A POWERFUL TRIBUTE TO THE ESCORT FIGHTER PILOTS OF THE USAAF EIGHTH AIR FORCE

ACE OF DIAMONDS
by Nicolas Trudgian

Don Strait, top scoring Ace of the 356th Fighter Group, flying his P-51 D Mustang Jersey Jerk together with his pilots, intercept Luftwaffe Fw190s while escorting B17 bombers on their way back from Germany in the winter of 1944.

From the day they began their aerial campaign against Nazi Germany to the end of hostilities in 1945, the USAAF bomber crews flew their hazardous missions in broad daylight. This tactic may have enabled better sighting of targets, and less danger of mid-air collisions, but the grievous penalty of flying daylight missions over enemy territory was the ever present danger of enemy fighters.

Though heavily armed, the heavy bombers of the American Eighth Air Force were no match against the fast, highly maneuverable Luftwaffe Me109s, Fw190s and Me 262 jet fighters, and without fighter escort they were sitting ducks. The 356th Fighter Group earned particular respect, gratitude, and praise from bomber crews for its escort tactics. They stuck rigidly to the principle of tight bomber escort duty and their presence was often being sufficient to deter enemy attack.

Nicolas Trudgian’s powerful piece pays tribute to the escort fighter pilots of the USAAF Eighth Air Force, and in particular to those who flew with the 356th, illustrating the devastating speed with which these attacks were fought.

THE SIGNATURES
The print is individually signed in pencil by by the artist and three of the top pilots from the 356th Fighter group, including top-scoring ace Donald Strait:

Lieutenant Colonel CHARLES E. BECK
Captain CLINTIN DeWITT BURDICK
Major General DONALD J. STRAIT

Published in 2003 this print is now long sold out and a great piece for aviation art collectors and autograph hunters alike.

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