Description
Rare Print
The Tribute Edition – 17 signatures
With the morning sun glinting on their fuselages, P-51 Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group cross the Dutch coastline far below, heading back towards their base at Duxford, England at the end of a long sweep east of the Rhine crossing in Spring 1945. The final months of the war in Europe lie ahead, and for the P-51 pilots the victory is within sight.
Robert Taylor’s visually poetic new masterpiece, Opening Sky, pays tribute to the American P-51 Mustang fighter pilots who flew and fought for freedom during World War II, and is the third in his highly successful Tribute Series. It follows the release of his popular RAF Hurricane tribute, Height and Sun; and Luftwaffe Me109 tribute Dawn Eagles Rising.
Limited edition prints of Opening Sky have been signed by many of the United States’ most famous P-51 fighter pilots, and together with the previous two prints in this series, create an extraordinary opportunity for aviation art and military history collectors.
THE P-51 TRIBUTE EDITION
Each copy of the Tribute Edition has been individually signed by a seventeen P-51 fighter pilots, making a total of SEVENTEEN signatures in total.
Colonel CLARENCE ‘BUD’ ANDERSON – 357th FG / 161/4 victories
Lieutenant Colonel CLYDE EAST – 10th Photo Recon Group / 141/2 victories
Colonel ART FIELDLER – 325th FG / 8 victories
Major BILL ALLEN – 55th FG / 5 victories
Captain JIM BROOKS – 31st FG / 13 victories
Captain CLINTON BURDICK – 356th FG / 51/2 victories
Captain WAYNE COLEMAN – 78th FG / 4 victories
First Lieutenant RAYMOND ‘TED’ CONLIN – 357th FG
Lieutenant Colonel DON CUMMINGS – 27th, 55th FG / 61/2 victories
Major URBAN DREW – 361st FG / 6 victories
Lieutenant Colonel BOB GOEBEL – 31st FG / 11 victories
Lieutenant Colonel ROBERT A. KARR – 52nd FG / 6 victories
Colonel WALKER ‘BUD’ MAHURIN – 56th, 3rd, 51st FG / 241/4 victories
Colonel STEVE PISANOS – 4th FG / 10 victories
First Lieutenant JOHN SKARA – 357th FG
Second Lieutenant LOWELL STEWARD – 332nd FG (Tuskegee)
First Lieutenant CLINT WHITE – 31st FG175
Edition Size – 175
