Second World War aviation art prints of the Fw190 aircraft. Our collection of prints and original paintings of the Fw190 aircraft of World War Two.
The Focke-Wulf 190 development project began in 1937. Conceived as a hedge against total dependence on the Messerchmitt 109, the 190 was designed by Kurt Tank utilizing a radial engine. This was against generally accepted design criteria in Germany, and many historians believe that the decision to produce a radial engine fighter was largely due to the limited manufacturing capacity for in-line, water-cooled engines which were widely used on all other Luftwaffe aircraft. Despite these concerns, Tanks design was brilliant, and the 190 would become one of the top fighter aircraft of WWII. The first prototype flew in mid-1939. The aircraft had excellent flying characteristics, a wonderful rate of acceleration, and was heavily armed. By late 1940 the new fighter was ordered into production. Nicknamed the butcher bird, by Luftwaffe pilots, early 190s were quite successful in the bomber interceptor role, but at this stage of the war many Allied bombing raids lacked fighter escort. As the war dragged on, Allied bombers were increasingly accompanied by fighters, including the very effective P-51 Mustang. The Allies learned from experience that the 190s performance fell off sharply at altitudes above 20,000 feet. As a result, most Allied bombing missions were shifted to higher altitudes when fighter opposition was likely. Kurt Tank had recognized this shortcoming and began working on a high-altitude version of the 190 utilizing an in-line, water-cooled engine. Utilizing a Jumo 12-cylinder engine rated at 1770-HP, and capable of 2,240-HP for short bursts with its methanol injection system, the 190D, or Long Nose or Dora as it was called, had a top speed of 426-MPH at 22,000 feet. Armament was improved with two fuselage and two wing mounted 20mm cannon. To accommodate the changes in power plants the Dora had a longer, more streamlined fuselage, with 24 inches added to the nose, and an additional 19 inches added aft of the cockpit to compensate for the altered center of gravity. By mid 1944 the Dora began to reach fighter squadrons in quantity. Although the aircraft had all the right attributes to serve admirably in the high altitude interceptor role, it was not generally focused on such missions. Instead many 190Ds were assigned to protect airfields where Me-262 jet fighters were based. This was due to the latter aircrafts extreme vulnerability to Allied attack during takeoff and landing. The 190Ds also played a major role in Operation Bodenplatte, the New Years Day raid in 1945 which destroyed approximately 500 Allied aircraft on the ground. The High Command was impressed with the 190Ds record on this raid, and ordered most future production of the Doras to be equipped as fighter-bombers. In retrospect this was a strategic error, and this capable aircraft was not fully utilized in the role for which it was intended.
Within two days of the D-Day Normandy invasion, on 8 June 1944 Commander of US Air Forces in Europe, General Carl Spaatz, ordered a massive new offensive to halt the supply of oil to the enemy forces. As top priority his bombers would henceforth con......
A pair of Focke Wulf 190A4s of 9./JG2 Richthofen based at Vannes, France during February 1943. The nearest aircraft is that of Staffelkapitan Siegfried Schnell. The badge on the nose is the rooster emblem of III./JG2 and the decoration on Schnells r......
8 print editions available from £45.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original Sold.
Lancaster LM360, piloted by Bill Reid, is raked by fire from stem to stern by a Luftwaffe Fw190 fighter. Bill Reid had already sustained injuries to his head, torso and hands from a previous attack by an Me110, but, with this rest of his crew unsca......
On the morning of 11th March 1943, Fw190s from IV./JG5 took off from their base to escort the mighty battleship Tirpitz and a screening fleet of escort destroyers and torpedo boats, at the start of a voyage north to Bogen Bay during Operation Rostoc......
Hitlers Operation Barbarossa was designed to destroy the Red Army utilizing huge battles of annihilation along a wide front. The plan failed for several reasons, one of which is the fact that they never gained complete air superiority over the Red A......
1 print edition available from £30.00 2 canvas print editions available from £294.00
Major Erich Rudorffer claims one of three Airacobra's shot down on 10th October 1944 as he claims seven victories in a single day in his Fw190 of JG54. One of the greatest Aces of World War Two, Rudorffer scored a total of 222 victories includi......
The pilots of I Gruppe JG-1 were up early on August 17, 1943. It5 was high summer, and even as the first streaks of light appeared in the sky to the east, four pilots got airborne out of Deelan, Holland, and headed for the coast. It was the first ......
The bitter Russian winter of 1943/44 was matched by some of the toughest fighting of the ground war. Between the Carpathian Mountains and the Dneiper River elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler reinforced their fearsom......
