The Mighty Eighth: Outward Bound

Description

A rare secondary market print, The Mighty Eighth – Outward Bound by Robert Taylor features P-47 Thunderbolts preparing to take off on a long escort mission to Germany.
One of a pair (the other being Mighty Eighth – Coming Home) within Robert Taylor’s Golden Anniversary Series, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the American Air Forces in Europe.
The USAAF arrived in England in 1942 to join the RAF with one aim: the destruction of Nazi Germany. With a doctrine of high altitude daytime bombing, initially with sparse fighter protection, the Eighth Air Force went forth into battle. But the determined fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, together with the fearsome anti-aircraft guns of the ground defences took a heavy toll. It quickly became obvious that fighter would be required to play a decisive role in the campaign. And this they did. Under great Flight Commanders such as Hub Zemke and Don Blakeslee, the Eighth continually developed and honed their tactics, and it was only a matter of time before this mighty force achieved priceless domination of the skies over Europe. It is on record that the fighters probably made the biggest single contribution to the ultimate victory in the air war in Europe.
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the arrival in Europe of the mighty Eighth and to perpetuate the memory of the gallant airmen who flew the fearsome combat missions during the World War 2, Robert Taylor painted two aviation masterpieces.
The first in this historic set features the fighters of the Eighth in a busy scene on a wartime airfield in England, as the fighter squadrons prepare for mission to Germany. The redoubtable P-47 Thunderbolts start-up and taxi out for take-off, while overhead P-51s climb out to join the bomber force, already en-route to the target. The scene is set in 1944, and the early model P-47s and P-51s have already seen two years hard combat.
Robert Taylor’s spectacular painting, Outward Bound, conveys vividly the noisy, exhilarating activity that always accompanied the build-up to a raid over enemy territory, the scene recreated to perfection.
Each print in Robert Taylor’s Limited Edition, Mighty Eighth – Outward Bound, is signed by 6 distinguished pilots who flew with the Mighty Eighth:
Major Richard Peterson
Colonel ‘Gabby’ Gabreski
Colonel ‘Bud’ Mahurin
Colonel Robert Johnson
Colonel Don Blakeslee
Colonel ‘Hub’ Zemke.