Second World War aviation art prints of the Mustang aircraft. Our collection of prints and original paintings of the Mustang aircraft of World War Two.
The ubiquitous North American P-51 Mustang, which many consider to be the best all-around fighter of WW II, owes its origins to the British Air Ministry. Following Britains entry into WW II in 1939, the RAF was interested in purchasing additional fighter aircraft from American sources, particularly the Curtiss P-40. Curtiss, which was busy, was unable to guarantee timely delivery so the British approached North American Aviation as a possible second source for the P-40. North American chose to propose its own fighter design which would use the same Allison engine as the P-40. Utilizing new laminar flow wings, the North American fighter was expected to have performance better than the P-40. Developed in record time the new aircraft was designated as a Mustang I by the Brits, whereas the USAAF ordered two for evaluation which were designated XP-51 Apaches. Intrigued with the possibility of using this aircraft also as a dive bomber, North American proposed this to the USAAF which decided to order 500 of the P-51 aircraft to be modified for dive bombing use. Designated as the A-36 Invader, this version of the Mustang utilized dive flaps, and bomb racks under each wing. Some reinforcing of the structural members was also required because of the G-forces to be encountered in dive bombing. A-36s entered combat service with the USAAF prior to any P-51s. In early 1943 the 86th and 27th Fighter Bomber Groups of the 12th Air Force began flying A-36s out of Northern Africa. Despite some early problems with instability caused by the dive flaps, the A-36 was effective in light bombing and strafing roles. It was not, however, capable of dog fighting with German fighters, especially at higher altitudes. Despite these drawbacks one USAAF pilot, Captain Michael T. Russo, who served with the 16th Bomb Squadron of the 27th Fighter Bomber Group, was credited with five confirmed aerial victories in the A-36, thereby becoming the first mustang ace.
Unquestionably the best American fighter of World War 2, the North American P-51 Mustang served in large numbers with the USAAFs Eighth Air Force from late 1943 until VE Day, and was the mount of most aces in-theatre. Charged with the responsibility......
Norwegian ace Wing Commander Werner Christie is shown in his personalised P.51K, KH790, the aircraft that he flew whilst in command of the Hunsdon Wing in the spring of 1945. Christie's final victory toll was 11 confirmed kills before being sho......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £775.00
It had taken almost six years of continual air fighting for the Allied forces to attain complete and total air superiority over the Luftwaffe. At the outbreak of World War II the mighty German Air Force had appeared invincible but the ensuing Battle......
With the morning sun glinting on their fuselages, P-51 Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group cross the Dutch coastline far below, as they head back towards their base at Duxford, England at the end of a long sweep east of the Rhine crossing, Spring 194......
Depicted are B-29s of the 499th Bomb Group, 73rd Wing of the 20th Air Force. After a daylight raid on Tokyo, showing all the telltale signs of combat over the target, a Wing of the worlds largest and fastest-ever piston-engined bombers make their lon......
Big Brothers and Little Friends : the enduring bond between the bomber crews and fighter pilots of the USAAF Eighth Air Force in their prolonged and hotly contested air war against Hitlers Nazi Germany, 1942-1945. ......
Urban <i>Ben</i> Drew in his P-51 Mustang makes his strafing run on the monster German BV-238 flying boat. A one of a kind prototype, the BV-238 was strafed and sunk on Lake Schaal by the three Mustangs led by Drew on 18th September 1944. When it ......
Mustangs of 434th Fighter Squadron head across the Channel. On 25th May 1944, pilots of the 434 Fighter Squadron flew their first combat mission. In the early hours of 6 thJune, D-Day, included in the 12,000 aircraft which flew cover, interdiction ......
2 canvas print editions available from £400.00 Original available : £4999.00
At the time of World War II there was still a great deal of prejudice in America, and this extended to all the branches of the military. Although black soldiers and seaman fought with dignity and bravery during WW I, many thought that blacks were in......