2 print editions available from £155.00 1 canvas print edition available from £365.00
Set in a spectacular mountain scene, Nicolas Trudgians print records the last days of air combat as World War II drew to a close. The most feared of the Luftwaffes remaining units were those equipped with the remarkable Me262 fighter jet, but they w......
The Fw 190 was the scourge of Fighter Command from the moment it appeared on the Western Front at Abbeville in August 1941 with II./JG 26. A nimble, speedy and well-armed adversary, the Butcher Bird quickly proved superior to all Allied fighters of ......
As 1944 drew to a close, Hitler made his final gamble of the war, mounting a massive strike force aimed at splitting the Allies forces advancing upon Germany. His armour, supported from the air, would rip through the Ardennes to Antwerp, capture th......
3 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £130.00
St Nazaire, France, 3rd January 1943. The Fw190A4 of Georg-Peter <i>Schorsch</i> Eder, 7/JG2, streaks past <i>Meat Hound</i>, a B17F of th 423rd Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group en route to attack the U-boat pens at St Nazaire. Along with his Grupp......
3 print editions available from £75.00 Original available : £460.00
The weather on the morning of 31 December, 1944 was already unpleasant. In the Ardennes, hard-pressed German troops were battling Allied ground forces advancing through several inches of snow. Above, darkening skies heralded the arrival of more snow......
During the early part of 1943 the B-17s of the American Eighth Air Force were paying regular visits to the occupied ports on the west coast of France. It was here at Brest, St Nazaire and Lorient that the U-boats were serviced and made ready for the......
B78 Eindhoven, Holland, 1st January 1945. Major Heinz Bar, Kommodore of Jagdgeswader 3, bounces a flight of 438 Squadron RCAF Typhoons attempting to take off from Eindhoven airfield. His attack was merely the start of a massed attack by the entire ......
3 print editions available from £56.00 Original available : £460.00
A large umbrella of Spitfire Wings covered most of the sky over Dieppe during the Allied attack Operation Jubilee on 19th August 1942. Squadron leader Johnnie Johnson leads 610 (County of Chester) Squadron down from top cover support to lend a hand t......
8 print editions available from £90.00 2 canvas print editions available from £400.00 Original available : £2300.00
Hannes Truatloft is shown here leading Fw190s of JG54 over the Russian Front. Hannes Trautloft is one of the Luftwaffes great fighter leaders, scoring his first air victory in the Spanish Civil War in August 1936. Returning to Germany in 1937 he jo......
5 print editions available from £75.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original available : £2000.00
The Green Heart Warriors carried their famous emblem throughout almost every European theatre during World War Two. Having fought with distinction in the Battle of Britain, JG54 transferred to the Eastern Front, where it was to acheive historic succ......
3 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £85.00
By the summer of 1943, the Allied bombing offensive against Germany was gearing up for a combined 24-hour operation; the British by night and the Americans by day. The recent British introduction of <i>window</i> (small strips of aluminum cut to ref......
Spring, April 15, 1945. With the pincers from both the Eastern and Western Fronts encircling the Third Reich any hopes of a German victory had long since been crushed. The German pilots goal now was to survive from day to day and wish for a quick en......
The first successful daylight raid on Berlin. Nicolas Trudgians painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th B.G. are attacked. Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I charge into the bomber s......
BMW 328, Focke-Wulf 190A. James Dietz's grouping of planes, people and vehicles in Tough Day represents a bleak gathering of Jagdgeschwader 2's most colorful Focke-Wulf FW-190As. JG 2 Richthofen was one of the rare Luftwaffe units that campa......
Leading 433 (Canadian) Squadron, top Allied Fighter Ace Johnnie Johnson -Greycap Leader - has already bagged an Fw190, and is hauling his MKIX Spitfire around looking for a second in heavy dog-fighting over the Rhine, September 1944. In the distance......
Tunisia, North Africa, 4th January 1943. At 1600 hours, eight Fw190s from JG2 were scrambled from Kairouan airfield to intercept enemy aircraft flying recon over the Sbeitla and Fondouk areas. The Allied formation came from Thelepte airfield and c......
3 print editions available from £75.00 Original available : £360.00
Even the most faithful of Messerschmitt Me 109 pilots that also flew the Focke-Wulf Fw190 grudgingly admitted the well-proportioned and aesthetically pleasing Fw190 was the finest single-seat fighter in the Luftwaffes armoury during World War II. So......
