CLEARING SKIES by Robert Taylor
Ten signature Collectors Edition

During a brief respite in the freezing weather and with the recent snow beginning to thaw, the B-17 Fortresses of the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk prepare for the Eighth Air Force’s latest mission to Germany, during the harsh winter of early 1945.

The winter of 1944 / 45 wasn’t the coldest ever recorded in England but it came close. The weather was bitter and, in what would turn out to be the last Christmas of the war, temperatures plunged across the country, bringing ice, freezing fog and deep banks of drifting snow. 

The Eighth Air Force flew its final bomber operations of the war on 25 April 1945, the last of 968 combat missions involving over 523,000 sorties; they had dropped 700,000 tons of bombs, inflicting destruction on a scale from which the enemy could never recover. But the cost of this victory was high; they lost 6,130 bombers and fighters along with 47,000 casualties, including more than 26,000 dead. 

Earning the nickname “The Bloody Hundredth” because of the heavy losses it suffered, the 100th Bomb Group was one of the most iconic units in the eighth Air Force. 

THE SIGNATURES - THE COLLECTORS EDITION
Along with the artist the print is personally hand signed by Ten distinguished aircrew who flew B-17s with the 100th Bomb Group from Thorpe Abbotts during WWII: 

Captain Robert Shoens
First Lieutenant John Clark
First Lieutenant James Rasmussen
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Cervantes
Major John “Lucky” Luckadoo
Staff Sergeant Lewis Payne
Staff Sergeant Albert Arreola
Staff Sergeant Albert Freitas
Staff Sergeant Lewis Herron
Staff Sergeant Joe Urice

Please note: The prints in my store are hand-signed by the veterans involved in the painting so the signatures are original autographs and not reproductions.

The certificate of authenticity is included.

CONDITION: My items are guaranteed to be in perfect condition, any issues are clearly detailed in the description.

SHIPPING: As a former aviation art retailer I have shipped countless prints over the years. My prints are rolled in acid free tissue and shipped in heavy duty tubes, and the shipping is insured and guaranteed.

If you are interested in more than one item I will always do my best to combine the shipping to save costs – please just ask.