3 print editions available from £35.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
This is the moment when Joe Peterburs began his chase after German ace Walter Schuck's Messerschmitt Me262 on 10th April 1945, a combat that ended in victory for the American. But this was to be a day of mixed fortunes for Peterburs who was hims......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £1075.00
On July 24, 1945, Air Group 87 on board the USS Ticonderoga was informed that the Hyuga, anchored off a small island near Kure, Japan, would be its target. The ship, a WW I vintage battleship which had been modernized in 1936, and later converted to......
Flying low over the picturesque village of Thaxted, in the cold winter of 1944-45, the P-51D Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group return to Duxford after a tiring eight hour escort mission. With dusk approaching, low on fuel, the fighters have about 20......
When a fighter escort with a bombers range first appeared over Berlin, Goering knew the end of the war was only a matter of time. when that particular fighter escort turned out to be the Mustang, perhaps the most outstanding of all WWII fighters, the......
2 print editions available from £55.00 2 canvas print editions available from £400.00 Original available : £1400.00
With their distinctive red tails, P-51 Mustangs of the 332nd Fighter Group – the famed Tuskegee Airmen, climb to operational height as B17 Fortresses from the 483rd Bomb Group manoeuvre into formation at the start of another long and dangerous missi......
On January 21st 1941, former personell of the Polish Air Forces C.W.L. Deblin Training Centre were formed into No.315 Deblinski (City of Deblin) Fighter Squadron at Acklington, England. This was the sixth Polish squadron formed in the RAF from expat......
They were an extraordinary group of men who flew their distinctive blue-nosed P-51 Mustangs fearlessly in the savage skies over war-torn Europe. They were the pilots of the 352nd Fighter Group – Masters of the Sky. The three squadrons of P-51 Must......
The aircraft in the foreground bears the name Alabama Rammer Jammer, the personal mount of 2/Lt Arthur Cundy ,352nd FS, 353rd FG. The 353rds yellow and black chequered nose bands were one of the most distinctive recognition features of all the Eighth......
3 print editions available from £90.00 1 ex-display print available from £50.00
P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group make a low pass over B-17s of the 401st Bomb Group at Deenethorpe, as they return to their base at Kingscliffe in late 1944. ......
During the final days of aerial combat P-51 Mustangs on a long range fighter patrol jump Bf109s in a surprise attack resulting in a deadly pursuit through the Austrian Alps. ......
Although best remembered for its exploits with Eighth Air Force units, the Mustang, in its various marks, actually made its combat debut firstly with the RAF in the Army co-operation role, and then with the USAAFs tactically-optimised Ninth and Fifte......
There was never a greater concentration of air power deployed in an active theater of war as over the English Channel in May and June 1944. As D-Day approached, the USAAFs Ninth Air Force had assembled over 3500 aircraft a day, they were pounding ene......
American built, British inspired and once re-engined with the Merlin, the mighty Mustang became a supreme long-range escort fighter and close air support platform. Old Crow was the mount of Clarence E. Anderson based at Leiston, England, with the 35......
2 print editions available from £125.00 1 ex-display print available from £70.00
Captain Don Gentile and Lt John Godfrey, 4th Fighter Group, team up to form one of the most successful Leader-Wingman duos in the 8th Air Force, scoring a combined total of 36 victories. ......
Returning to base after an arduous escort mission, Captain Art Fiedler leads a flight of P51 Mustangs from the 325th Fighter Group - the Checkertail Clan - through the Po Valley in northern Italy seeking out targets of opportunity amongst the retrea......
As the Autumn of 1944 turned to winter, the USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers were penetrating ever deeper into enemy territory, attacking distant targets in central and south-east Germany. Large formations of seven or eight hundred bombers, escorted by......
In the early morning sun, two North American P51D Mustangs of the 359 FS, 356 FG, take off from their base at Martlesham Heath to escort 8th Air force bombers on another daylight raid. ......
P51D Mustangs, 363rd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group USAAF, 8th Air Force, based at Leiston, Suffolk. Aircraft Glamorous Glen III, piloted by Chuck Yeager, and Old Crow, piloted by Bud Anderson, circa 1945.......
