Corsair aviation art prints by
Nicolas Trudgian. American aircraft of WW2.
The Black Sheep by Nicolas Trudgian.
Few fighter units in World War II gained the notoriety of Pappy Boyingtons Marine Corps VMF-214 Black Sheep Squadron. Equipped with the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, under Boyingtons spirited leadership, the Black Sheep pilots were accorded one of only two Presidential Unit Citations awarded to Marine Corps squadrons during the war in the Pacific. With the American forces pushing up through the South Pacific, the First Marine Air Wing was urgently looking for a seasoned fighter pilot to form a unit to take the brand new F4U into combat. Boyington had the experience - he had become an Ace flying with Chennaults Flying Tigers in China - and the rank to lead a squadron; he also had a reputation as an aggressive fighter leader, and was a natural choice for the job. Recruiting pilots from the reserve pool, together with others awaiting assignment to squadrons, the 30 year-old Boyington - dubbed Pappy by his group of young pilots - knocked them into one of the most effective fighter units in .........
With its macabre skull and crossbones insignia, and a reputation for total disdain of authority, VF-17 arrived in the Pacific with a variety of nicknames ranging from the Irregulars to the Cast-offs, but under the dynamic leadership of their Squadron Commander, Tom Blackburn, VF-17 made their presence felt immediately upon their arrival in the fall of 1943. Equipped with the F4U Corsair, VF-17 pilots had what Blackburn was convinced was the best fighter aircraft of World War II, and on 1st November, during the invasion of Bougainville, VF-17 pilots shot down 6 Japanese planes in their first taste of battle - 2 falling to the guns of their C.O. Over the next 8500 hours of combat in the Solomons, its pilots shot down 156 enemy aircraft, 8 Japanese aircraft for each plane it lost, and produced the highest number of Aces of any squadron in the Navy. Blackburns Fighting 17 were the toast of the Navy brass, earned the respect of their peers, and became known throughout the Pacific as The .........
Nicolas Trudgians action packed painting shows an attack on Rabaul during the fall of 1943. B-24 Liberators of the Army Air Force pound the harbor and docks below whilst the Marines Corps pilots of VMF 214 - the famous Black Sheep Squadron - provide top cover in their F4U Corsairs. A fierce dog-fight has developed between the F4U pilots and Japanese Zeros. One Zero, already smoking, begins to roll out of control, while the two F4U pilots turn their attentions on to a second. Below further dog-fights are in progress, the air filled with aerial combat.
Item Code : DHM2116
Gunfight Over Rabaul by Nicolas Trudgian - Editions Available
Corsairs of VMF 121 provide close air support to the US landings on Rendova, June 30, 1943. Fiercely contested, the invasion force was heavily attacked by Zero fighters and Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bombers, flying from their base at Rabaul. Dog-fighting at tree-top height, VMF 121 Corsairs rip into a bunch of Betty bombers as they try to make their escape following their attack on shipping. On fire, the Betty in the foreground is doomed, and will shortly become one of 19 Japanese aircraft accounted for by VMF 121. Other Marine fighter units brought the total this day to a staggering 58 enemy aircraft destroyed.
Item Code : DHM2047
Battle for the Islands by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
Art and aviation have been like a brother and sister to me. We have grown up together, learned together and made our adult lives together. But you do not have to have an appreciation of aircraft to admire the graceful lines of a Spitfire or the functional simplicity of a Focke-Wulf 190. They are themselves a work of art and they cry out to be painted - not as machines of war and destruction, but as objects of beauty, born of necessity and function, yet given a life and iconic classicism beyond their original calling. My interest and love of art and aircraft was gifted to me by my father, a designer and aeronautical engineer of considerable repute. Denis Berryman C.Eng. FRAeS. He gave me his eyes, his passion, his dedication and his unwavering professionalism. I owe him everything. And I miss him terribly. A love of art and of beautiful and interesting things takes you on a journey. You discover new interests, new fascinations, and you want to paint them. You want to paint them in their environment, in their element. Whether it is an aeroplane, a warship, a racing car or a beautiful woman, their gift to an artist is the same: Their lines, their texture and the way that light and shadows give them form. These are the food and oxygen of an artist. Not the paint and the canvas. These are mere tools. The secret is in the passion and the perception...
New Dambusters Paintings, Prints and Drawings!
A brand new series of releases featuring the aircraft and airmen of the Dambusters Raid.
This superb new collection of aviation art shows may of the famous events of the raids, but also shows some of the lesser known aircraft and details - the bomber that was so low that the tallboy bomb was ripped from the aircraft by a high wave (above), or the below treetop route to the target taken by one of the bombers, or the trains that were shot up by the gunners of the Lancasters on their way to the dams.
