Second World War aviation art prints of the Tomahawk aircraft. Our collection of prints and original paintings of the Tomahawk aircraft of World War Two.
A total of sixteen Royal Air Force squadrons used the Tomahawk from British bases, and five more squadrons in the Middle East, as well as South African and Australian units. The Curtiss Tomahawk equipped the legendary Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group in China, in 1941, before the United States was officialy at war with Japan. In all, 16,802 Curtiss Tomahawks in a succession of improved models, were mainly built for the US Air Force.
In early 1941, many months before Pearl Harbor, an irrepressible bunch of American fighter pilots, together with 200 ground crew, came together and stood alone against the might of the Imperial Japanese Air Force. Under the indomitable command of General Claire Chennault, their task was to keep the vital road link open between the port of Rangoon and the city of Kunming in South West China. A treacherous unpaved track, hacked through mountain terrain and known as the infamous Burma Road, was the only lifeline for supplies into China from the outside world. With the Japanese hell-bent on its destruction, the Flying Tigers were all that stood between defeat and survival. With little support from home, and almost without replacement aircraft or spares, the P-40 Tomahawk pilots of the American Volunteer Group - the AVG - became the scourge of the Japanese Air Force and heroes to the people of China. In a six month period of combat, with no more than 50 or 60 serviceable aircraft at anyo.........
Tomahawk and Kittyhawk Aces of the RAF and Commonwealth.
Deemed unsuitable for the Channel Front, lend-lease Tomahawks and Kittyhawks instead became the staple fighters of the Desert Air Force in 1941-42, flying with RAF, South African and Australian squadrons in North Africa and the Middle East. Although usually outclassed by the Bf 109, a number of pilots enjoyed some success during the desert campaign – men like Caldwell, Gibbes, Edwards and Drake, all of whom accrued double figure scores. In the Far East, Australian and New Zealand pilots also saw much action against the Japanese in 1942/43, flying over the jungles of New Guinea in defence of the Australian mainland. This book charts the careers of the men who made ace in these often underestimated fighters.
Item Code : OSAA0038
Tomahawk and Kittyhawk Aces of the RAF and Commonwealth. - Editions Available
Claire L. Chennault retired in 1937 and began a second career in China where he set up a number of flying schools and airfields. A personal friend of Chiang Kai-shek Chennault was asked to organize a unit of experienced American combat pilots to help fight the Japanese. Chennault sent recruiters to American military installations and was able to organize the American Volunteer Group or AVG by late 1941. The group later became better known as the Flying Tigers, and their distinctive shark-mouthed P-40s became a well-recognized symbol. There were three AVG squadron; the Adam and Eves, the Panda Bears, and the Hells Angels. On December 23, 1941 sixty Sally heavy bombers of the 60th , 62nd , and 68th Sentai based at Bangkok and Phnom Penh were supposed to rendezvous over Bangkok and head to Rangoon for a bombing raid. The three units failed to join up as planned and they also failed to rendezvous with their fighter escorts for the mission. As the sixty aircraft approached Rangoon they wer.........
Sayonara Sally by Stan Stokes. - Editions Available
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Signed limited edition of 500 prints, signed by all the surviving AVG pilots of the 3rd Pursuit Sqn, and the artist. Full Item Details
Size 22 inches x 18 inches (56cm x 46cm)
Artist : Stan Stokes
£124.00
Summer of 42 by John D Shaw.
In this superb tribute to one of the most famous fighter units of WWII the serenity of the beautiful Li River is broken as P40 Tomahawks of the AVG Flying Tigers, bearing their famous shark-mouth motif, return to base at Kweilin.
Claire Chennault retired from the USAAF in 1937. Chennault had been an outspoken supporter of advanced fighter aircraft, but was at odds with many of his superiors who favored development of bombers. Chennault went to China to assist Chiang-Kai-shek in resurrecting the Chinese Air Force. In 1941 President Roosevelt authorized a plan to allow American servicemen to volunteer for a one-year duty assignment in China as members of Chennaults American Volunteer Group. 100 Curtis P-40s were rerouted from the UK to Burma. A like number of pilots and a few hundred support personnel filtered into the group from various branches of the service. The AVG engaged the Japanese in combat from late 1941 through mid-1942. Despite being greatly outnumbered, and facing critical shortages of supplies and spare parts, the AVGs official victory tally included 299 aircraft shot down and another 240 destroyed on the ground. The Flying Tigers have a special place in the hearts of aviation history enthusiasts..........
