debris in their wake. Water vapor is squeezed out of the humid......
Remembered fondly by many RAF, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand bomber crews, the Halifax served many diverse roles in WWII, including service with Special Duties, dropping agents and supplies behind enemy lines. Halifax MkIIs of 35 Squadron, RA......
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 s......
Although the true qualities of a fighter pilot cannot be measured simply by tallying his number of air victories - some of the greatest fighter leaders do not feature in the top score sheets -there can be no question that any fighter pilot whose vict......
With the Battle of Britain won, and the first chinks in Goerings armour exposed, RAF Fighter Command is at last able to carry the war to the enemy. It is the bittersweet winter of 41. Mk Vb Spitfires, having taken off as the first streaks of dawn ......
Spitfires pass above a downed Me110 as they return to base at Biggin Hill in September 1940, the most intense and crucial phase of the Battle of Britain. ......
So versatile was the Mosquito that is performed in every role allotted to the R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. during World War II. Made almost entirely of wood, and powered by two hefty Merlin engines, it was the fastest piston engined aircraft of the war. Seen......
4 print editions available from £60.00 1 ex-display print available from £45.00
Like the Messerschmitt 109, its great adversary throughout almost six years of aerial combat, the Spitfire was a fighter par excellence. Good as many other types may have been, these two aircraft became symbols of the two opposing air forces they re......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £115.00
In the summer of 1940, JG3, under the command of Hans von Hahn, scramble their Me109s from their French countryside base at Colombert, near Calais. With the deafening sound of their piston-engined aircraft, sporting the groups colourful Dragon emble......
On 5 July, 1943 over 6000 German and Russian tanks clashed near the town of Kursk, just 300 miles south of Moscow. It was the beginning of what became the greatest tank battle in history. In the skies above this conflagration, an air battle of monum......
With its macabre skull and crossbones insignia, and a reputation for total disdain of authority, VF-17 arrived in the Pacific with a variety of nicknames ranging from the Irregulars to the Cast-offs, but under the dynamic leadership of their Squadro......
Bob Stanford-Tuck waits at dispersal in his 257 Squadron Hurricane during the Battle of Britain. Promoted to command 257 Squadron, Bob was one of the Battle of Britains leading Aces. ......
High above the Animas river in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the daily passenger train bringing passengers from Silverton to Durango, negotiates the precarious High Line shelf. Over 400 feet below, the fast-flowing mountain waters thunder throug......
3 print editions available from £65.00 1 ex-display print available from £76.00
In early 1941, many months before Pearl Harbor, an irrepressible bunch of American fighter pilots, together with 200 ground crew, came together and stood alone against the might of the Imperial Japanese Air Force. Under the indomitable command of Ge......
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series.......
Few fighter units in World War II gained the notoriety of Pappy Boyingtons Marine Corps VMF-214 Black Sheep Squadron. Equipped with the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, under Boyingtons spirited leadership, the Black Sheep pilots were accorded one of only......
6 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
P-38 Lightnings launching a surprise attack on a German freight train as it winds its way through the hills of Northern France towards the battle front, shortly before D-Day, 1944. ......
The evening train from Durango has arrived via Lizard Head Pass, and now pulls out of Ophir, headed for Ridgway. Lit by a full moon, the evening quiet of the tiny mountain settlement is briefly interrupted by the C16 class locomotive, but soon, as i......
2 print editions available from £65.00 1 ex-display print available from £76.00
P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group make a low pass over B-17s of the 401st Bomb Group at Deenethorpe, as they return to their base at Kingscliffe in late 1944. ......
It is August 1944, barely two months since the Allies landed their first troops on the beaches of Normandy. Already the German Panzer Divisions are in full retreat, and it is critical to halt them before they can regroup. Caught in the Gap at Falais......
Of the many famous combat aircraft to serve their respective countries in the Second World War, two perhaps more than any others, created huge impact and consternation upon seasoned opposing pilots when they first appeared on the battlefront - the Su......
4 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
On December 16th 1944, Hitler mounted the largest offensive in the west since 1940. It was his last desperate offensive of World War II. With Germanys industrial heartland in ruins, its factories pulverised by Allied air raids, and opposing armies......
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series.......
The USAAF bomber bases of WWII were situated in the heart of rural England. Surrounded by countryside and pretty villages, it took the crews little time to become regulars at the nearest village inn, where traditionally there was Open House to Ameri......
Leutnant Klaus Bretschneider, Staffelkapitan of 5./JG300 kicks up the dust as he taxies his Fw190 A-8 Red One from its forest hiding place into the sunlight in preparation for take-off. The scene is northern Germany, November 1944. The Staffelkapita......
