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Robin Olds
| Brigadier General Robin Olds (deceased) 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. |
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Dawn Chorus by Nicolas Trudgian. (B) June 1944, dawn is breaking over a sleepy English village, and P-38 Lightnings shatter the silence as they climb out from a nearby air base, en route to the Normandy beach heads. |
Towards the Home Fires by Robert Taylor. As the New Year of 1945 dawned, the snow had already spread to blanket the southern half of England. The festivities of Christmas had passed and the relentless pounding of German cities and industrial targets continued unabated. On every front Hitler's once-fabled armies were in full retreat. The endgame was now in play. With dusk approaching, Robin Olds, flying his P-51K Scat VI, leads a flight of Mustangs of the 434th Fighter Squadron, 479th Fighter Group low over the historic estuary town of Maldon in Essex as they head home to their base at Wattisham, 14 February 1945. The mission saw Olds add three more German fighters to his tally south of Berlin, making him one of the foremost Aces of the unit. |
Clipped Signature - Robin Olds. Flew P-38 Lightings and P-51 Mustangs with 479th Fighter Group in England. Commanding the 434th Fighter Squadron from 1945, he provided air support for the Allied troops, scoring 13 aerial victories by the end of the war. He scored 4 more victories flying F4 Phantoms in Vietnam. He died in 2007. |
Running the Gauntlet by Robert Taylor. 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. Most famous of all Me262 units was Jagdverband 44, commanded by General Adolf Galland. Instructed by Hitler to set up a small defensive fighter unit to make the most of the new Me262, Gallands JV44 attracted other top-scoring pilots, including top aces Macky Steinhoff and Walter Krupinski, and the unit soon became dubbed Gallands Squadron of Experts. Though doing their best to repel daylight attacks on jet production plants in Southern Germany, JV44 were fighting a losing battle. During a raid on 9 April 1945 the unit lost nine aircraft - a pattern that was to continue. Also, American fighter pilots, unable to catch the 262 in the air, found success taking the jets out as they took off or landed, catching them while at their most vulnerable. With the Allies driving deeper and deeper into Germany, production of aircraft, spares, fuel, and ammunition, steadily dried up. The point came when JV44, Gallands now legendary Squadron of Experts, finally ground to a halt. Running the Gauntlet shows Me262s of JV44 returning to base in southern Germany, having come under attack from P-51 Mustangs of the 353rd Fighter Group. Almost out of fuel and ammunition, the Me262s have little option but to complete their landing sequence, hoping fervently they are not bounced by American fighters loitering in the area. They are out of luck on this occasion, and although Galland has organised a unit flying Focke-Wulf Fw190D-9s to provide air cover in the area of the airfield, they too have been caught by the 353rd Fighter Groups surprise attack. At the relatively slow speed required on final approach, the Me262s handling is sluggish and the pilot is having enough trouble without the attentions of a bunch of P-51 pilots. At this point the JV44 Me262 remains unscathed, and with the arrival of the Fw190s, there is the possibility this particular jet pilot will survive the day. |
Opening Sky by Robert Taylor. 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 1945. The final months of the war in Europe lie ahead, and for the P-51 pilots victory is within sight. Finally, after years of toil, the sky was theirs. |
Teamwork by Nicolas Trudgian. 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. |
P-51 Mustang 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. |
Heading Home to Raydon by Robert Taylor. After a grueling bomber escort mission late in WWII, P-51 Mustangs of the 353rd Fighter Group return to their base at Raydon, Suffolk. |
Phantom Raiders by Simon Atack. Just 50 miles north west of Hanoi in North Vietnam, lies the long and winding valley of the infamous Red River - a name that was to become bitterly familiar to the F4U Phantom pilots of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. Flowing for miles through the countrys deep interior, the waters of the Red River fed the strategically important steel mills at Thai Nguyen, and the power stations at Viet Tri; they also irrigated the rice and shrimp paddy fields that fed the armies of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, distributed to the combat areas through a sophisticated network of hidden trails and tracks, bridges and railways. Defending these vitally important targets was a vast array of anti-aircraft systems of every conceivable type and calibre; at Yen Bai the North Vietnamese even established a secret fighter airfield where their Mig jet fighters were hidden in hangars dug by hand deep into the surrounding hills - in short it was one of the most heavily defended and awesome places on Earth. But these targets had to be destroyed, and one aircraft above all others became inextricably and forever linked with the fast, low-level jet attacks to obliterate these heavily fortified objectives - the legendary F4U Phatnom, the fastest, the most powerful, versatile fighter of the day. The bravery and determination of the Phantom crews as they flew into the maelstroms of intense, deadly, flak and ground fire remain an inspiration to all ground attack combat pilots and crew. Simon Atacks powerful limited edition depicting the high-speed, low-level attack by F4 Phantoms of the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron on the bridge near Viet Tri, 24 May 1967. |
Top Cover by Gerald Coulson. 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. |