Flying Tigers by Stan Stokes. - Editions Available
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Signed limited edition of 1500 prints, signed by 24 AVG Flying Tiger pilots, and the artist. Full Item Details
Size 27 inches x 20 inches (69cm x 51cm)
Artist : Stan Stokes
£414.00
America Strikes Back by Robert Taylor
The very first air combat fought by American pilots following the surprise attack upon Pearl Harbor. In less than one hour America struck back in a war that was to end in total victory. As the assault mounted on the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, simultaneously the air base at Wheeler Field came under heavy attack. Two young USAAF pilots, Kenneth Taylor and George Walsh, quickly got their P-40 Tomahawks airborne. Winging southwards towards Ewa Field they ripped into a dozen or more enemy planes attacking the marine field. Diving into the formation they each downed Val fighter-bombers. Robert Taylors painting shows Ken Taylor in his P-40 tomahawk, with George Walsh in close company, bringing down his second enemy aircraft on December 7, 1941, an Aichi D-3Al Val dive-bomber. In the background palls of smoke rise from Hangar 6 housing the naval float planes, and the up-turned battleship Oklahoma.
Item Code : RT0299
America Strikes Back by Robert Taylor - Editions Available
Curtiss had been the primary supplier of fighter aircraft to the U.S. Army Air Corps. since its inception, and the company was dismayed when the Army procured the Boeing P-26 Peashooter in 1932. Curtiss responded by hiring Mr. Donovan Berlin, a bright young engineer who was working for Northrop. Donovan developed the Hawk 75, a streamlined, low-wing, monoplane coastal defense fighter. With an enhanced Twin Wasp engine the Hawk 75 evolved into the P-36, which had a brief and fairly undistinguished career with the Air Corps. In 1938 a P-36 was retrofitted with the Allison in-line 12-cylinder, 1150 HP engine, and the P-40 was born. This was the beginning of what would eventually be a production run of more than 13,000 aircraft. Depending on its theater of operation and the particular model, the P-40 was alternatively known as the Tomahawk, the Kittyhawk, or the Warhawk. By mid-1942 P-40s were serving in every major conflict. The aircraft excelled in ground attack missions, but lacked the.........
Print size 16 inches x 11.5 inches (41cm x 30cm) Supplied with signed and numbered certificate of authenticity.
Artist : Stan Stokes
£10 Off!
Now : £28.00
Flying Tiger by Nicolas Trudgian.
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.
Item Code : DHM2651
Flying Tiger by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
Curtiss Tomahawks of No.414 Sqn RAF supplied from the United States under the lend-lease program.
Item Code : DHM5021
Curtiss Tomahawks by Roy Cross. - Editions Available
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Signed limited edition of 95 prints, supplied mounted. Full Item Details
Image size 8.5 inches x 5.5 inches (22cm x 14cm) Mount size 13.5 inches x 16 inches (34cm x 41cm)
Artist : Roy Cross
£50 Off!
Now : £120.00
Spoiling the Party by Stan Stokes.
Claire Chennaults American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) continues to capture the imagination and interest of aviation history buffs more than fifty years after they flew combat missions for the Chinese Air Force. Composed of about ninety pilots and another 200 ground support personnel, the Tigers arrived in China in mid-1941. Flying Curtiss P-40s that had been rerouted from Britain to China, the Tigers flew from December of 1941 until mid-1942. Engaging a numerically superior Japanese force over a very wide front, the AVG was officially credited with downing 299 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat, and an additional 240 aircraft destroyed during ground attack missions. The Flying Tigers slowed the Japanese conquest in China, and caused Japan to focus more resources on this theater of operations than they had planned. Stan Stokes painting depicts a three-plane raid of a Japanese airstrip near Tak, Thailand. Early in the morning of January 3, 1942, three 2 d Pursuit Squadron (Panda Be.........
P40 Tomahawks of the American Volunteer Group fought against the Japanese air force in the skies over Indo-China during World War 2 and became one of the most successful and famous fighter units of all time. Strangled by the Japanese blockade of its sea ports, and with supplies from Russia diverted to combat Hitler's invasion, China was left with one lifeline for vital supplies from the outside world: a treacherous unpaved track hacked through mountain terrain linking the port of Rangoon with the city of Kumming, in South West China - it was the infamous Burma Road. With the Impirial Japanese air force hell-bent on destroying Chinas last supply link, opposition had almost evaporated but for a tiny air force of American volunteers led by the indomitable figure of Claire Chennault. Formed in early 1941, months before Pearl Harbor, a rag-tag bunch of 100 recruited flyers supported by 200 ground personnel, known as the American Volunteer Group came together to stand alone against th.........