The Black Widow is a formidable creature. It lurks in the dark, carefully chooses its moment of attack and strikes unseen, cutting down its prey with deadly certainty. Northrop could not have chosen a more apt name with which to christen their new......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £80.00
Hurricanes of 87 Squadron return to their West Country base after repelling attacks by Luftwaffe bombers on nearby aircraft factories, August 1940. Flight Lieutenant Ian Gleeds Hurricane, in which he scored 20 victories, leads the Squadron pilots ba......
2 print editions available from £100.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
When the American Army reached the Rhine at Remagen on March 7, 1945, such was the speed of their advance, they arrived before the retreating Germans had time to blow the vital bridge. The Americans seized the bridge intact. Realising the threat to ......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
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. ......
A P-38 Lightning from the 20th Fighter Group based at Kings Cliffe, England, during the summer of 1944. The Lightning, with its radical twin-engine, twin boom design, dubbed by the Germans the fork-tailed devil, was one of the toughest, hard-hitting......
By late April 1945 most of the Third Reich had been cut to shreds by the advancing Allied forces and those units remaining intact were regrouping in southern Germany and Austria. With American advance units nearing the outskirts of Munich, on 28th A......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £125.00
Obersalzberg, a spectacularly picturesque area of southern Germany in the Bavarian Alps, became a focal point for the Allies as World War II was drawing to its close. This mountain village had become a Nazi stronghold after the Third Reich had seize......
Frustrated by the absence of Luftwaffe aircraft over the Normandy beaches on D-Day, Allied fighter pilots were spoiling for a fight. When a dozen Ju88s appeared over Gold Beach on the following morning, June 7, 1944, the patrolling Spitfires of 401 ......
Colditz – a forbidding medieval castle near Leiptzig, Germany - remains one of the most potent symbols of the Second World War. Reputed to be the Nazis most escape proof prison, this grim castle is the most notorious PoW camp in history with the dis......
At first light on August 1st, 1943 a force of 178 B-24 Liberator bombers lifted off dusty airstrips in the Libyan desert. They were to fly a 2000 mile round-trip deep into enemy territory, bomb a heavily defended target, and return to their North A......
The Green Heart Warriors carried their famous emblem throughout almost every European theatre during World War Two. Having fought with distinction in the Battle of Britain, JG54 transferred to the Eastern Front, where it was to acheive historic succ......
3 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £85.00
The dramatic scene depicts an aerial dog-fight between Sopwith Camels and SE5A fighters of the Royal Flying Corps, and the bright red planes of Baron von Richthofens JG1 fighter wing. High over Northern France, the highly manoeuvrable fighters wheel......
2 print editions available from £140.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
It is January 1945, and its cold. The German advance in the Ardennes is nearly over, but the Panzer Army is desperately throwing more troops into the breach who try to keep their momentum going in The Battle of the Bulge. Tasked with preventing Germ......
4 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £80.00
Hurricanes of 43 Squadron scramble from an airfield in southern England during the height of the Battle of Britain, 1940. The R.A.F.s first 300mph fighter, the Hurricane proved itself a formidable aerial gun platform, its pilots accounting for four-......
5 print editions available from £75.00 1 ex-display print available from £70.00
The success of Operation Bodenplatte, on January 1, 1945, was to be achieved by mass surprise attacks on British and American bases in France, Belgium and Holland. It was a battle fought at great cost to the Luftwaffe. During the battles some 300 Lu......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
Farmworkers peacefully threshing the harvest in Kent, south-east England, during the long hot summer of 1940, unaware of approaching enemy raiders. For these country folk the war could be a thousand miles away. ......
The legend of Willie Messerschmitts Me262, and the elite fighter Aces who piloted this revolutionary jet aircraft, is as secure as any born during the Second World War. As they hurtled into the air, climbing at speeds hitherto unknown, a small grou......
Even the most faithful of Messerschmitt Me 109 pilots that also flew the Focke-Wulf Fw190 grudgingly admitted the well-proportioned and aesthetically pleasing Fw190 was the finest single-seat fighter in the Luftwaffes armoury during World War II. So......
2 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
When the U.S. Air Forces arrived in Europe in 1942 it was the beginning of a three year aerial campaign, the scale of which had never been seen before, nor since. The 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces constituted the mightiest aerial armada in hist......
MK1 Hurricanes of No. 601 Squadron refueled and rearmed, climb to rejoin the battle during the summer of 1940. As the great air battle rages high above, life goes in the countryside as a Southern Railway train pulls out of a local village station, c......
An Avro Vulcan BMk2 of No. 617 (Dambuster) Squadron thunders into the air in a scene from the early 1960s. Painted in all-white anti-nuclear flash markings these Vulcans formed the mainstay of the R.A.F. nuclear strike force.......
A Typhoon of 181 Squadron flown by Flt Lt Roy Crane is shown attacking a German armoured column in th Falaise Gap in August 1944. Typhoons played a major role in destroying a large number of German armour and disrupting German movements during the b......
