|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| Click Here For Full Artist Print Indexes | Aviation History Archive |
|
Aviation Art Prints  Countries Germany Aircraft Index  Me109 |
[UP] - Me109 - Fw190 - Me262 - Fokker Dr.I - Ju87 Stuka - Me110 - More Aircraft |
| Navigation | |
| Page 3 of 10 | Previous .. Page 3 .. Next |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Navigation | |
| Page 3 of 10 | Previous .. Page 3 .. Next |
| Text for the above items : |
Eagles Over the Steppe by Graeme Lothian. Depicting ME109s flying over the Russian Front, the background is the enormous panorama of the Russian Steppe. The enormity of the battlefield on the Eastern Front was staggering in its vastness, stretching, as it did, nearly two thousand miles from frozen wastelands of the Arctic in the north, to the Black Sea in the south. Over this hostile, formidable territory fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe flew more combat missions and shot down more enemy aircraft during World War Two than any other group of fighter pilots in the entire history of aerial combat. Many of the top aces were in battle from the Spanish Civil War in 1938 until the fall of Germany in 1945. They flew continuously day after day, sometimes in the most appalling weather conditions, until they were shot down or wounded. Graeme Lothians emotive print pays tribute to the Fighter Aces of the Eastern Front. In the background is the enormous panorama of the Russian Steppe. Gunther Rall is seen leading his pilots over enemy territory. |
Victory Flypast by David Pentland. (P) Erich Hartmann celebrates his 300th victory over Warzyn airfield, Poland, 24th August 1944. Oberleutnant Erich Hartmann celebrates his 300th victory over JG52's 9th Staffel home field. Four days later he was awarded the Knights cross with diamonds as the first pilot to achieve this score. |
The Blond Knight by Robert Taylor. It is a record likely to stand for all time, Erich Hartmann's tally of 352 victories is more than any other pilot in history. Posted to JG52 over Russia in August 1942 his new Kommodore, Dieter Hrabak, placed the novice pilot under the guidance of Paule Rossman, one of the unit's most experienced and respected Aces. However, during his very first combat Hartmann became so disorientated that he got lost in cloud and ran out of fuel. His undoubted skill as a pilot enabled him to survive the inevitable crash-landing, but a few days later and just minutes after scoring his first ever victory, he was shot down - again crash-landing. This time he only just escaped from his burning aircraft before it exploded. Any other new pilot might have succumbed but Hartmann was made of sterner stuff and , with Rossman's help and guidance, it was not long before everyone in JG52 realised that he possessed exceptional skill. By the summer of 1943 the Blond Knight and his colleagues were flying up to six missions a day and having now perfected his technique, it was unusual for him to finish a day without a victory. Never claiming to be an expert marksman, his approach, which took nerves of steel and great flying skills, was to get as close to his enemy as possible before opening fire at the last minute. Often flying head on, the risks of collision and damage were great - of the sixteen times Hartmann was brought down, eight were as a result of flying into the debris of his victim! Hartmann's 352 victories were achieved with JG52 - all except one. It happened during a brief two week spell at the beginning of February 1945 when the top Ace was placed in temporary command of I./JG53. His new unit were based in Hungary where German Army Group South was in bitter retreat and the fighting was as tough and relentless as ever. The Blond Knightportrays Erich Hartmann climbing out of his Bf109 G-6 at Weszperem's snow-covered airfield after returning from another arduous mission leading Stab I./JG53 with whom, on 4th February he downed a Yak-9. It was his 337th victory. |