1 print edition available from £13.00 Original available : £1100.00
Often described as the most effective fighter escorts in the US Army Air Force, the famous red-tailed Tuskegee airmen could proudly boast that they never lost a single bomber to enemy fighters in all the missions flown. Nearest aircraft here is the ......
5 print editions available from £65.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original available : £2000.00
Damaged by flak and enemy fighters, and almost out of fuel, after a gruelling eight hour mission the pilot of this B-17 Fortress makes a forced landing in the safety of an English cornfield. A pair of P-51 Mustangs have escorted the damaged aircraft......
Ben Drew shot down two Me262s in October of 1944. The painting shows the second Me262 as the main subject with Ben's <i>Detroit Miss</i> peeling off at full speed after he showered the aircraft with the fatal bullets. The shoot down action was ......
2 canvas print editions available from £360.00 Original available : £2300.00
Though some 1400 of Germanys remarkable Me262 jet aircraft were built, fewer than 300 ever saw action during its short 10 month combat career, the 550 mph fighter-bomber arriving in service too late to make any impression on the course of the war. ......
On 10th April 1945, thirteen hundred bombers of the Mighty Eighth set out to destroy the last of the Luftwaffe's jet force. But, unknown to the bomber crews and their fighter escort, the enemy jets were already airborne and waiting to spring the......
As Red Dog Norleys P-51D screams across the field at hangar height with his squadrons Mustangs fanned out behind him, the 4th Fighter Group pilots jink through the intense groundfire wreaking havoc on the ground. In this, its final major mission of ......
Chuck Older was born in California in 1914. He graduated from UCLA and entered the U.S. Marine Corps. in 1940. He earned his wings as an aviation cadet, and was assigned to VNIF-1. In mid-1941, anxious to see some action, Chuck resigned his USNIC com......
The ubiquitous North American P-51 Mustang, which many consider to be the best all-around fighter of WW II, owes its origins to the British Air Ministry. Following Britains entry into WW II in 1939, the RAF was interested in purchasing additional fi......
4 print editions available from £35.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
The 357th Fighter Group was thrown into action soon after arriving in England in February 1944. Being the first fighter group equipped with P-51 Mustangs, great things were expected of them, and they did not disappoint; in the final year of the war......
Major Jim Goodson taxies his 4th (The Eagles) Fighter Group P-51 D Mustang at Debden following a mission to supply air support over the Normandy beaches soon after D-Day, June 1944. Having previously flown Spitfires and Hurricanes with the RAF, Spitf......
Between 3 and 13 September 1944, the 55th Fighter Group flew eight arduous, highly successful, bomber escort missions to Germany for which the group received a Distinguished Unit Citation. Like those the group had flown before, and would fly again a......
B-24 Liberators with escorting P-51D Mustangs of the US 8th Air Force hit a communication centre. Due to the overwhelming air attacks by both Strategic and Tactical Air Forces, German gunners had run out of ammunition by noon in many strongpoints.......
P51D of Colonel Glenn Duncan C.O. of the 353rd Fighter Group, along with Betty-E flown by Lt. Colonel Wayne Blickenstaff, taking off on one of their last missions of the war, April 1945. ......
5 print editions available from £35.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £38.00
With the words of his Group CO ringing in his ears, a pilot of the 332nd Fighter Group returns to protect a crippled American B17 bomber after downing two Me109s in quick succession. Agonisingly, two more enemy fighters were left to escape but the p......
North American P51D-NA15 Mustang 414495 Dallas Doll 352nd Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. American designed and built, British inspired and, later, powered, the Mustang turned into arguably the finest WW11 long-range fighter eve......
2 print editions available from £105.00 1 ex-display print available from £75.00
Based at RAF Debden in England under Blakeslees leadership the unit, originally comprising of RAF Eagle Squadron pilots, would produce some of the wars greatest aces. By the end of WWII Blakeslee had flown more combat hours than any US pilot and ins......