As 1944 drew to a close, Hitler made his final gamble of the war, mounting a massive strike force aimed at splitting the Allies forces advancing upon Germany. His armour, supported from the air, would rip through the Ardennes to Antwerp, capture th......
3 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £130.00
There was never a greater concentration of air power deployed in an active theater of war as over the English Channel in May and June 1944. As D-Day approached, the USAAFs Ninth Air Force had assembled over 3500 aircraft a day, they were pounding ene......
Arguably the most significant fighter leader of World War II, Adolf Galland took command of all German day and night fighters, but was in constant dispute with Luftwaffe supreme, Goering, who ultimately sacked him. Reinstated by Hitler, Galland retu......
The Mohne Dam gives way as David Maltbys Lancaster releases its bomb to deliver the coup de grace on the night of 16th / 17th May 1943. Guy Gibsom, nearest, and Mick Martin, having already dropped their bombs, make dummy runs with lights on to draw ......
They came across the English Channel at wave top height, their propeller slipstreams leaving wakes on the surface of the water. Nine Dornier Do17Z bombers of 9th Staffel, KG76, detailed to attack the RAF airfield at Kenley as part of Reichsmarshal ......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
From the day they began their aerial campaign against Nazi Germany to the cessation of hostilities in 1945, the USAAF bomber crews plied their hazardous trade in broad daylight. This tactic may have enabled better sighting of targets, and possibly l......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
In a classic image of wartime England, Mk V Spitfires, symbol of the RAF, defiant against the threat of the Luftwaffe return to their base in the heart of the beautiful rolling English countryside. ......
In the summer of 1940, as a 28 year old captain, Hannes Trautloft took command of JG 54. During the next three years this extraordinary fighter leader shaped the unit into one of the most successful combat fighter wings of World War II. The Green H......
A pair of Hawker Hunter Mk9 jets from No.58 Squadron R.A.F. based at R.A.F. Wittering are seen climbing over the south coast of England in 1973. ......
Messerschmitt Me262s of JG7 race back to their base at Brandenburg after intercepting a USAAF bomber raid on Munich, and Luftwaffe air bases in the area. Below them a B-26 has crash-landed in the fields still covered with a sprinkling of late winter......
Situated on the south eastern tip of Kent, RAF Hawkinge was the most forward airfield in Fighter Command. It was not surprising therefore that when Reichmarshal Goering began his fierce attacks on airfields - part of his softening up campaign in pr......
Major Jim Goodson taxies his 4th (The Eagles) Fighter Group P-51 D Mustang at Debden following a mission to supply air support over the Normandy beaches soon after D-Day, June 1944. Having previously flown Spitfires and Hurricanes with the RAF, Spitf......
The P-40, legendary for its service with Chennaults Flying Tigers in China, was one of the RAFs principle fighters in the north African Desert war. A low-level dogfight between P-40 Kittyhawks of 112 Squadron is shown, as they tangle with the Luftwa......
On June 19, 1944 American Navy pilots ripped into wave after wave of enemy aircraft. As each new onslaught arrived there were more fighters there to meet them. Other squadrons joined in the melee and the radio circuits crackled with shouts and cries......
On February 15, 1944, a force of B-24s, B-25s and A-20s hammered the heavily defended Japanese base at Kavieng. Several aircraft, however, were forced to ditch; three downed B-25 crews from 345th Bomb Group floating helplessly in life-rafts within a......
B-17 Fortresses of the Bloody Hundredth- the Eighth Air Forces 100th Bomb Group - return to Thorpe Abbotts following a raid on enemy oil refineries, September 11, 1944. Nicolas Trudgians moving tribute to the Bloody Hundredth shows the imaginatively......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
A classic head-to-head combat between Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone in his Spitfire and an Me109 over the south coast of England on 25th August, 1940. With 602 Squadron scrambled to intercept an approaching raid. The Commanding Officer notches up ......
When No 49 Squadron Lancasters bombed the S.S. barracks at Berchtesgaden on 25th April 1945, its aircrews completed a campaign that had begun 5 and a half years earlier in September, 1939. From the very beginning, 49 Squadron were in the thick of th......
Nicolas Trudgians dramatic painting recreates a scene near Cambrai, Northern France on the morning of March 18, 1918. Aware of a build-up of forces for a massive German offensive, many RFC squadrons attacked the German positions at very low altitude......
Nicolas Trudgians painting Desert Victory recreates all the atmosphere of the North African desert war with a stunning portrayal of the Me109s of 3./JG-27. The wing is depicted being led by Staffelkapitan Gerhard Homuth as they escort Afrikakorps ar......
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......
HM Stephen - one of the Battle of Britains top scoring fighter pilots, brings down two Me109s in quick succession over the White Cliffs of Dover, early on August 11, 1940. Flying a Spitfire with 74 Squadron, HM shot down five German aircraft on this......
The pilots of I Gruppe JG-1 were up early on August 17, 1943. It5 was high summer, and even as the first streaks of light appeared in the sky to the east, four pilots got airborne out of Deelan, Holland, and headed for the coast. It was the first ......