2 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
Focke-Wulf FW 190. When this purposeful looking, squat, angular aircraft first appeared in the skies over France in 1941 it came as quite a shock and soon gained a reputation and the nickname Butcher Bird. A superb fighting machine, it served the ......
A Lancaster of No. 61 Squadron, RAF, piloted by Flt. Lt. Bill Reid, under attack from a German Fw190 en route to Dusseldorf on the night of November 3rd, 1943. Already injured in a previous attack, Bill Reid was again wounded but pressed on for anot......
Of all the fronts fought on by the Jagdflieger during World War 2, the Russian, or Eastern, was easily the most lucrative in terms of targets for the experten. Marry an abundance of targets with the Luftwaffes best piston-engined fighter of the war ......
St Nazaire, France, 1st January 1943. Leading the Focke Wulf 190s of III Gruppe, Jagdgeswader 2, Gruppenkommandeur Egon Mayer, cut a swathe through the attacking waves of US Eigth Airforce B17s. The recently developed tactic of the head on pass wa......
3 print editions available from £56.00 Original available : £700.00
The success of Operation Bodenplatte, on January 1, 1945, was to be achieved by mass surprise attacks on British and American bases in France, Belgium and Holland. It was a battle fought at great cost to the Luftwaffe. During the battles some 300 Lu......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
It was in 1941 that the remarkable Focke-Wulfe FW190 first appeared in the skies of Europe, quickly establishing itself as a most formidable adversary. It proved to be the supreme weapon against all allied bomber forces. Here FW190A-8 of 1 Gruppe, J......
4 print editions available from £55.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 1 ex-display print available from £45.00
Nicolas Trudgian has painted an exquisitely detailed portrayal of I./JG54 Green Heart Warriors FW190A-4s taxiing out through the snow to sweep the skies above Krasnogvardeisk on the Russian Front in the winter of 1943. ......
2 print editions available from £75.00 1 canvas print edition available from £325.00
The Fw190A-4 was introduced in July 1942, and was equipped with the same engine and basic armament as the A-3. A total of 976 A-4s were built between June 1942 and March 1943. Some of the most successful fighter aces of the Luftwaffe flew the Fw190......
3 print editions available from £60.00 Original available : £440.00
On December 16th 1944, Hitler mounted the largest offensive in the west since 1940. It was his last desperate offensive of World War II. With Germanys industrial heartland in ruins, its factories pulverised by Allied air raids, and opposing armies......
A B-24 has been hit and is losing touch with the main bomber formation, as Luftwaffe pilots concentrated their attentions on the unfortunate aircraft. Two Fw190s, are zooming up for the kill on the damaged B-24. Seeing the desperate situation, a P-3......
An exceptional painting by the worlds foremost aviation artist remembering the most famous of all Luftwaffe Fighter Wings that fought on the Western Front during the early years of World War Two. Prints are signed by Luftwaffe Aces who contested the......
The Focke-Wulf 190 development project began in 1937. Conceived as a hedge against total dependence on the Messerchmitt 109, the 190 was designed by Kurt Tank utilizing a radial engine. This was against generally accepted design criteria in Germany,......
4 print editions available from £30.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
The Black Widow is a formidable creature. It lurks in the dark, carefully chooses its moment of attack and strikes unseen, cutting down its prey with deadly certainty. Northrop could not have chosen a more apt name with which to christen their new......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £80.00
In the summer of 1940, as a 28 year old captain, Hannes Trautloft took command of JG 54. During the next three years this extraordinary fighter leader shaped the unit into one of the most successful combat fighter wings of World War II. The Green H......
Leutnant Klaus Bretschneider, Staffelkapitan of 5./JG300 kicks up the dust as he taxies his Fw190 A-8 Red One from its forest hiding place into the sunlight in preparation for take-off. The scene is northern Germany, November 1944. The Staffelkapita......
With their brightly coloured checkertail tails there was no mistaking the P.51 Mustangs of the 325th Fighter Group. Escorting B-24s over Austria in August 1944, tangled with a group of Fw190 fighters. The ensuing dogfight spiraled down below the mou......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
Focke-Wulf FW.190A-5/U8 of 1 Gruppe, Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 in 1943. All national markings were painted out, except for the call sign C on the fuselage and repeated, crudely sprayed, on the engine cowling. ......
4 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £500.00
No combat aircraft ever achieved perfection, but at the time of its debut, the Fw190 probably came as near to this elusive goal as any other fighter. This aircraft was undoubtedly the finest warplane ever produced by Germany and from the moment it ......
