Robert's emotive painting shows 381st Bomb Group B-17 Fortresses returning to Ridgewell on a summer afternoon in 1944 during a period when the Group reached the peak of its effectiveness - for several months it was top ranked outfit in the Eighth. Between June 1943 and the end of hostilities the 381st completed 297 combat missions, hit almost every important target in German hands, and was credited with the destruction of 223 enemy aircraft. One aircraft more than any other came to symbolise the great daylight bombing campaign of the USAAF in Europe during World War Two, the B-17 Flying Fortress.

Thunderheads Over Ridgewell by Robert Taylor

Robert's emotive painting shows 381st Bomb Group B-17 Fortresses returning to Ridgewell on a summer afternoon in 1944 during a period when the Group reached the peak of its effectiveness - for several months it was top ranked outfit in the Eighth. Between June 1943 and the end of hostilities the 381st completed 297 combat missions, hit almost every important target in German hands, and was credited with the destruction of 223 enemy aircraft. One aircraft more than any other came to symbolise the great daylight bombing campaign of the USAAF in Europe during World War Two, the B-17 Flying Fortress.

Please note image above has been cropped at sides.

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