A Heinkel 219 and a Messerschmitt 110 of NJG-1 climbing out from their base a Munster Hansdorf, as they set out on a deadly mission. Ten aircraft took off to intercept a major raid on Dusseldorf, the night witnessing a fierce battle high above the d......
4 print editions available from £100.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
Captain Erich Topp steers his Type VIIc U-Boat number U-552 Red Devil towards the sanctuary of the base at St Nazaire after another patrol during the gruelling Battle of the Atlantic in 1942. In the skies above, heading back out to hostile waters i......
1 print edition available from £365.00 1 canvas print edition available from £365.00
On February 15, 1944, flying his Navy PBY Catalina on air-sea rescue duty, Lt. Nathan Gordon received an urgent call. Several 345th BG B25s were down following a major attack on Kavieng, and crews were in the water just offshore. Under intense gunfi......
2 print editions available from £50.00 1 ex-display print available from £40.00
For bomber crews, any daylight-bombing mission almost certainly meant combat. If it werent the attentions of determined Luftwaffe fighter pilots, it would be an aerial carpet of flak that welcomed the bombers en route to the target - and again on th......
4 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £115.00
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, t......
Herbert Ihlefelds personal He162 White 23 - the revolutionary Heinkel Peoples Fighter - on patrol with JG1.This aircraft was captured intact and is today preserved in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. ......
Almost every major invasion that took place in Europe in World War II began with para drops, and in almost every case the C-47 was the aircraft that delivered these elite fighting troops. Few C-47 pilots had more combat experience than Sid Harwell, ......
2 print editions available from £50.00 1 ex-display print available from £40.00
A typical scene from a bright August morning in that momentous summer of 1940. Having climbed into the dawn sky at daybreak, the Spitfires of No 603 Squadron have already been in action, and with more heavy raids on the plotters table, they scurry b......
The relief of Bastogne turned the tide in the Battle of the Bulge and Hitlers final great offensive of World War II lay in ruins. P47 Thunderbolts of the 406th Fighter Group, in company with P38 Lightnings, support the advancing armor of General Geo......
4 print editions available from £160.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
Flying low level at high speed through intense ground fire was all part of the daily task of the pilots of the Typhoon ground attack squadrons. Armed with rockets, 1000lb bombs and four 20mm cannon, this formidable fighter played a leading role in t......
Corsairs of VMF 121 provide close air support to the US landings on Rendova, June 30, 1943. Fiercely contested, the invasion force was heavily attacked by Zero fighters and Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bombers, flying from their base at Rabaul. Dog-fightin......
Hannes Trautloft in his FW190 leading his famous JG54 bring down a Russian Petlyakov Pe-2 on the Eastern Front in 1943. This dramatic painting is set in a superb winter landscape. ......
Lancaster V-RA, with its young Canadian crew, flew just a handful of operations. On the night of June 12, 1944, it was set afire by a JU88, forcing the crew to bale out. Seeing the rear gunner trapped Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski vainly braved the ......
On April 18, 1942, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, a small force of B-25 Mitchell light bombers set forth on one of the most audacious air raids of World War II. Launching in a rough sea from the heaving deck of the carr......
Wherever the GIs went they took their Jeeps with them, and before the war was run the little quarter-ton, 4-wheel drive, utility vehicle was as well known around the world as the Model T Ford. Nicolas Trudgian has painted a compelling image, set bac......
2 print editions available from £60.00 1 ex-display print available from £50.00
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. ......
Top-scoring ace of all time, Erich Hartmann, scrambles his black tulip nose Me109 from a snow-covered airfield on the Eastern Front. Christened Black Devil by Russian pilots, many of whom hurriedly vacated the vicinity when Hartmanns distinctively p......
Nicolas Trudgian has painted an exquisitely detailed portrayal of I./JG54 Green Heart Warriors FW190A-4s taxiing out through the snow to sweep the skies above Krasnogvardeisk on the Russian Front in the winter of 1943. ......
2 print editions available from £75.00 1 canvas print edition available from £325.00
Messerschmitt Me110s and 109s of the Luftwaffes 210 Gruppe based at Calais-Marck in northern France, make a low-level run across the Kent countryside after a surprise attack on R.A.F. Biggin Hill, August 30, 1940 ......
One of the most successful of the P-38 equipped units was the 475th Fighter Group, Satans Angels, and it is the P-38s of this famous unit that Nicolas Trudgian has portrayed in his tribute to the American Air Forces that made Victory in the Pacific ......
The tension is electric; slowly they climb to circle the airfield while the entire squadron gets airborne. Below, the countryside reverberates with the sound of roaring Merlin engines. RAF Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron. ......
Typical of great air battles fought in the skies above occupied Europe were the determined interceptions by Luftwaffe fighters, particularly upon the massed daylight raids mounted by the American Eighth Air Force. Major Herman Graf, Gruppenkommandeu......
