by
Nicolas Trudgian
24" by 36"
Featuring the P-38 Lockheed Lightning
Signed by four famous USAAF Fighter Aces
Mint condition with original COA and color flyer
$495
Dawn Chorus is one of Trudgian's most sought after secondary market prints!
When the distinctive twin-boomed P-38 Lightnings arrived in England in 1942, they brought with them for the first time the ability to provide bomber escort all the way to a target. Remarkably maneuverable for a high-speed, twin-engine aircraft, in capable hands it was a match in combat for the fast single-engine fighters of the Luftwaffe. Its great versatility was demonstrated in the ground attack role, its tasks at the time of the D-Day landings including low-level straffing of enemy positions.
'Dawn Chorus' by Nicolas Trudgian shows a bunch of 20th Fighter Group
P-38s climbing out from their base at Kingscliffe, Northamptonshire, at
dawn, as they head for the Normandy beaches on a low-level strike mission.
Below, in a sleepy Northamptonshire village the local residents are awakened
by their regular 'early morning call', courtesy of the busy P-38 pilots.
This morning, as if the ear-splitting crescendo of the P-38s isn't enough,
U.S. Army trucks rumble through the village. Clearly visible in the foreground
of Trudgian's exquisite landscape is a typical English village of the 1940s.
The pub, center of life in the village, and popular with the pilots in
the evenings, is surrounded by quaint thatched cottages and winding country
lanes. An ancient bridge spans the river while the old watermill slowly
turns in the gentle current of the mill race. Above this peaceful rural
setting the lead aircraft fills the canvas, every detail of the P-38 clearly
visible as it skims the chimney pots enroute to the battle front. In addition
to the artist Nicolas Trudgian, each print in the edition is individually
signed by Colonel Hub Zemke, Brigadier General Robin Olds, Colonel Arthur
Jeffrey and Colonel Jack Ilfrey.