Fallen Comrades by Stan Stokes is a tribute to all the young men of the 357th Fighter Group, Yoxford Boys,` who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in training for and during WWII combat. The 357th scored an impressive 595 aerial victories......
P-51s of the famed Tuskegee Fighting Red Tails winding down at their airbase in Italy after a grueling long range bomber escort mission over occupied territory. ......
When War broke out in Europe in 1939 the British Government decided to establish a second source for the Curtis P-40 fighter. The Brits approached North American Aviation of Inglewood, California. North Americans manufacturing division was headed by......
1 print edition available from £75.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
There were tens of thousands of aerial combat encounters during World War II. One of the most unusual was a dogfight that took place between Captain Arthur C. Fiedler, Jr. and an unidentified German Bf-109 pilot on June 28, 1944. Fiedler was an Illi......
4 print editions available from £30.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
When the Korean War erupted in late June 1950, the USAFs standard fighter in the Far East was the F-80 Shooting Star. Although the aircraft soon proved the master of the North Korean Air Force, its lack of endurance resulted in the USAF rushing 145 ......
Flying a bomber escort mission, a P- 51 Mustang of the 357th Fighter Group engages Me109s about to descend upon a formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses. ......
Urban <i>Ben</i> Drew claims his first victory in his Mustang as he makes a strafing run of a Luftwaffe JU-52 transport at Toussus-Le-Noble in France in mid 1944. ......
The scene was October 7, 1944, Lt. Urban Ben Drew was flying escort with the 361st Fighter Group in P-51D Detroit Miss over Achmer airfield when he spotted unidentified aircraft lined up on the runway below awaiting takeoff. Drew, his wingman, and ......
Russ Berg flies his 10th Recce Group P51s in low and fast, dodging flak and enemy fighters, to get vital photographs for General Patons advancing forces. A superb study of World War IIs most outstanding tactical fighter in action, in the hands of on......
P-51s of the 328th Fighter Squadron high above towering cumulus clouds over East Anglia in November 1944. Led by Major George Preddy, the P-51 pilots prepare to escort a large formation of B-17s on yet another arduous long range mission to Germany.......
Wherever the GIs went they took their Jeeps with them, and before the war was run the little quarter-ton, 4-wheel drive, utility vehicle was as well known around the world as the Model T Ford. Nicolas Trudgian has painted a compelling image, set bac......
2 print editions available from £60.00 1 ex-display print available from £50.00
Although far better known for their exploits over the war torn skies of Germany and Italy, the USAAFs premier fighters, the P-47 and P-51, also made significant contributions to the victory against Japan from 1943 onwards. This book relates the appe......
P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group, flying out of Kings Cliffe to engage Me109s from JG77 in a furiously contested dogfight. Below them a formation of B-17s from the 379th Bomb Group fly through the chaos, doggedly maintaining their cours......
In a scene that was repeated almost daily throughout the long war years, the pilots of the 357th Fighter Group have returned from a gruelling mission to their base in Leiston, Suffolk. As they clamber out of their aircraft, all eyes are turned anxio......
2 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
Mustang P51 Nooky Booky IV flown by Captain Leonard Kit Carson of the 362nd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, giving fighter escort top cover protection to the B17s of 381st Bomb Group, returning after a raid in Germany, January 1944. Kit Carson......
4 print editions available from £50.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £56.00
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
Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series.......
Urban <i>Ben</i> Drew scores his second victory, and his first aerial victory, as he claims a Bf109G over Lisieux, France in 1944. His wing leader, Martin Johnson, had his guns jammed as the twisting turning low level dogfight took place, so the fr......
A B17 arriving at its home base somewhere in Norfolk, as its attending P-51 Mustangs continue a short way to there respective base. The Boeing B17 Flying Fortress was the prime instrument in the evaluation of the American strategic bombing, and enjoy......