Nobody, least of all Allied aircrew, ever doubted the tenacity of the Luftwaffe, more particularly that of the German fighter pilots. From the early encounters during the Battle of Britain to the greeat air battles in defence of their homeland late......
5 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
As the Allied invasion of northern France drew nearer, the entire length of southern England had seemingly become one huge army camp. While the local population went about its daily business as best it could, British and American troops massed at ev......
June 1944, dawn is breaking over a sleepy English village, and P-38 Lightnings shatter the silence as they climb out from a nearby air base, en route to the Normandy beach heads. ......
Throughout four long years of war Allied air and naval forces endeavoured to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. The mighty warship was a constant threat to Allied shipping, even while lying at anchor in her lair among the fjords of Norway. Her very......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
Slow, frail, out-dated and hopelessly outnumbered, Gladiator biplanes of 112 Squadron RAF tenaciously throw themselves into the fray, attacking Luftwaffe fighter-bombers in the battle for Crete, in April 1941. This painting shows Me110Cs of II./ZG76......
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. ......
Australian Ace Dick Cresswell tangles with a Japanese Zero in the humid air of the tropics over New Guinea during an encounter in 1942. Flying a P-40E Kittyhawk with the insignia of 77 Squadron, RAAF blazoned on his aircraft, Cresswell makes a head-......
2 print editions available from £60.00 1 ex-display print available from £45.00
When the seasoned B-26 crews of the 386th Bomb Group took delivery of their Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft in September 1944, the arrival of their new fast attack bombers neatly coincided with a move to France. Now based at Beaumont-sur-Oise, they we......
Nicolas Trudgians action packed painting shows an attack on Rabaul during the fall of 1943. B-24 Liberators of the Army Air Force pound the harbor and docks below whilst the Marines Corps pilots of VMF 214 - the famous Black Sheep Squadron - provide......
In the Vietnam war Squadron VA-163 was stationed aboard the carrier Oriskany on its second cruise, the squadrons A-4 Skyhawks were led by Commander Wynn Foster, one of the navys most aggressive strike leaders, and under Air Wing Commander James Stoc......
3 print editions available from £90.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
Me109s of I/JG2, under the command of the brilliant Helmut Wick, setting out on a mission across the English Channel in September 1940. Wick, seen in the foreground, with Gunther Seeger off his starboard wing, was the top-scoring Luftwaffe Ace in th......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
No single raid during World War Two has attracted more discussion, analysis, features, books, interviews, or been the subject of more films, documentaries, and TV programmes than the famous attack mounted by the RAFs 617 Squadron upon the mighty hyd......
4 print editions available from £115.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
The Germans launched their attack on the Kursk salient on 5th July 1943, and for both sides this was maximum effort. The Soviets, however, informed by intelligence of the impending German attack, had ample time to prepare huge defensive works with hu......
As Red Dog Norleys P-51D screams across the field at hangar height with his squadrons Mustangs fanned out behind him, the 4th Fighter Group pilots jink through the intense groundfire wreaking havoc on the ground. In this, its final major mission of ......
In a scene that was repeated almost daily throughout the long war years, the pilots of the 357th Fighter Group have returned from a gruelling mission to their base in Leiston, Suffolk. As they clamber out of their aircraft, all eyes are turned anxio......
2 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. ......
With their crews, the 447th Bomb Group B-17 Fortresses arrived at Rattlesden in late 1943, the East Anglian base from which the group flew all its missions until the end of the war. Entering combat on December 24, the 447th targeted submarine pens, ......
The bitter Russian winter of 1943/44 was matched by some of the toughest fighting of the ground war. Between the Carpathian Mountains and the Dneiper River elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler reinforced their fearsom......
2 print editions available from £155.00 1 canvas print edition available from £365.00
Mosquitos from No 105 Squadron R.A.F. based at Marham, Norfolk, England, on a low-level intruder strike over the Rhine river, Germany in December 1942.......
Base to the legendary Douglas Bader Fighter Wing during the Battle of Britain, Duxford became home to the 78th Fighter Group in April 1943. Today it appropriately houses the American Air Museum, and hosts the many summer air-shows where crowds thril......
Set in a spectacular mountain scene, Nicolas Trudgians print records the last days of air combat as World War II drew to a close. The most feared of the Luftwaffes remaining units were those equipped with the remarkable Me262 fighter jet, but they w......
With their brightly coloured checkertail tails there was no mistaking the P.51 Mustangs of the 325th Fighter Group. Escorting B-24s over Austria in August 1944, tangled with a group of Fw190 fighters. The ensuing dogfight spiraled down below the mou......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
Released on the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain a new limited edition to commemorate Churchills famous few. Stalwart of the Battle of Britain, the Hawker Hurricane equipped the majority of the RAF squadrons that defended Britain during tha......
