There
was no mistaking the 325th Fighter Group. Their reputation
preceded them, the brightly colored checkerboard tails of
their P-51 Mustangs signaling a calling card most Luftwaffe
pilots hated to see. By May 1944, based in Italy, the 325th
were escorting the heavy bombing missions deep into Rumania,
France, Germany and Austria.
Escorting B-24s to bomb the airfield at
Markersdorf in Austria, August 1944, the 325th tangled with
a group of Fw190 fighters, the scene of Nicolas Trudgian's
painting. The ensuing dogfight spiraled down below the mountain
peaks as Herky Green led the Checkertails in a high-speed,
low-level chase through a spectacular Austrian Mountain pass.
Herky nails one Fw190. Behind him
his P-51 pilots will take out the two Fw190s off his starboard
wing. When all is done this day the 325th will be credited
with 15 enemy fighters destroyed.
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Overall print
size: 27" wide x 19" high.
Prints are individually signed by
THREE P-51 Aces who flew combat with the 325th Fighter Group
during World War Two.
| The
Checkertail Clan by Nicolas
Trudgian |
| 600 s/n prints
w/THREE signatures. |
US
$125 |
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Each print individually signed by:
Major
Robert M. Barkey
Colonel Arthur
C. Fielder
 Colonel
Herschel Green
Commissioned in 1942, 'Herky' Green joined the 57th Fighter
Group, but soon transferred to the 79th Fighter Group, and
finally the colorful 325th Fighter Group - the 'Checkertails',
where he scored his first victory on 19 May 1943 flying a
P51 Mustang. On 25 March 1944 he took command of the squadron,
and led them until the end of his tour, scoring the last of
his 18 victories over an Fw190, on 23 August.
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