On September 18, 1944 P-51 pilots of the 375th Fighter Squadron of the 361st Fighter Group, based at Little Walden in Essex, were assigned the mission of escorting B-17s on a shuttle mission to Russia. The Mustangs would accompany the bombers to the......
4 print editions available from £35.00 3 canvas print editions available from £294.00
A pair of P51D Mustangs of the 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, escort a damaged B17G Flying Fortress of the 381st Bomb Group back to its home base of Ridgewell, England, during the Autumn of 1944. ......
9 print editions available from £40.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00
North American P-51D Mustangs of the 319th Fighter Sqn, 325th Fighter Group, 15th Air Force, USAAF, climbing past B-24M Liberators of the 765th Bomb Sqn, 461st Bomb Group bombing through cloud by radar, target rail yards at Heiligenstadt, Vienna, Aus......
It began in pitch darkness. June 6, 1944 was only a few minutes old when the Airborne Pathfinders drifted silently down from the sky above the fields of Normandy. At first their seemed nothing untoward about the drone of aircraft in the night sky. T......
Tucked in tight en route to Copenhagen, a wave of Mosquito FB VIs of 21 Sqn and their Mustang Mk.III escorts of 126 Sqn (including top Ace <a href=aces.php?PilotID=3775>Agorastos John Plagis</a> - 16 victories, on his last mission of the war) appro......
4 print editions available from £75.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original Sold.
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
On August 25th 1944, Ben Drew found himself locked in a stalemate with the Bf109 of an experienced Luftwaffe pilot. Circling each other to try and force an advantage, the two pilots spiraled towards the ground until the German finally broke away fr......
Base to the legendary Douglas Bader Fighter Wing during the Battle of Britain, Duxford became home to the 78th Fighter Group in April 1943. Today it appropriately houses the American Air Museum, and hosts the many summer air-shows where crowds thril......
Typical of the aggressive fighter pilots led by the great Hub Zemke was Robin Olds. Having completed his training on the P-38 in America, Olds arrived at RAF Wattisham, England in May 1944, assigned to fly the remarkable twin-boomed fighter with the......
In a majestic new painting combining his love of landscape with aviation, Gerald Coulson depicts Bud Anderson and Chuck Yeager racing their Mustangs at low level through an Alpine landscape, oblivious to the record-breaking air battle involving the ......
Depicting Mustang aircraft escorting Flying Fortresses on a bombing raid over Germany.......
4 print editions available from £25.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original available : £2750.00 1 ex-display print available from £22.00
Badly marked by Focke-Wulf 190's the B-17 The Peacemaker of the 91st Bomb Group limps towards the sanctuary of the English coast escorted by P-51B Mustangs of the 361st Fighter Group. To keep her flying the crew are jettisoning everything that t......
From the day they began their aerial campaign against Nazi Germany to the cessation of hostilities in 1945, the USAAF bomber crews plied their hazardous trade in broad daylight. This tactic may have enabled better sighting of targets, and possibly l......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
Ace pilot, <i>Bud</i> Anderson leads P-51 Mustangs of the 357th Fighter Group back to their base in England, after a Bomber escort mission over occupied Europe in late 1944. ......
Col. John D. Landers, the pilot of the Big Beautiful Doll, was born in 1920 in Wilson, Oklahoma. He attended Texas A & M and Arkansas State University before joining the Army Air Corp. In March of 1941 Landers graduated from aviation cadet training......
1 print edition available from £75.00 2 canvas print editions available from £294.00
The painting depicts a P-51D Mustang (flown by William Bailey of the 353rd Fighter Group) flying escort for B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The scene is over the French countryside during late 1944, and several more hours ......
A spectacular dogfight over Eisenach on 24 March 1945 when the doughty Clyde East, returning from a recce over Schweinfurt and with photos already in the can, takes on a group of six Me109s. Flying his legendary Lil Margaret, having already dispatch......
As the four P51D Mustangs of Major William T Haltons Yellow Flight, 487th Fighter Squadron took off from Asch, they found themselves in the middle of a massive German attack. That New Years Day the Luftwaffe had launched hundreds of aircraft in low......