Desert Sharks and Eagles by Nicolas Trudgian. The air war fought in the skies above the inhospitable wastelands of the North African desert were among the most hotly contested of the war. The outcome of the bitter land war raging below largely depended upon who controlled the air space above, and both sides knew it. JG-27, having cut its teeth in the battles of France and Britain, was the first Luftwaffe unit to arrive in North Africa. Commanded by the mercurial Eduard Neumann, its Me109s were superior to the Hurricanes and P-40 Kittyhawks flown by the RAF pilots and, without the restriction of close escort duties dictated on the Western Front, the JG-27 pilots roamed the desert skies, closing in combat with the British fighters at every opportunity. The North African air campaign spawned many fighter aces, including Hans-Joachim Marseille who claimed more than 150 victories in his short career - more than any other Luftwaffe ace flying against RAF pilots. The scale of the desert air war is highlighted by raw statistics: 1400 British aircraft lost; over 1200 Luftwaffe destroyed. A dog-fight between Me109s from JG-27 and P-40 Kittyhawks of the RAFs 112 Squadron, led by Killer Caldwell, and later Billy Drake, 112 Squadron were in constant combat with Edu Neumanns fighters as they jousted for air supremacy above Rommels advancing Afrika Korps tanks. Below them, the desolate beauty of the Libyan desert stretches as far as the eye can see. Published 2001. Signed by two RAF and two Luftwaffe pilots (both of whom did not sign many art prints) who fought in the desert campaign, sadly all of whom have since passed away. This is a sought after art print and well worth adding to your collection. |
Defence of the Realm by Adrian Rigby. Pilot Officer Alan Wright flew with No.92 Squadron based at Pembrey. His aircraft, a Spitfire Mk I, is often seen as the symbol of the Battle of Britain, though in fact, the Hurricane bore the brunt of the fighting. Nonetheless, the Spitfires beautiful shape endears it to everyone and it remains a potent national symbol. This painting depicts an action which took place on 11th September 1940. Having already downed a Heinkel III, Wright claimed his first Me109 the same day. His final tally would be 11. Aircraft were frequently pushed to their limits of endurance and this Spitfire bears all the marks of many missions. |
Adversaries by Ivan Berryman. No one knows for certain whether the two great fighter aces Douglas Bader and Adolf Galland actually fought each other in a one-on-one combat, but it is thought highly likely that they did as the famous Tangmere Wing led by Bader regularly found itself dueling with the Bf.109s of JG.26 led by Galland. Their great rivalry came to an end in August 1941 when Bader was shot down over St Omer, but these two heroes were to become close friends after the war, each having the utmost respect for the other. |
JG52 by Robert Taylor. During WWII JG-52 was the most successful Fighter Wing of the Luftwaffe, and with it flew many of the great German Aces, including the world's leading Fighter Pilot Erich Hartmann. General Galland was at one time a Squadron Commander. The Wing spawned some of the most brilliant pilots, each in turn trained as they joined experienced aces who had won their spurs in the early air battles on the Western Front. JG-52 played a significant role in the history of WWII. |
Tribute to Generalleutnant Adolf Galland by Ivan Berryman. One of the all time great fighter aces, Adolf Galland is depicted flying Bf 109E-4/N of Stab/JG26 in September 1940. Galland flew 705 combat missions during World War Two and was credited with a final tally of 104 aerial victories. He survived the war and died peacefully in February 1996. |
Eye of the Sun by Robert Taylor. You can feel the tension in this evocative painting as Messerschmitt Bf109s from 7./JG2 Richthofen head out on a long-range fighter patrol in September 1940. With the sun behind them they hope to launch a surprise attack on unsuspecting RAF aircraft, however these enemy raiders will soon be intercepted by some of Fighter Command's most determined 'defenders of the realm'. |
Hawker Hurricane - War Horse by Graeme Lothian. (P) Hawker Hurricane, the backbone of Fighter Command (along with the Spitfire) is shown during the Battle of Britain, downing an Me109. |
Fighter Legend - Adolf Galland by Nicolas Trudgian. Published 1991. This is a great value item for the collector of great signatures. |
Lost Over Dunkirk by Ivan Berryman. Spitfire N3289 of F/O John Wilson was shot down over Dunkirk on 29th May 1940 by a Messerschmitt Bf109. |
The Count by David Pentland. (P) Leutnant Walter Count Punski Krupinski of 4 Staffel, JG52 downs a Soviet R5 biplane on 25th September 1942. By the end of the day, 4 enemy aircraft would fall prey to his guns. One month later he received the Ritterkreutz having claimed 56 victories. |