Spitfires of No. 132 Squadron rush towards the Front to give ground support to the advancing Allied forces following breakout from the Normandy beaches, June 1944. ......
5 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £125.00
The German High Command entered World War II with the notion that the war would be quickly won, and certainly without the need to fight at night. The RAF changed all that when Bomber Command, having suffered appalling losses in daylight, turned to ......
As the air war raged over Berlin and other German cities, night-fighter units such as NJG100, the original Eastern front night fighter Geschwader, were redeployed nearer home in the final desperate defence of Germany. By late 1944 the Luftwaffes ni......
Mickey Mount, flying his 602 Squadron MkII Spitfire, successfully attacks a Messerschmitt Me109 low over the cliffs of Beachy Head on the south coast during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. Spitfires and Me109s were so evenly matched at ......
5 print editions available from £85.00 1 ex-display print available from £75.00
FIRST STRIKE ON BERLIN by
Nicolas Trudgian "No bomb shall fall on German soil"
was the brash claim made by Reichmarshal Hermann Göring before the start
of World War II.A couple of years into the war the Luftwaffe's boastful commander
up-dated his arrogant statement with "If enemy bombers ever appear
over Berlin you can call me Meier". On March 6, 1944 they called him
Meier. The German supremo would have kept his head well down on that day,
for it was the day the Eighth Air Force arrived overhead the German
capital.Berlin - Big B to the bomber crews - was protected by the cream of the
Luftwaffe, and by thousands of anti-aircraft batteries strategically
positioned around the city. To approach Berlin from the air was the bomber
pilots nightmare. Of the 700 bombers that set out that historic day, 69
would not return; but the B-17 gunners and their escort fighters gave as
good as they got.
On that first successful daylight raid, and on the many missions to
Berlin that followed, losses were high, but the daytime bomber strikes
against the heart of Nazi Germany had an incalculable effect on enemy
morale, to say nothing of the disruption to the German war machine. They
did more: they signalled to Göring and his Führer that their fate, and
that of the Third Reich, was sealed; and the 140,000 USAAF aircrew who
flew the torturous attacks to Berlin earned themselves a special place
among those who have endeavoured against tyranny.Nicolas Trudgian's new painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on
March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses are attacked en-route for Berlin.
Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I based at Stormede, 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.In the foreground Lucky Lee survives the first onslaught, but her luck
won't hold today. Our Girl Sal to the right of the picture will fare
better - she will be the only 100th BG aircraft to make it back to her
home base from this epic raid.Limited edition prints are signed by bomber and fighter pilots who flew
the Berlin raids more than half a century ago.
Typhoons Over the Rhine by Nicolas TrudgianFlying low-level at high speed through intense ground fire
was all part of the daily task for pilots of the Typhoon ground attack
squadron. Armed with rockets, 1000lb bombs and four 20mm cannon, this
formidable fighter played a leading role in the Allied advance through
occupied Europe. Leading up to, and following the Normandy Landings through
to the end of hostilities, the Typhoon, flown by determined hard-hitting
pilots, became the scourge of the German Panzer Divisions, wrought havoc
with enemy road and rail connections.
Targets along the river Rhine, one of Germany's major
arteries of supply and communication, and last line of defence, were given
special attention by the Typhoon squadrons. Barges carrying vital supplies,
munition trains on the railroads hugging the river bank, and the
ever-present movement of troops and armour toward the battlefront, were
constantly attacked from the air, and one such scene is portrayed in this
painting.Led by Squadron Leader BG 'Stapme' Stapleton, Mk1B Typhoons
of 247 Squadron, 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Eindhoven in the
Netherlands, make a low-level attack on enemy river transport on the Rhine
in November 1944. Twisting and turning to avoid ground fire as best they
can, Typhoon pilots power their way through the valley with cannons blazing,
pressing home their attack by strafing every German military target in their
path.
Typhoon Country by Nicolas TrudgianFlt Lieutenant Roy Crane, flying a Typhoon of 181 Squadron
from their recently established base in Normandy, makes an attack on a
German road convoy in the Falaise area, early August 1944. The Typhoons
ground attack fighters played a major role in defeating the German armoured
divisions in the battle of the Falaise Gap.
Home at Dawn by
Nicolas Trudgian When No. 49 Squadron Lancasters bombed the S.S. barracks at
Berchtesgaden on 25th April 1945, its aircrews completed a campaign that
had begun 5 and a half years earlier in September 1939. From the
very beginning, 49 Squadron were in the thick of the action with one of
their pilots, Roderick Learoyd, winning Bomber Command's first Victoria
Cross. In 1942 it was Lancasters of 49 Sqn that led the epic raid on the
Schneider armament and locomotive works at Le Creusot. In 1943 they
flew the "shuttle-bombing" raids to Freidrichshafen and Spezia,
attacked the heavily defended rocket sites at Peenemunde, and in
preparation for D-Day, bombarded the coastal batteries in Normandy and the
V-1 sites in the caves by the river Loire, north of Paris. Later in
1944 the squadron notably took part in the raid on the German Baltic
Fleet, continuing to fly important bombing missions against the Nazi war
machine until the final collapse of the Third Reich. So it was
fitting that an RAF squadron whose history went right back to 1916, should
make the coupe de grace at Berchtesgaden.
