Top Ace by Robert Taylor

‘Wait till you get ‘em in your sights’ he said, ‘then short bursts. There’s no use melting your guns!’ It was a simple tactic and with 28 air victories to his credit during WWII, one that made ‘Gabby’ Gabreski the top-scoring American Ace in Europe. As if that wasn’t enough, Gabreski would later down 6.5 MiG-15s flying the F-86 in Korea, one of only seven American fighter pilots to achieve Ace status in both wars.

Robert Taylor, still the world’s most collected and respected aviation artist, has chosen Gabreski as the centrepiece for his latest master drawing Top Ace. Bringing America’s top-scoring fighter pilot in Europe to life, you can feel the raw power of Gabreski’s rugged P-47 Thunderbolt as he and his wingman thunder away from Boxted shortly after D-Day.

In tribute to the legendary Ace depicted and the courageous pilots who flew with him in the ‘Wolfpack’ 56th Fighter Group, Robert’s stunning drawing has been faithfully reproduced as a high quality giclée fine art print on textured velvet paper.

Only 26 copies of this stunning piece are available worldwide with every print signed, numbered and hand-titled by Robert himself.

The historical importance of this extremely limited edition is highlighted by the addition of rare ORIGINAL autographs within the conservation matting, including Gabby Gabreski and an additional ten highly-regarded pilots who flew with the 56th FG. Between them they achieved over 100 victories to help make the 56th the USAAF’s top-scoring fighter group of the war.

Signatures:

Colonel FRANCIS ‘GABBY’ GABRESKI

Colonel WALKER ‘BUD’ MAHURIN

Brigadier General LESLIE SMITH

Brigadier General LYLE ADRIANSE

Captain WALTER GROCE

Lieutenant Colonel EDGAR WHITLEY

Major MICHAEL GLADYCH

Lieutenant JOHN BRADSHAW

Colonel BILLY EDENS

Chief Warrant Officer RUSSELL KYLER

Colonel ROBERT ‘SHORTY’ RANKIN