5 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original available : £2000.00
Obersalzberg, a spectacularly picturesque area of southern Germany in the Bavarian Alps, became a focal point for the Allies as World War II was drawing to its close. This mountain village had become a Nazi stronghold after the Third Reich had seize......
Lake Schaal, Northern Germany, 18th September 1944. Squadron Leader Urban Drew of 375th Fighter Squadron leading a flight of 3 P-51 Mustangs caught and destroyed the giant BV 238 Flying boat prototype undergoing flight trials on Lake Schaal. ......
Urban <i>Ben</i> Drew in his P-51 Mustang <i>Detroit Miss</i> claiming his fifth victory to become an Ace. The German Heinkel He111 was over the Baltic Sea on 18th September 1944 when it was spotted by Ben. Attempting to escape Ben and the two oth......
Ivan Hasek flew P47s in Europe with the 353rd FS - The Fighting Cobras, 354th Fighter Group, attached to the 9th Air Force, scoring his first victory - against an Fw190, on Boxing Bay 1944. Converting to P5 IDs in early 1945 his tally continued to mount, and he finished his tour an Ace with 5.5 victories. Ivan Hasek passed away in December 2007.
After joining the Army in 1939, Kit North Lewis transferred to the RAF in 1940. In Aug 1941, after pilot training, he was posted to 13 Squadron, flying Blenheims, where he took part in the first 1000 bomber raids. After a spell with 26 Squadron, flying P-51 Mustangs, in Feb 1944 he joined 182 Squadron on Typhoons, as a Flight Commander. A few months later he was posted to command 181 Squadron. He led this squadron into France where it became part of 124 Typhoon Wing. In Aug 1944 he was promoted Wing Leader 124 Wing, where he remained until the end of the war. He died on 25th March 2008. 'Unfortunately my active participation in the Falaise operations was limited as I had a mild form of dysentery from 8th to 14th and I was sent home for a weeks recuperation from 16th to 24th August. However, I was very much involved on the 7th in the German attack at Mortain. I was leading 181 Squadron on an armed reconnaissance when Charles Green who was then the Wing Leader of 121 Wing reported large German tank concentrations at Mortain. Although this was inside the bomb line I accepted his verification and I immediately diverted to Mortain. There we found German tanks strung out along the road. We claimed 10 flamers. I followed this up with two more sorties in which we claimed another 7. There was very little flak, the main danger being the number of allied aircraft around the honey pot. During the period 6th to 21st August the Wing lost 9 pilots killed including Group Captain Charles Appleton and 4 taken POW.'
John Howe flew Spitfires, Mustangs and Vampires With the South African Air Force and F-5lD Mustang fighter bombers in the Korean War before joining the RAF 'to fly Hunters'. He commanded the first RAF Lightning squadron when No.74 Sqn converted from Hunters to Lightnings in 1960, and led the famous No.74 Sqn 'Tigers' nine-ship Lightning aerobatic team. He has flown all the legendary USAF 'century series' fighters, and later commanded the F-4 Phantom OCU and RAF Gutersloh.
Birdy-Wilson joined the R.A.F. in 1937 and fought with 17 squadron during the Battle of France. Active throughout the Battle of Britain, awarded the DFC in the September of 1940, the same date he was shot down by Major Adolph Galland of JG26, bailing out with severe burns. He took command of 152 squadron in April 1942 and promoted Wing Commander 1943 he led 121 wing then 122 wing. Rested in January 1944 he went to the US command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. Throughout the rest of 1944 he flew Mustangs, being awarded the D.S.O. in January 1945. He added the Czech Medal of Merit, 1st Class and the Dutch DFC. He stayed in the R.A.F. after the war until his retirement in 1974. By 1987 he had flown no less than 213 different types, including an Airship, the James Bond Autogiro and during 1978 the F-15 Eagle Fighter. He died on 27th December 2000.
