Important: Part one of a three print set "The Hardest Days" to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Matching Numbers: All three editions guaranteed to those reserving full sets when ordering "Air Armada".
Robert Taylor's stunning portrayal of the bf 109 over Southern England. In just six weeks Hitler’s forces had overrun Western Europe as once-proud armies fell before the might of the German ‘Blitzkrieg’. It was a devastating defeat, now Britain stood alone and few thought she could survive.
As Churchill pledged that Britain would never surrender, a German invasion seemed inevitable. But before any invasion could take place, the Luftwaffe must neutralize the RAF and win control of the skies over southern England. Awaiting them was a small, but a resilient band of young men, the pilots of RAF Fighter Command.
First, the Germans attacked the coastal convoys, hoping to draw the RAF en-masse into battle. They failed. And then on 12th August, they turned their full attention to the forward fighter bases and radar stations, hoping to obliterate them once and for all. From Norway in the North, through the Low Countries and Northern France to Brittany in the West, the Luftwaffe threw every available aircraft into the attack. For the young men of Fighter Command, the next 7 days of fighting would leave them exhausted and all but spent. They were the hardest days of the Battle of Britain, culminating on Sunday 18th August.
Robert Taylor magnificent "Air Armada" recreates a moment on that day as Heinz Bar, the Luftwaffe's top-scoring NCO Ace of the Battle of Britain, one of the greatest in history, climbs away from his airfield near Calais with other pilots of 1./JG51 to escort the Do17s of KG76 for yet another deadly attack on the RAF.
September 1940 whilst over England, his aircraft was badly damaged by RAF fighters, but his pilot managed to reach the safety of the French coast on one engine. He finished the war commanding L/KG55 and had been awarded the Knight’s Cross, the Iron Cross I and II, and the German Cross in Gold.
Overall Print Size: 33" wide x 25 1/4" high
THE LIMITED EDITION: 400 signed and numbered prints with 2 bf 109 signatures
THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION: 350 Prints signed and numbered by 5 pilots.
Price $395.00
THE ARTIST PROOFS: 25 signed and numbered Prints with 5 signatures.
Price $575.00
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN TRIBUTE PROOFS: 10 Tribute Proofs signed and numbered with 11 signatures is Sold Out. Call for availability and price.