Hannes Trautloft in his FW190 leading his famous JG54 bring down a Russian Petlyakov Pe-2 on the Eastern Front in 1943. This dramatic painting is set in a superb winter landscape. ......
Riga, Latvia, 30th June 1944. Recently promoted Leutnant Otto <i>Bruno</i> Kittel. of 3 Staffel, JG54, chases his quarry at treetop level during a late evening sortie. The downing of this flying tank brought his tally on this day to 4, a Yak, a P3......
3 print editions available from £75.00 Original available : £360.00
During operation Ramrod 792 on April 25, 1944, leading his Spitfire wing, Johnnie Johnson had a long-running combat with an FW190. Robert Taylor shows the last moments of the duel which ended in victory for the Allied Air Forces leading fighter Ace.......
FW 190 A-8/R-8 Sturmbock no 681382 of Hauptmann Wilhelm Moritz stalks a formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses. Moritz led 4JG3, the Luftaffes first dedicated Sturmgruppe for seven months from April to November 44 before being relieved from exhaustion......
Tiger I tanks of Albert Kersher , Otto Carius, and 2nd Company. Heavy tank Battalion 502, supported in the air by Fw190s of JG54 Grunherz find themselves the only forces available to hold the line against the advancing Soviet forces. ......
2 print editions available from £70.00 Original available : £450.00
Following intelligence reports that the German destroyer Z.33 was anchored in Førde Fjord, Norway, together with a selection of minesweepers, tugs and trawlers, Beaufighters of 144, 404 and 455 Sqns were at once scrambled to attack the shipping, ful......
4 print editions available from £95.00 1 canvas print edition available from £360.00 Original Sold.
Arguably Germanys best piston-engined fighter of the war, the Fw190 remained in the vanguard of the German war effort from late 1941 until VE-Day. With in excess of 20,000 examples being constructed in dedicated factories and dispersed sites across G......
A pair of Fw190F fighters during the winter of 1943. The Fw190F and G had become the Luftwaffes standard fighter-bomber for ground attack. The Fw190F was very effective in this role. Additional armour protection was given to ground-attack variants ......
3 print editions available from £60.00 Original available : £300.00
Dieter Hrabak was shot down in his first aerial combat during the Polish Campaign. He survived to become one of the Luftwaffes most respected and popular leaders. He scored his first victory in the Battle of France, and got 15 more during the Battle of Britain. By Eagle Day he was in command of II./JG 54, which he led until taking command of JG 52 in 1942. He was the first JG 54 Ace to be awarded the Knights Cross. He ended the war back in command of JG 54, and was credited with 125 victories.
Dieter Hrabak was born on 19th December 1914 in a small village near Leipzig. Upon graduation from high school, he hoped to become a commercial pilot, but in 1934 Hrabak joined the Reichsmarine. Within 6 months he transferred to the newly formed Luftwaffe for flight training. By April 1939, Hrabak was recognised as an experienced pilot and given command of a squadron in Vienna. On his very first combat mission in September 1939 over Poland, he was shot down - the first of 11 times. Hrabaks first aerial victory came during the Battle of France. Flying an Me109, he claimed five more victories before the armistice. In the summer of 1940, his squadron was incorporated into a newly formed fighting wing, JG54 Green Hearts. Hrabak commanded II./JG54, one of the wings three groups as the Luftwaffe began its assault on England. During the Batttle of Britain he brought his score to 16 Royal Air Force fighters and Field Marshal Goring personally decorated him with the Knights Cross. In the spring of 1941, II./JG54 flew in the short campaign against Yugoslavia. When Operation Barbarosa began in Russia, he flew on the northern sector of the front and fought over Leningrad. In November 1942, Hrabak took command of JG52 on the southern front and fought over Stalingrad. In August 1943, he got his 100th aerial victory and in November, Hitler awarded him Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross. In early 1944, JG52 achieved its 10,000th aerial victory - the most by any Luftwaffe wing. In October 1944, he returned to his old wing, the Green Hearts, as Commander. Flying the Focke Wulf Fw190, he fought until near the end of the war in Kurland. After the war, he worked in the auto and chemical industry. He was a key architect in rebuilding the modern German Air Force. In 1953, Chancellor Adenaur asked him to help form a new German Air Force. Hrabak personally interviewed most of the officers who would form the nucleus. In mid-1955, he came to the United States and trained on modern jets. In the summer of 1956, he returned home to command the Advanced Pilot Training Centre at Furstenfeldbruck AB. By 1960, he commanded all GAF flying training centres. Two years later, he took charge of the air defence sector covering northern Germany and the Netherlands. In 1964, he was named NATOs Chief of Air Defence, Central Europe, until he became special manager for the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. Finally, as a major general, he commanded the GAFs tactical command, retiring on 1st October 1970. He died on 15th September 1995.