Claire Chennaults American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) continue to capture the imagination and interest of aviation history buffs more than fifty years after they flew combat missions for the Chinese Air Force. Composed of about ninety pilots and another 200 ground support personnel, the Tigers arrived in China in mid-1941. Flying Curtiss P-40s which had been rerouted from Britain to China, the Tigers flew from December of 1941 until mid-1942. Engaging a numerically superior Japanese force over a very wide front, the AVG was officially credited with downing 299 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat, and an additional 240 aircraft destroyed during ground attack missions. The Flying Tigers slowed the Japanese conquest in China, and caused Japan to focus more resources on this theater of operations than they had planned. Charles R. Bond was Vice Squadron Leader for the AVGs 1 Pursuit Squadron, the Adam and Eves. Bond was born in Dallas, Texas in 1915. He joined the Texas National Guard.........
Born 6th May 1916. Bobby Gibbes began pilot training in 1940, and by June 1941 was flying Tomahawks with No3 RAAF Sqn. By February 1942, he was commanding the squadron. Upgrading to the Kittyhawk, he had more aerial victories, before being forced to bale out on May 26th 1942. On December 21st 1942, during an action in the Western Desert, an aircraft from the squadron was forced to crash land a few miles from the target. Gibbes landed his aircraft in the rocky desert, aiming to pick up the downed pilot. He ditched his own parachute, sitting on the pilots lap in the cockpit. On take-off, one wheel fell off the aircraft after colliding with an object on the groud, but he managed to land the aircraft on the one remaining wheel, avoiding a damaging belly landing. He was then shot down behind enemy lines, evading capture for three days before being rescued. He returned to Australia, and was injured during a training flight crash. He died 11th April 2007.
Ken Taylor was one of the Armys heroes on December 7th, twice engaging the retiring Japanese planes in his P40 Tomahawk. Together, he and George Welch managed to get airborne - some of the very few who managed to do so. Ken was wounded but together they managed to down six Japanese aircraft that day. For his presence of mind and coolness under fire against overwhleming odds, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He died 25th November 2006.
Bill Green joined 501 Squadron at Filton, originally as a fitter, in 1936. In 1938 he joined a scheme to recruit NCO pilots, qualifying as a Flight Sergeant and re-joined 501 at Bristol in July 1940 with no training on Hurricanes. Teaching himself to fly it he went on to squadron strength on 20th August, and flew from Kenley throughout the Battle of Britain until November, surviving being shot down twice, before being posted to 504 Squadron. After a spell instructing on Spitfires and Tomahawks, he converted to Typhoons, and from November 1944 served with 56 Squadron on Tempests. In February 1945 he was shot down and taken prisoner until the end of the war.
Bryan Colston was born in Buckinghamshire on 27 May 1921 and was educated at St Pauls School. He joined the RAFVR in 1940, training on Tiger Moths, Oxfords and Lysanders, becoming a fighter reconnaissance pilot with 225 Squadron in 1941. He served with 225 Sqn until July 1943 and became a Flight Commander in 1942. He flew Lysanders, Tomahawks, Hurricanes, Mustangs and Spitfires serving throughout the Tunisian campaign and flying over a hundred operational sorties. He contracted typhoid fever at the end of the campaign and was invalided back to the UK, where, after periods of instructing at 61 OTU and some staff appointments, he commanded 695 Squadron flying Spitfire XVIs.
Joining the service in 1937, Joe Moore flew P40 Tomahawks with the 323rd Tactical Fighter Wing out of Clark Field in the Philippines and accumulated over 100 combat missions in the Pacific, including two victories over Japanese Zeroes. He later transferred to fly P47s in Europe, taking part in the Normandy invasion.
Born 10th December 1915. Nicky Barr was commissioned as a pilot officer in November 1940, joining No.23 Sqn, patrolling Queensland, but soon joined No.3 Sqn RAAF flying the Tomahawk. During the war in the desert at El Alamein, he was successful against several enemy aircraft before being shot down himself, being wounded and forced to crash land. While escaping the enemy lines he was wounded again, but reached the safety of Allied lines after a three day desert trek. On 30th May 1942, he was again forced to crash land by enemy fire, but again he returned to fly again. During the fighting around Tobruk, he was shot down once more, baling out injured from his burning aircraft, but this time he became a prisoner of the Italians. Months later he attempted to escape, reaching the Swiss border before being captured once more. Whilst being moved to Germany as a POW, he jumped from a moving train to escape, only to be recaptured weeks later by the Germans. Once more he escaped, conducting sabotage operations, and in March 1944, organising escapes for other POWs. Later in 1944 he became an instructor in Australia, leaving the RAAF after the war. He died 12th June 2006.
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