"ROCKET ATTACK"

by Nicolas Trudgian

"ROCKET ATTACK" by aviation artist Nicolas Trudgian is a signed and numbered limited edition print from an edition limited to only 600 prints. This RARE and HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER print is long SOLD OUT at the publisher. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity!

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 B-17 bombers; it took even greater courage to do so in the rocket propelled Me163 Komet.  With rocket science still in its infancy, these small aircraft were still in the experimental stage, and piloting what amounted to a flying bomb was in itself a perilous business, let alone flying them into combat.  But these were desperate times.  The day and night bombing assault on Germany was bringing the mighty war machine to its knees, and anything that might help stem the tide was thrown into battle.  Powered by a mixture of two highly volatile chemicals, the slightest leak, or heavy landing could cause a huge explosion, and the mix was so corrosive that in the event of even a minor accident, the pilot could literally be dissolved.  Sitting in a cramped cockpit, surrounded by dangerous chemicals and ammunition, the intrepid aviator would be launched into the sky on what was, at best, a four-minute mission.  After, hopefully, engaging the enemy, he would glide powerlessly back to the nearest airfield to be refueled so as to attempt the hazardous operation all over again.  Though limited to a handful of victories, the Komet did make the Allied aircrews wonder what else the Luftwaffe had hidden up its sleeve, and had the distinction of being the forerunner of aircraft technology that eventually took astronauts into space.

Trudgian's "ROCKET ATTACK" portrayal of the Me163 Komet perfectly captures the function of this tiny little interceptor.  Rocketing up through the formation of B-17 Fortresses at almost three times their speed, the Komet makes its strike and flashes into the distance before the gunners have time to take a bead.  You can almost see the surprise on the faces of the B-17 crews as the rocket-ship flashes past.  Capable of nearly 600 mph and climbing to 30,000 feet in less than two minutes, the tiny rocket propelled Me163 Komet was typical of Germany 's ingenuity in its desperate attempts to stem the havoc being wreaked by the USAAF's daylight bombers.