Northern Europe's short sum,mer nights, with darkness lasting but a few
hours, often saw the RAF bomber crews returning to England at dawn, and it
is one such scene which is caught on canvas in Nicolas Trudgian's
painting. As the sun comes up over the river Orwell at Pin Mill,
Lancasters of No.49 Squadron descend low over Suffolk, heading towards
their base at Fiskerton. The night raid on Hamburg is almost
completed. Spitfires from No.129 Squadron, based at Hornchurch,
having made an early morning attack on German installations in Holland,
have picked up the bombers and escorted them home.
Desert Sharks and Eagles by Nicolas Trudgian The air war fought in the skies above the inhospitable wastelands of
the North African desert were among the most hotly contested of the
war. The outcome of the bitter land war raging below largely
depended upon who controlled the air space above, and both sides knew it.
JG27, having cut its teeth in the battle of France and Britain, was the
first Luftwaffe unit to arrive in North Africa. Commanded by the
mercurial Eduard Neumann, its Me109s were superior to the Hurricanes and
P-40 Kittyhawks flown by the RAF pilots and, without the restriction of
close escort duties dictated on the Western Front, the JG27 pilots roamed
the desert skies, closing in combat with the British fighters at every
opportunity. The North African air campaign spawned many fighter aces, including
Hans Joachim Marseille who claimed more than 150 victories in his short
career - more than any other Luftwaffe ace flying against RAF
pilots. The scale of the desert air war is highlighted by the raw
statistics: 1400 British aircraft lost; over 1200 Luftwaffe destroyed.
Hurricane Heroes by Nicolas TrudgianSigned by Bee Beaumont, Tom Dalton Morgan and Lawrence
Thorogood. Hurricane pilots were credited with four fifths of all RAF victories in
the Battle of Britain guaranteeing the Hawker Hurricane its place in
history as Britain's most successful fighter during the most significant
air battle of World War II. Loved by its pilots, this sturdy little
fighter could take all kinds of damage and still fly its pilot home.
A new limited edition
featuring the Hurricanes of No. 111 (Treble One) Squadron in the Battle of
Britain.Holding the Line - The Battle of Britain by Nicholas
Trudgian
They came across the English Channel at wave top height, their
propeller slipstreams leaving wakes on the surface of the water. Nine
Dornier Do17Z bombers of 9th Staffel, KG76, detailed to attack the R.A.F.
airfield at Kenley as part of Reichsmarshal Göring's prelude to Operation
Sealion - the invasion of Britain.
Hitler knew that R.A.F. Fighter Command had to be destroyed in the air
and on the ground if his plans were to succeed, but the German High
Command failed to take into account the resilience of the young Hurricane
and Spitfire pilots, and their determination to hold this last vital line
of defence.
The Dorniers were spotted as they approached the English coast, and
Hurricanes were scrambled to intercept. The German bombers cleared the
North Downs with feet to spare and spread out into attack formation as
they lined up on the hangars at Kenley. As they came in over the airfield
Hurricanes of 111 Squadron came diving upon them. Suddenly all hell broke
loose.
Bombs rained down on the airfield and buildings went up in flames. One
Dornier was brought down and two more, badly damaged by ground fire, were
finished off by the Hurricane pilots. Now the chase was on to catch the
others before they could escape back to their base in Northern France.
Nicolas Trudgian's action-packed painting depicts the scene as the
surviving Dorniers reach the English coastline. The Dornier in the
foreground, flown by F.W. Reichel, has been severely damaged by Treble One
Squadron Hurricanes and will not return. Two more in the background will
be forced down into the sea. Only one of the nine Dorniers that set out
will return to base on that 18th day of August, 1940. With prints signed
by three Battle of Britain Hurricane pilots, this popular artist's latest
limited edition will be keenly sought by collectors.
Ardennes Offensive by Nicolas Trudgian
Fw190s of JG1 provide close support to the 9th SS Panzer Division, as they
spearhead Germanys final major offensive of World War II. Seen advancing
on the 82nd Airborne Division, the King Tiger tanks, with the aid of
Luftwaffe ground-attack fighters, drive the Americans back through the
snowy fields of the Ardennes on Christmas Day, 1944. It was the last,
short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful advance made by the German forces
during World War II.