Born in 1923, Erich Brunotte joined the Luftwaffe and started immediate pilot training in June 1941. He flew on the Eastern Front with 1./Gruppe Nauhaufklarungs Geschwader 102, and later transferred to fly with IV./Jagdgeswader 51 Molders, in the 13th Staffel. Promoted to Unteroffizier in December 1944, and Feldwebel in April 1945, he flew most marks of the Bf109, and the Fw190. His very last combat mission was in the Fw Dora 9 on 3rd May 1945 at Flensburg in northen Germany.
Heinz Radlauer learnt to fly gliders in 1940, aged 17, and joined the Luftwaffe in August 1941. After Fighter School, in June 1944 he was posted to join JG51 Molders then fighting on the Eastern Front near Minsk, scoring his first victory in October of that year. Heinz Radlauer fleew the Bf109G, the Fw190A, and at the end of the war the Fw190D, by which time he had notched up over 100 combat missions, flying his last combat mission on 30th April 1945. Credited with 15 air victories, all on the Eastern Front, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class.
Posted to II./JG54 on the Eastern Front, Herbert Koller flew Fw190s with 5./JG54, scoring his first victory on 19th February 1943, over an Il-2. By the end of the year his victory claims had risen to 12, including 8 Il-2 Shturmoviks, and a Boston bomber. The year 1944 saw intense combat 5./JG54 on an almost daily basis, and month by month Herbert Kollers victories continued to mount, by the end of 1944 his tally had risen to 48. His final, and 49th victory came on 9th April 1945 when he downed a Yak 3.
A young pilot with III/JG52 at the outbreak of war. He quickly demonstrated his natural ability and leadership qualities, scoring his first air victory early in the Battle of Britain, and by July 1940 was leading 8/JG52. After transfer to the Eastern Front his air victories mounted at an astonishing rate. A crash hospitalised him but within nine months he was back in the cockpit, and, when commanding III/JG52, gained the Wings 500th victory. Gunther fought throughout the war to become the 3rd highest Ace in history with 275 victories. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Gunther Rall was born on March 10, 1918 in the small Bavarian town of Gaggenau, Baden. Immersing himself in Boy Scout activities during the difficult economic times in Germany following WW 1, Rall finished school in 1936 and joined the German Army. Influenced by a friend, who was a young officer in the Luftwaffe, Rall entered pilots school in 1938. His initial posting was with JG52. He attained his first aerial victory during the Battle of France in May of 1940. During the Battle of Britain JG52 absorbed many casualties, and Rall was promoted to Squadron Commander at the young age of 22. With his fair-hair and smooth complexion the young officer looked even younger than his years. But behind this pleasant exterior was a fierce competitor with the heart of a tiger. Later, Ralls squadron would support the attack on Crete, followed by deployment to the Southern Sector on the Eastern Front. Ralls victory totals began to mount. Following his 37 th victory, GiInther was himself shot down. He was lucky to survive the crash, but with a badly broken back he would spend most of the next year in various hospitals. In Vienna at the University Hospital he would meet his future wife, Hertha. Miraculously, Rall recovered and returned to the Luftwaffe in August of 1942. By November his score exceeded 100 and he was awarded the Oak Leaves to accompany the Knights Cross he was awarded only weeks earlier. As the War progressed against Russia, Rall began to encounter ever more experienced Soviet pilots flying better performing aircraft. Despite this fact, and being shot down several more times himself, Ralls victory tally kept rising. By March of 1944 the ace had attained 273 aerial victories. With the War now going badly for Germany, Rall was transferred to the Western Front. He was able to attain only two more victories against the swarms of Allied bombers and fighter escorts which now pounded Germany every day and night. In May of 1944 Rall was shot down by a P-47. Losing his thumb in the battle he remained out of combat until later in 1944. Ralls final assignments included flying 190Ds as Kornmodore of JG300, and flying the Me-262 jet. Ralls 275 aerial victories (attained on less than 700 combat sorties) make him the third highest scoring ace of all time. If not for the down time suffered as a result of his broken back, Rall might have actually equaled or exceeded Erich Hartmanns alltime record of 352 aerial victories. Rall was not much for socializing during the War. He was a fierce competitor with a businessmans attitude about flying. He was an excellent marksman, and possibly the best deflection shot expert of the War. He continued to fly with the Bundeslufwaffe following the War, serving as its Commander-In Chief in 1970-74. Sadly Gunther Rall died on 4th October 2009.