Combat Over Normandy by Graeme Lothian. Spitfires of R.C.A.F 144 Wing led by Wing Commander Johnson in combat with ME109s of JG3 over Arromanches, France June 1944. |
Tribute to Gunther Rall by Ivan Berryman. (P) No text for this item |
Breaking the Ring by David Pentland. Cape Malyj-Korabelnye, Russia, 18th August 1943. While escorting Fw190s to attack Soviet shipping, ObLt. Schuck's flight of Me109G2s from 8./JG5 attacked the four Soviet Hurricanes of 78 IAP/VVS which were on patrol over the boats. The Soviet formation leader, Mladshiy Leytenant Valeriy Kiritshenko, ordered his men to form a defensive Lufbery circle but this proved inadequate protection against Schucks determined attack. Breaking into the Ring he first downed Kitshenko, and then pursued and shot down a second Hurricane. |
First to Fall by Ivan Berryman. The first Messerschmitt Bf.109 to be brought down on English soil in WW2 was 2964, a machine from 3/LG2. Although injured, the pilot baled out successfully, landing near Sandwich in Kent, the victim of an intense combat with Spitfires of 54 Sqn. |
Tribute to Gunther Seeger by Ivan Berryman. Scoring his first victory during the Battle of Britain with 3./JG2, Gunther Seeger served on the Channel Front until the end of 1942 before moving to the Mediterranean. Joining JG53 shortly after, he racked up 56 victories in all, and was awarded the Knight's Cross. Shown here in his Bf.109 F2 of Stab JG2 in France, 1941, Gunther Seeger died in 2013. |
Me109 - Adolf Galland by Jason Askew. (P) From June 1940 on, Adolf Galland flew as a of III./JG 26, fighting in the Battle of britain with 109-Emils from bases in the Pas de Calais. During the Battle of Britain, in a legendary front line General Officer briefing on Luftwaffe tactics, Hermann Goring asked what his pilots needed to win the battle. Galland replied: I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron. Göring was speechless with rage. It is important that this remark is not taken out of context, because Galland also stated (in his autobiography) that of course fundamentally I preferred our Me109 to the Spitfire. This apparent contradiction was due to his view that because the Spitfire was more manoeuvreable he considered it more suitable to the role of defensive fighter than the Bf 109, though he actually thought that fighters should not be used in a defensive role anyway. When Galland made the much quoted comment about the Spitfires to Göring he was unbelievably vexed at the lack of understanding and stubbornness with which the command gave us orders we could not execute and so made the comment as a retort to Göring. |
Homeward Bound by Anthony Saunders. Summer 1940: it has been another rough day for the sasoned pilots of JG-26 Schlageter. Once again they have flown out of their base at Abbeville in northern France to escort the massed bombers of the Luftwaffe against the RAFs fighter airfields of southern England, and once again they have been locked in deadly combat with the Spitfires and Hurricanes of RAF Fighter Command. The Battle of Britain is reaching its climax and, for the first time, the Luftwaffe tastes defeat. This painting by Anthony Saunders brings to life a typical cameo from those long and arduous aerial contests, an Me109 from JG-26 has taken a hit during the fighting, the engine is overheating, and beginning to trail smoke. But the Squadron Commander, the legendary Adolf Galland, closes in to escort the stricken fighter back across the Channel. Crossing the iconic white cliffs of Dover, the drama has time to run. |
Fairey Battle Mk.I by Ivan Berryman. Fairey Battle HA-J of No.218 Sqn is taken by surprise by the close pass of a Bf109E over France. The squadron were based at Auberive-sur-Suippes in 1939, and as part of the Advance Air Striking Force of the RAF during the Battle of France, suffered heavy losses. An aircraft carrying the codes HA-J was shot down by flak on the afternoon of 12th May 1940. The three crew of aircraft K9353, J B Horner, L C Flisher and L D Davies were all lost. |