Charles Yeager. Born February 13th 1923. He enlisted as a private in the United States Army. Chalres Yaeger became a aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base in California. Yaeger showed a talent as a pilot and became a Flight Officer on March 10th 1943 and joined the 357th Fighter Group. He trained on the P-39 Airocobras and in November 1943 went to Britain with his Squadron. He was stationed at RAF Leiston and flew P 51 Mustangs, his aircraft being Glamoras Glen. His first air victory was on March 5th 1944 but he was shot down over France. With the help of the French Resistance he escaped through Spain and back to the UK. Chalres Yaeger was the first pilot in his group to become an ace in a day, by shooting down a total of 5 enemy aircraft in a single mission. In his total of 11.5 victories was one of the first Me262 jet fighter kills, claimed on 6th November 1944. After the war In 1947 at the age of only 24 Charles Yaeger became the first Pilot to travel faster than sound in level flight in the experimental Bell X-1 at 45,000 feet. In his career Yaeger commanded fighter squadrons in Germany and during the Vietnam war, being promoted to the rank of Bragadier General in 1969.
After leaving West Point in June 1943, Robin Olds was posted to the 479th Fighter Group in England, joining 434 Squadron. Based at Wattisham in East Anglia, and flying P-38s, he was involved in heavy bomber escort duties and fighter sweeps until the Normandy invasion, soon after which his Squadron converted to P51 Mustangs. by early 1945 Robin Olds was in command of 434 Squadron taking part in the Battle of the Bulge, flying escort missions, and providing air support to the airborne attack across the Rhine. At the end of World War II Robin Olds had 24.5 victories, of which 13 were in the air. Later in Vietnam Robin Olds gained four more victories, flying F4 Phantoms and flew with the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. Sadly, Robin Olds passed away on 14th June 2007.
Thomas Hayes was born in Portland, Oregon. In his career he was credited with a total of 10.5 victories - 8 and a half of these were German and two Japanese. During 1942 he was based in the South Pacific, at Java. During this time he was shot down by a Japanese Zero fighter over the island of Bali. Later in the war he was sent to Britain as a Squadron Commander, flying P51 Mustangs with the 357th Fighter Group - the Yoxford Boys. On 6th March 1944 he led his squadron on one of the first successful daylight raids on Berlin, where twenty enemy aircraft were shot down by the squadron, with all aircraft of the 357th Fighter Group returning safely. In his career he was awarder the Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star and the Purple Heart. Sadly, Thomas Hayes passed away on 24th July 2008, aged 91.
At the age of 18, John Lee joined the Army Air Corp and was assigned to the Gulf Coast Training Command in Texas receiving his Wings on March 15, 1944. Flying the P-51 Mustang he took part in 52 combat missions with the 79th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group based at Kings Cliffe conducting high altitude escort missions to B-17 and B-24 Bombers. He was later promoted to Flight Commander and escorted British Mosquitos on Photo Reconnaissance Missions over Czechoslovakia, as well as low level strafing missions over the Channel, the Normandy landings and during the Battle of the Bulge.
American WW2 pilot with eight victories, including : 19th Sep 1944, an Me109; 17th Nov 1944, 2 Fw190s; 23rd Dec 1944, an Me109; 14th January 1945, an Me109 and an Fw190; 24th Mar 1945, an Me109; 18th Apr 1945, an Me262. He died 19th November 2008.
Clinton Burdicks father, Lt Howard Burdick, had been an Ace with 8 victories during the First World War. So perhaps it was natural that Clinton signed up for the service on his 18th birthday in 1942. After pilot training he transferred to join the 361st Fighter Squadron, 356th Fighter Group at Martlesham Heath in England, in October 1944. Flying his first combat mission in Noveber, his first victory came quickly on the 25th of that month, and like his father, he too was to become an Ace. Clinton flew 53 combat missions during his tour with the 356th, his last coming on 20th February 1945, and with 6 victories was one of only five aerial Aces in the 356th.