Hans Rudel, born in July 1916, was the most decorated Nazi pilot. In 2,530 combat missions flying dive-bombers, mainly on the Russian front, Rudel was credited with destroying 519 tanks, 150 gun emplacements and 800 combat vehicles of various types. According to Luftwaffe records, he also sunk a Russian battleship, a cruiser, a destroyer, 70 smaller craft and numerous trains. For this he was awarded the Golden Oakleaves with Sword and Diamonds to the Knights Cross. He was the only recipient of this award. He was also the first German pilot to reach 1,000 sorties. Of his over 2530 sorties, some 400 were in the Focke-Wulf 190 fighter, in which he was credited with 11 air victories. He was so effective that Joseph Stalin himself put a price of 100,00 rubles on his head. He flew more than 600,000 km; fired over 1,000,000 machine gun rounds; dropped over 1,000,000kg of bombs; fired over 150,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition and over 5,000 rounds of 37mm ammunition. He hated to take home leave or sick leave and even after he had his leg amputated, he was back in the air within weeks. He did not limit his attacks to Russian tanks, trains, ships or aircraft. On more than one occasion when food was in short supply, he would bomb rivers and both the German airmen and Russian civilians would feast on the stunned fish that floated to the surface. Rudel was shot down several times, but escaped serious injury until April 1945, when he lost a leg in combat. Rudel flew the Ju87 B-2 Stuka dive bomber and, in all of its ugliness, the bomber was made famous by him. His accomplishments with an aircraft that was outdated and vulnerable were incredible. He was captured by Allied forces at the end of the war, and released from a POW camp in April 1946. He died 18th December 1982.
The signatures : Hans Rudel had arranged to be interviewed by a professor of military history, who was also an author, in 1982. Many similar interviews had been conducted with other military heroes, during which the interviewee had signed various photographs, blank sheets and bookplates for use in the author's publications, although many were never published as intended. Rudel was also due to sign such items. However, the interview had been arranged to be conducted at a Luftwaffe reunion, which Rudel could not attend due to ill health. However, a friend of Rudel's, a RCAF mechanic, took the items to him to be signed, which they duly were, although Rudel died before any interview could take place. Cranston Fine Arts purchased the signatures from the original collection. All signatures on prints are therefore 'mounted' signatures, placed in a mount with the print, rather than the print itself being signed.
Alfred Grislawski joined 9./JG52 in 1940, quickly becoming an Ace. An outstanding fighter pilot, his air victories were 133 in over 800 combat missions until he was severely wounded. he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Died 19th September 2003.
After joining the Luftwaffe in December 1941 and training as a fighter pilot, Gunther Nordenholz joined JG11 where he flew Messerschmitt Bf-109s and Fw190s, scoring a victory over a P-51 Mustang. He flew against the heavy bombers of the US Eighth Air Force in the “Defense of the Reich”, and fought in combat against B-24s over western France during the Normandy Invasion. Posted to Bremen in late 1944, he was wounded during an air raid at his base, before being transferred to the Eastern Front. He finished the war flying the Bucker Bu181 and was captured by the British on 8 May 1944, later rejoining the new German Air Force as an instructor.
Karl-Fritz Schlossstein initially flew Me110 heavy destroyers with JG5, when th Group first arrived in Norway in 1942 to provide air cover for the convoys supplying the rapidly increasing German garrison in that country. He commanded 13(Z)/JG5 from the summer of 1942 to June 1943, and then converted to fly Me109s. Later in Norway he flew the Me410 Hornet with ZG76, but finished the war with JG54 Greenhearts flying Fw190s in the Defence of the Reich.
12th Staffel D-9 pilot Uffz Karl-Georg Genth, who flew with III./JG26. Genth was shot down in Yellow 15 near Enschede on 7th March 1945 by Tempests of No.3 Squadron, bailing out and hitting the tailplane of his D-9, and breakinghis left arm in the fall. Genth also flew the 109G-6, G-10 and K-4 variants, and flew with the extremely popular Hptm Walter Krupinski on several missions in which Krupinski was Gruppenkommandeur. Genth also took part in the air battle which brought down the famed Tempest ace Foob Fairbanks on 28th February 1945. Genth tallied a final total of 2 victories.