Me109 Willy Messerschmitt designed the BF109 during the early 1930s. The Bf109 was one of the first all metal monocoque construction fighters with a closed canopy and retractable undercarriage. The engine of the Me109 was a V12 aero engine which was liquid-cooled. The Bf109 first saw operational service during the Spanish Civil War and flew to the end of World War II, during which time it was the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons. During the Battle of Britian the Bf109 was used in the role of an escort fighter, a role for which it was not designed for, and it was also used as a fighter bomber. During the last days of May 1940 Robert Stanford-Tuck, the RAF ace, got the chance to fly an Me109 which they had rebuilt after it had crash landed. Stanford-Tuck found out that the Me109 was a wonderful little plane, it was slightly faster than the Spitfire, but lacked the Spitfire manoeuvrability. By testing the Me109, Tuck could put himself inside the Me109 when fighting them, knowing its weak and strong points. With the introduction of the improved Bf109F in the spring of 1941, the type again proved to be an effective fighter during the invasion of Yugoslavia and during the Battle of Crete and the invasion of Russia and it was used during the Siege of the Mediteranean island of Malta. The Bf109 was the main fighter for the Luftwaffe until 1942 when the Fw190 entered service and shared this position, and was partially replaced in Western Europe, but the Me109 continued to serve on the Eastern Front and during the defence of the Reich against the allied bombers. It was also used to good effect in the Mediterranean and North Africa in support of The Africa Korps. The Me109 was also supplied to several German allies, including Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovakia. The Bf109 scored more kills than any other fighter of any country during the war and was built in greater numbers with a total of over 31,000 aircraft being built. The Bf109 was flown by the three top German aces of the war war. Erich Hartmann with 352 victories, Gerhard Barkhorn with 301 victories and Gunther Rall with 275 kills. Bf109 pilots were credited with the destruction of 100 or more enemy aircraft. Thirteen Luftwaffe Aces scored more than 200 kills. Altogether this group of pilots were credited with a total of nearly 15,000 kills, of which the Messerschmitt Bf109 was credited with over 10,000 of these victories. The Bf109 was the most produced warplane during World War II, with 30,573 examples built during the war, and the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 units produced up to April 1945. Bf109s remained in foreign service for many years after World War II. The Swiss used their Bf109Gs well into the 1950s. The Finnish Air Force did not retire their Bf109Gs until March 1954. Romania used its Bf109s until 1955. The Spanish Hispanos flew even longer. Some were still in service in the late 1960s. |
| Top Aces for : Me109 | |
| A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown this aircraft. | |
| Name | Victories |
| Erich Hartmann | 352.00 |
| Gerhard Barkhorn | 301.00 |
| Günther Rall | 275.00 |
| Otto Kittel | 267.00 |
| Walter Schuck | 206.00 |
| Anton Hafner | 204.00 |
| Walter Krupinski | 197.00 |
| Joachim Kirschner | 188.00 |
| Johannes Steinhoff | 176.00 |
| Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke | 162.00 |
| Hans-Joachim Marseille | 158.00 |
| Hans Beisswenger | 152.00 |
| Friedrich-Karl Muller | 140.00 |
| Rudolf Trenkel | 138.00 |
| Herbert Ihlefeld | 137.00 |
| Walter Wolfrum | 137.00 |
| Adolf Dickfeld | 136.00 |
| Otto Fonnekold | 136.00 |
| Karl-Heinz Weber | 136.00 |
| Joachim Muncheberg | 135.00 |
| Wilhelm Lemke | 131.00 |
| Walter Dahl | 128.00 |
| Dieter Hrabak | 125.00 |
| Adolf Galland | 104.00 |
| Max-Hellmuth Ostermann | 102.00 |
| Edmund Rossmann | 93.00 |
| Helmut Bennemann | 92.00 |
| Karl Neumann | 75.00 |
| Alfred Ambs | 7.00 |
| Alfred Heckmann | 71.00 |
| Helmut Ruffler | 70.00 |
| Hans-Ekkehard Bob | 60.00 |
| Gunther Seeger | 56.00 |
| Kurt Schade | 27.00 |
| Gerhard Schöpfel | 45.00 |
| Johannes Schmid | 45.00 |
| Friedrich Korner | 36.00 |
| Erwin Leykauf | 33.00 |
| Willi Reschke | 28.00 |
| Arnold Lignitz | 25.00 |
| Franz von Werra | 21.00 |
| Wolfgang Schenck | 18.00 |
| Ernst Scheufele | 18.00 |
| Eduard Neumann | 13.00 |
| Franz Elles | 5.00 |
| Eino Juutilainen | 94.17 |
| Werner Hohenberg | 33.00 |
| Emil Clade | 27.00 |
| Heinz Radlauer | 15.00 |
| Friedrich Schelker | 22.00 |
| Johannes Bachmann | 5.00 |
| Manfred Leisebein | 5.00 |
| Norbert Hannig | 42.00 |
|
Contact Details |
|
Sign Up To Our Newsletter!
This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com
|
|
|