Final Victory by Simon Atack. 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 434th Squadron. It didn't take long for the novice pilot to make his mark. After flying interdiction missions over France and Germany, with the 479th Olds took part in the D-Day operations, then on August 13 opened his score by jumping two Fw190s at ground level. After a brief but hectic fight, he brought both down. A couple of weeks later he bagged three Me109s - his wingman got another two - when attacking a group of some fifty enemy fighters while escorting bombers high over Muritz Zee. Converting to P-51D Mustangs, Olds completed two combat tours, flying deep penetration missions, engagements with the Luftwaffes new Me262 jet fighter, and strafing attacks on German facilities and airfields. By the end of the war, at 23 years of age with the rank of Major, Robin Olds was in command of 434 Squadron. His final tally was 13 air victories, and he was credited with a further 11.5 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground. Simon Atacks powerful painting recreates Robin Olds last air victory of WWII. Flying Scat VII he is seen bringing down a Me109 G10 high over Germany in the late spring of 1945 while flying escort to B-17s bombers of the 381st Bomb Group. Remarkably, this P-51 survived the war and in 1958 was sold to a private owner. In 1992 it was returned to its old wartime configuration. |
Wounded Warrior by Richard Taylor. Like many other missions they had undertaken in the summer of 1944, this one had been particularly cold, tough and dangerous for pilot Harry Seip and the crew of B17G Silver Meteor. The First Lieutenant and his men had set out on that morning, 11th July 1944, from a peaceful Framlingham, on another arduous mission to Munich. With their bomb load dropped the crew headed for home, but the battle-scarred Fortress had been hit more than once, leaving the inner port engine shot out and Silver Meteor had steadily dropped behind the fast-disappearing bomber stream. Things were not looking good for Harry and his crew as the Luftwaffe fighters circled like sharks, closing in for an easy kill. Luckily the enemy pilots were not the only ones that had spotted the ailing Fortress. The P-51s of two of the best Aces in the Eighth Air Force - Bud Anderson and Kit Carson - had also seen the danger and came tearing out of the blue sky into the action. Within minutes the German pilots had fled and the crew of Silver Meteor could breathe a sigh of relief. With these two legendary Aces guiding them home, Harry and his men would survive to fight another day. Harry Seip is now the last surviving member of the crew of Silver Meteor. This remarkable event has lived vividly in his memory since the war and he has always been thankful to Bud Anderson for saving his life and those of his men. Unfortunately, these two outstanding heroes have never been able to meet, but thanks to this new edition both can finally come together to add authenticity to this remarkable story by personally signing this poignant edition. |
Eagles on the Rampage by Robert Taylor. Dominating the skies over Germany, P-51s of the 4th Fighter Group - The Eagles - sweep across the cloud tops, their pilots scanning the distant horizon for any signs of the Luftwaffe. They are ready for trouble should the enemy decide to chance their luck. The greatness of the Mustang is beyond doubt; it was the fighter pilot's ultimate machine. Tough, hard-hitting, it handled beautifully and - once the mighty Merlin engine had been included - possessed a performance unrivalled by any single piston-engined fighter of World War II. British inspired and American built, the P-51 was the aircraft the eager young pilots of the Eighth Air Force had been waiting for. Formed in September 1942 from the RAF Eagle Squadrons, the Fourth Fighter Group was the oldest fighter unit in the Eighth Air Force. Under the command of Don Blakeslee, described as probably the best fighter leader of the war, the combined air and ground victories notched up by 'The Eagles' during World War II surpassed any other fighter group. They were the first to penetrate German air space, and the first to engage the Luftwaffe over Berlin. Hermann Goering later remarked 'When I saw those Mustangs over Berlin, I knew that the war was lost'. Each print in this outstanding edition is signed by some of the most famous Mustang pilots that flew in the European Theatre during World War II. Every signatory in the edition has reached Ace status, creating a historic new collectors' edition which may never be surpassed. |
Looking for Trouble by Robert Taylor. When Hitler invaded Poland the British found themselves at war - and isolated. Desperate for new fighters and with production at full capacity they turned to the US aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation who were convinced they had the answer for Britain's needs - but it was still on the drawing board. They were, however, sure they could meet the deadline and incredibly, within the space of just four months the company had their brand new machine in the air. The Mustang was a triumph - conceived and born in a shorter period than any other significant aircraft in history and testament to its designer Edgar Schmued, and the people who built it. Delivered to the RAF in October 1941, it was fast, manoeuvrable, hard-hitting and, by the time it was combined with the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, was capable of outperforming anything the enemy could throw at it. With the arrival of the long-range fighter the heavy bombers of the USAAF could now be escorted all the way to the German capital and back so whilst the RAF pounded Berlin at night, the Mighty Eighth would do the same by day. When P-51s first appeared in the skies over Berlin, Hermann Goering was reported to have announced that he knew then the war was lost. Like the Spitfire, a special new breed of men flew the Mustang as the Allies pushed for victory in Europe. Tough, supremely confident, determined, and gloriously brave; it was an era that belonged to them and the P-51 helped produce some of the greatest aces of the war. Such iconic pilots as George Preddy, John Meyer, Don Blakeslee, Kit Carson and Bud Anderson scored all or most of their victories in this thoroughbred fighter. In fact, the Mustang was responsible for more US victories than any other fighter of the war. In this painting, P-51Ds of the 352nd Fighter Group with full long-range tanks slung under their wings, head out from their forward base in Belgium on an extended sweep east of the Rhine crossing on the lookout for enemy aircraft, in the spring of 1945. |
Phantom Strike by Robert Taylor. Supplied with companion print Wolfpack Leader. |
Home Run by Robert Taylor. SOLD OUT. |
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