Major Missions 

By Robert Taylor

~ with up to 25 Signatures ~ 

Please Note:

Collector's Editions: Only 1 Left

Veterans Edition: SOLD OUT

A new edition from Robert Taylor is always a welcome event.

Given the subject it wouldn't be surprising to see the majority of this edition being snapped up in the UK, but there are many collectors in the U.S. with a strong appreciation for the outstanding achievements of 617 Squadron.

If you are one of those and would like to acquire a copy of "Major Missions" please call early.

Forged by their unique link to aeronautical design genius Barnes Wallis, 617 Squadron was the first and only squadron in the history of RAF Bomber Command to be formed for a single operation – the spectacular destruction of the great dams of Western Germany. After successfully delivering Barnes Wallis’s ingenious ‘Upkeep’ bouncing bomb on that audacious low-level assault on the night of 16/17 May 1943, 617 Squadron soon came to be considered as the RAF’s specialist precision-bombing unit, and forever known as the Dambusters.

Having later released 12,000lb ‘Tallboy’ deep-penetration earthquake bombs on major targets including the U-boat pens along the French Atlantic Coast, the Kembs barrage and the mighty German battleship Tirpitz, in March 1945 the squadron carried the first of Barnes Wallis’s ‘Grand Slam’ bombs to attack the Bielefeld and Arnsberg viaducts.

The massive 22,000lb ‘Grand Slam’ contained over 9,000lbs of Torpex explosive and was the most powerful conventional bomb of World War II. And, like ‘Upkeep’ and ‘Tallboys’, ‘Grand Slams’ could only be carried by specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers.

617 Squadron was the only unit to use these mammoth weapons in anger*, and it’s their modified Lancasters at RAF Woodhall Spa that form the basis of Robert Taylor’s atmospheric drawing Major Missions.

* 9 Squadron did use Tallboys on some missions they flew with 617, i.e. against Tirpitz.

The Collector's Edition

• $835
• Only 15 Prints Worldwide (1 Left!)
• 15 Signatures

Restricted to just 15 copies worldwide, each portfolio contains a veteran-signed copy of the book Bomb Doors Open along with a matching-numbered copy of the print "Major Missions" which is also signed by two highly-regarded 617 Squadron veterans.
Each print is then matted to full conservation standards to include a further twelve original autographs of 617 veterans who served during WWII, creating a total of fifteen signatures across the portfolio.

Overall size: 20" x 25½" 

The Veterans Edition

• $1,250
• Only 10 Prints Worldwide (Sold Out)
• 25 Signatures

Featuring all components of the Collector’s Edition, the Veterans Edition is limited to only 10 copies worldwide and includes the additional autographs of a further ten veterans of 617 Squadron, making a total of twenty-five signatures.

Overall size: 22½" x 25½"