Darryl Legg Aviation Art Print of the North American P-51B Mustang.
A Pony for the Eagles - The P-51 and the 4th Fighter Group
When the 354th Fighter Group became the pioneer P-51 group in the European theatre, the 4th Fighter Group's legendary leader, Don Blakeslee led the group on a number of missions. In doing so Blakeslee was immediately impressed with the type and pushed for the aircraft to be issued to his own group in place of the P-47 Thunderbolts they were using at the time.
The 4th Fighter Group was constituted from the three American volunteer squadrons of the RAF, 71, 121 and 133. and as such many of the pilots had found the move away from the Supermarine Spitfire to the Thunderbolt difficult. The P-51 would offer many pilots an aircraft they would be far more likely to have success with. The group received their first P-51s in February 1944. With the new aircraft aerial victories would mount quickly with many famous aces being made or improving their scores still further.
Captain Duane Beeson had already accounted for twelve enemy aircraft while flying the P-47C/D and would add another 5.3 flying the P-51B. Beeson would also score several ground victories for a total of 22.08. He would be shot down and captured while strafing on April 5th 1944 and became a POW. Sadly, Beeson would die of a brain tumour in February 1947 at the age of just 25.
This Fine Art Print Is
- A finely detailed edition printed with archival, lightfast inks
- 285 gsm matt fine art paper.
- The artwork area measures
- Image: 18" × 10.25" (457mm × 259 mm),
- Including Borders: 21" × 13.5" (533 mm × 342 mm)
