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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art World War Two Squadrons United States 4th Fighter Group to 78th Fighter Group  56th Fighter Group |
| 56th Fighter Group Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings |
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| Text for the above items : |
Tribute to Walker 'Bud' Mahurin by Ivan Berryman. Flying P-47 Thunderbolts with the 56th Fighter Group in England, Bud Mahurin scored more than 20 victories during World War Two. Seen here in his personal aircraft 42-8487 UN-M named The Spirit of Atlantic City owing to it being paid for by bonds from that city, he shot down three Me109s in a day and three Fw190s another day, before eventually being brought down by return fire from a German bomber. Evacuated from France with the help of the Resistance, he then flew P-51 Mustangs against the Japanese in the Philippines, scoring one more victory before again being shot down, bailing into the ocean. He went on to score more victories in the Korean War before being shot down and taken prisoner for more than a year. He was the only pilot of the US Air Force to down enemy aircraft in the European Theater, Pacific Theater and Korean War. He died in 2010. |
The Wolfpack by Robert Taylor. The 56th Fighter Group was led by some of Americas greatest fighter leaders of World War II and was home to many of its leading fighter Aces. Under successive commanders Hub Zemke, Robert Landry and David Schilling, the 56th destroyed more enemy aircraft in combat than any other fighter group in the Eighth Air Force. Arriving in England in January 1943 under the command of Colonel Hub Zemke, a master tactician and fearless leader, the 56th quickly emerged as an outstanding fighting unit. The only Eighth Air Force Group to fly P-47 Thunderbolts throughout the war, the 56th spawned more fighter Aces than any other USAAF group - legends such as Gabby Gabreski, Robert Johnson and the colourful Ace Walker Bud Mahurin. Under Hub Zemkes mercurial leadership they became known and feared as Zemkes Wolfpack. On 26 November, 1943, the P-47s of the 56th Fighter Group were tasked to escort B-24 Liberators of the 392nd Bomb Group on a dangerous mission to attack the heavily defended industrial and dockyard facilities in the German port of Bremen. Zemke knew the Luftwaffe would be waiting for them as they approached the target, and they were - in force! It was to become a day of high drama. With the Luftwaffe throwing all the fighters they could muster at the American heavy bombers, a massive aerial battle ensued. In the running dogfights high over Bremen, the Wolfpack claimed their most successful action of the war with 23 confirmed kills, 3 probables, and 9 damaged, creating an all-time record in the European Theatre. The 392nds B-24 Liberators could not have been in safer hands on that eventful day. |
Tribute to Robert S Johnson by Ivan Berryman. American fighter Ace Robert S Johnson is depicted in his 56th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolt with codes HV-P named 'Lucky'. Of his 27 victories during a tour of 89 combat missions from April 1943 to May 1944, he scored 21 in this aircraft. The joint sixth top-scoring American Ace of WW2, he was notably the first US pilot in the European theater to better the historic WW1 victory total of Eddie Rickenbacker, the top-scoring American Ace of that war. Post-war, he became a test-pilot and retired in 1962. He died in 1998. |
Feeling the Wolves Bite by Brian Bateman. The twelfth of May, 1944. The German countryside is blooming with the coming of spring. Germanys struggle is coming to a crescendo as the Allies continue their assault on the Third Reich. Just above the deceptive peace of the countryside, Gruppenkommandeur Gunther Rall, assigned to JG/11 on the Western Front, is bounced by P-47s of the 56th Fighter Group. Better known as Zemkes Wolf pack, the 56th is the highest scoring USAAF fighter unit of the ETO, accounting for some 665-1/2 aircraft in the air. Rall is outnumbered four to one. Taking evasive action, Rall descends from the clouds toward the treetops, trying everything he knows to pull out and away from the much-too-powerful P-47s. Weaving, twisting and at full throttle, even Rall is no match for the numbers against him. Finally, Ralls 109 is within range and the P-47s eight 50-caliber guns are making deadly strikes--igniting Ralls aircraft and shooting his thumb off at the throttle. Rall has no choice but to pull into a half loop and bail out. To make matters worse, as Rall reaches the ground he is approached by a German farmer with a pitchfork who tries to impale him! After convincing the farmer hes German, Rall stomps off to a local phone and is subsequently taken to a hospital where he would remain until 1944. Feeling the Wolves Bite depicts Gunther Ralls 109G during this encounter. Rall, on fire and wounded, begins to pull into a half loop as he prepares to bail out of his Messerschmitt for the first and only time in his career. |
Zemkes Wolfpack by Robert Taylor. Hub Zemke was a fighter pilot and commander who led from the front. A great tactician too, it was in no small measure due to the air combat tactics introduced to the 56th Fighter Group by its mercurial leader that by the end of WW2 it had become the top-scoring Fighter Group in the USAF. This highly successful unit spawned some of the top fighter aces in the European theatre : Gabby Gabreski with 34.5 victories, Robert Johnson with 28 victories, and the colourful Ace, Walker Bud Mahurin who shot down 21 German aircraft. High over Germany at the extremity of its range, the P-47 of Hub Zemke is seen leading his pilots in to defend a stricken B-17 against the persistent attacks of marauding Fw190s. Already damaged, the B-17 has dropped from the relative safety of the formation, and protection from the P-47s is now its only chance of survival. |
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