As 1944 drew to a close, Hitler made his final gamble
of the war, mounting a massive strike force aimed at splitting the Allied
forces advancing on Germany. His armour, supported from the air, would rip
through the Ardennes to Antwerp, capture the Allied fuel supplies, and cut
off all the opposing forces to the north. Hitler's commanders were dubious
of the outcome but nevertheless obeyed orders, and the operation was
launched on 16 December. Allied intelligence had discounted any German
counter-offensive and the initial wave, comprising 8 Panzer divisions,
took the Allied forces completely by surprise. A parachute drop of
English-speaking German soldiers in American uniforms behind the assault
zone added to the confusion. Advancing some 30 miles, and almost out of
sight of the River Meuse, by 26 December the SS Panzers had ground to a
halt with empty fuel tanks, and were at the mercy of Allied
counter-attacks. By 16 January the German penetration was repulsed and
Hitler's beloved Panzer units retreated in tatters. The Führer's last
gamble had failed.
Into The Cloak of Darkness by Nicholas Trudgian
signatures: Gunther Bahr, Otto Fries, Alfred Staffa. The eerie world of the night-fighter was a far
cry from the swashbuckling cut and thrust of the day-time aerial
dogfights. It took inordinate flying skills, teamwork, patience, and
nerves of steel to achieve success in the dark when all that could be seen
of the enemy was the tell-tale glow of an engine exhaust.From the spring of 1940 Germany had developed their night-fighting
aircraft and honed their skills to combat the nightly bombing raids of the
RAF. By 1944 the Luftwaffe had sophisticated electronic range-finding and
navigation equipment fitted to their night-fighters, and their skilled
crews had become adept at intercepting the British heavy bombers under
cover of darkness.As the war progressed and proficiency increased, the greatest fear of
the RAF bomber crews as they approached their targets was the ever-present
danger of the marauding Luftwaffe night-fighters. Each night a deadly game
of hide-and-seek was played out in the skies above the Reich.
Messerschmitt 110s, JU-88s, and the specifically developed Heinkel 219
would rise up into the darkening skies from bases in the Rühr to await
the arrival of the RAF heavies. Loitering singly and in pairs, they would
infiltrate the bomber streams, each crew using their own individual method
of hunting and attack. They seldom came home empty handed.Based in the Rühr Valley in 1944, NJG-1 was among the most successful
night-fighter units, being credited with 2173 night victories and another
145 scored in daylight. Nicolas Trudgian's emotive new painting recreates
a scene from one of this successful unit's missions on the night of
November 2, 1944:Ten aircraft took off to intercept a major raid on Dusseldorf, the
night witnessing a fierce battle high above the darkened city. NGJ-1 crews
assisted with the downing of 19 RAF bombers, one Luftwaffe pilot being
credited with no fewer than 6 victories that night. Seen in Nick's
painting are a Heinkel 219 and a Messerschmitt 110 climbing out from their
base at Münster Handorf, as they set out on their deadly mission. Below
them the spectacular Rühr Valley is vibrant in its mantle of winter's
first snowfall. A moving and evocative rendition, made all the more
poignant by the signatures of 3 leading World War II Luftwaffe
night-fighter aircrew on each print in the edition.
A limited edition featuring
the P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group in action over Gablingen
airfield, Bavaria, 1945. MUSTANG MAYHEM by Nicolas Trudgian
Of all the 4th Fighter Group's many famous actions in World War II, it
saved one of the most remarkable till last. In its final major mission of
the war on 16 April, 1945, in two blistering airfield attacks, its pilots
destroyed no fewer than 105 enemy aircraft.While "A" Group attacked airfields in the region of Prague,
"B" Group consisting of the 334th Squadron led by Major 'Red
Dog' Norley, devastated the Luftwaffe base at Gablingen in 40 minutes of
continuous strafing. That same day other 8th Air Force fighter groups
attacked Luftwaffe airfields all over Germany, claiming a total of 752
aircraft destroyed. The Luftwaffe never recovered from this terrible and
devastating blow.Nicolas Trudgian's new limited edition re-lives that momentous aerial
assault in graphic detail with a superbly realistic view of the
snow-covered Gablingen airfield in Bavaria. As 'Red Dog' Norley's P-51D
screams across the field at hangar height with his squadron's Mustangs
fanned out behind him, the 4th Fighter Group pilots jink through the
intense groundfire wreaking havoc on the ground.
In the foreground a couple of brave Fw190 pilots make a gallant attempt
to get airborne while an assortment of Luftwaffe aircraft - Me262s,
Me410s, Ju88s, Stukas and Fw190s - come under fire. Ground personnel take
cover as best they can. In the distance hangars and aircraft are on fire
and a fuel dump has exploded.The painting is packed with action and all the accurate detail for
which this talented artist has become so well known. In addition to the
334th's P-51s, there are over twenty aircraft visible on the ground, and
the remains of others having been destroyed in earlier attacks.With each print in the edition individually signed by World War veteran
P-51 Aces, Mustang Mayhem is surely one of the finest collector pieces
issued and available today.
