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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures United States P Prevost, Herbert

Colonel Herbert L Prevost DFC

Joining the Hell Hawks in June 1944 he flew operations on D-Day and over Normandy, once managing to return his P-47 after striking his propeller on the ground whilst strafing a train. He was awarded the DFC for helping destroy seven tanks, three armored vehicles and five trucks at Weyerbusch in March 1945.

Colonel Herbert L Prevost DFC - Signed Aviation Art

Thunder in the Ardennes by Anthony Saunders. 3 editions. All 3 editions feature up to 7 additional signature(s). £110.00 - £210.00

Clipped Signature - Herbert L Prevost. One edition. £40.00

Hell Hawks Over Utah by Robert Taylor. 3 of 6 editions available. All 6 editions feature up to 13 additional signatures. £210.00 - £365.00

Text for the above items :

Thunder in the Ardennes by Anthony Saunders. P-47 Thunderbolts of the 509th Fighter Squadron, 405th Fighter Group, pass low over paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division advancing through heavy snow during the Battle of the Bulge, January 1945. Major Robert 'Blackie' Blackburn, in his distinctive aircraft Chow Hound, leads his unit as they head out on a morning low-level bombing mission. In the early hours of 16th December 1944, out of nowhere, hundreds of panzers and thousands of troops poured forward as Hitler launched the last great German offensive of the war and, for once, the Allies had been wrong-footed. The thinly-held Ardennes was the last place they had been expecting a counter-attack, but now three German armies were heading west across an 80-mile front. Caught off guard the Americans rushed in reinforcements, including the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions encamped near Reims, over a hundred miles away. Exhausted by the fighting in Holland during Operation Market Garden, they had been sent to Reims to recuperate. They never got the chance. Thrown into the thick of the action the 82nd helped to blunt the Germans' advance to the north, whilst at Bastogne, a pivotal town further south, the 101st, surrounded, out-numbered and besieged, refused to surrender. The line held and three days before Christmas the panzers ground to a halt, stalled by lack of fuel. As the weather improved the Allies could now bring their airpower into play. Hitler's last gamble had failed.

Clipped Signature - Herbert L Prevost. Joining the 'Hell Hawks' of the 365th Fighter Group in June 1944, he flew operations on D-Day and over Normandy, once managing to return his P-47 after striking his propeller on the ground whilst strafing a train. He was awarded the DFC for helping destroy seven tanks, three armored vehicles and five trucks at Weyerbusch in March 1945.

Hell Hawks Over Utah by Robert Taylor. Without air supremacy D-Day and the invasion of north-west Europe would never have happened, and the tactical Ninth Air Force played a huge part in securing that position. The Ninth had fought with distinction from the deserts of North Africa to the invasion of Sicily and the fighting in Italy. They had spearheaded the assault on Ploesti and, from humble beginnings, had grown into one of the finest and most formidable Air Forces in the USAAF. Then, in October 1943, the Ninth were sent to England for their greatest challenge so far - providing air support for the US First Army during the forthcoming invasion of Normandy. By the morning of 6th June 1944 the Ninth was the largest and most effective tactical air force in the world, with over a quarter of a million personnel and more than 3,500 fighters, bombers and troop-carriers under its command. Amongst them were the P-47s of the 365th Fighter Group - the fearsome Hell Hawks - a unit that by the end of World War Two would become legendary. Amongst the first to use P-47s as fighter-bombers, the Hell Hawks were hard at work softening up the enemy in the build up to D-Day, dive-bombing bridges, rail lines, gun positions and airfields. With two 1,000-pound bombs below their wings along with ten 5-in rockets and eight .50 calibre machine guns, their enormous firepower devastated the German defenses on D-Day. The Hell Hawks supported the army throughout the Normandy campaign, all the way across northern France to the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, and beyond. It was a harsh nomadic life, eating and sleeping in tents and moving from one temporary strip to the next. By the end of hostilities in May 1945 the Hell Hawks had moved through 11 different airfields, more than any other fighter-bomber group in the Ninth Air Force.

Thunderbolt Built : 15683

Thunderbolt Alexander Kartveli was a engineer with Seversky Aircraft who designed the P-35, which first flew in 1937. With Republic Aviation Kartveli supervised the development of the P-43 Lancer. Neither of these aircraft were produced in large numbers, and neither was quite successful. However, the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt, also nicknamed the Jug, was quite a different story. The Jug was the jewel in Kartvelis design crown, and went on to become one of the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with 15,683 being manufactured. The P-47 was the largest and heaviest single seat fighter of WW II. The P-47 immediately demonstrated its excellent combat qualities, including speed, rate of climb, maneuverability, heavy fire power, and the ability to take a lot of punishment. With a wingspan of more than 40 feet and a weight of 19,400 pounds, this large aircraft was designed around the powerful 2000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The first P-47 prototype flew in May of 1941, and the primary variant the P-47D went into service in 1943 with units of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The Jug had a maximum speed in excess of 400 MPH, a service ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet, and was heavily armed with either six or eight heavy caliber machine guns. With its ability to carry up to a 2,500 pound bomb load, the Jug saw lots of use in ground attack roles. Until the introduction of the N model, the P-47 lacked the long range required for fighter escort missions which were most often relegated to P-51 Mustangs or P-38 Lightnings. In his outstanding painting entitled Bridge Busting Jugs, noted aviation artist Stan Stokes depicts Eighth Air Force Jugs in a ground attack mission in the Alps in June of 1944. The top P-47 ace was Francis Gabreski who had flown with the 56th Fighter Group, the first unit to be equipped with the P-47. In August of 1943 Gabreski attained his first aerial combat victory (over an Fw-190) and by years end he had reached ace status with 8 confirmed victories. As Commander of the 61st Squadron, Gabreski continued to chalk up victory after victory, and on seven different occasions he achieved two victories during the same mission. However, in July of 1944 Gabreski damaged the prop on his Jug during a low level attack on an airfield near Coblenz. Forced to make a crash landing, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until Wars end in 1945. Following the War Gabreski returned to military service with the Air Forces 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Flying the F-86 Sabre Jet, Gabreski attained 6.5 more aerial victories in 1951 and 1952 becoming an ace in two different wars

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Colonel Herbert L Prevost DFC Squadron details

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