Mustangs Over The Eagles Nest by Nicolas Trudgian

Obersalzberg, a spectacularly picturesque area of southern Germany in the Bavarian Alps, became a focal point for the Allies as World War II was drawing to its close. This mountain village had become a Nazi stronghold after the Third Reich had seized houses, farms, and some 600 acres, and built private residences for Martin Bormann and Hermann Goering, an SS barracks, and erected a 30kmn fence around the perimeter to deter intrusion.

At its center was the Berghoff, Adolf Hitlers private mountain retreat. Crowning Bormanns lavish building program was the house he had built on a rocky spur almost 3000 feet above the Obersalzberg, some 6000 feet above sea level. Reached via a twisting road blasted out of the mountainside, the house was approached after entering a tunnel via a large brass two story elevator rising over 400 feet to the building. The Kelilsteinhaus was Martin Bormanns present for Hitler on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1939.

It was known by the Allies as the Eagles Nest. Believing the Obersalzberg to be where Hitler and his closest henchmen would make their final stand, in April 1945 Allied bombing raids reduced much of the area to ruins. The Eagles Nest, intended as a private retreat from which Hitler could gaze over a conquered Europe, being an isolated target, survived this onslaught, and endures to this day.

Nicolas Trudgians painting shows P-51Ds of the 339th Fighter Group roaring over the rooftop of Hitlers now abandoned folly. With Germany and the Third Reich on the brink of defeat, this majestic aviation image conveys the poignant irony of the greatest lost cause in human history, with P-51 Mustangs providing a fitting symbol of victory over tyranny.

Overall paper size: 35 1/2" wide x 27" high.

Mustangs Over The Eagles Nest by Nicolas Trudgian
350 Anniversary Edition signed and numbered prints w/FOUR signatures.	US $185

The Signatures

1st Lieutenant Ivan Hasek
Ivan Hasek flew P47s in Europe with the 353rd FS - The Fighting Cobras, 354th Fighter Group, attached to the 9th Air Force, scoring his first victory - against an Fw190, on Boxing Bay 1944. Converting to P5 IDs in early 1945 his tally continued to mount, and he finished his tour an Ace with 5.5 victories.

Captain John L Minech
A pilot with the 647th Squadron, 410th Light Bomb Group, John Minech flew the first of his sixty-five combat missions in May 1944, flying the Douglas A20 Havoc. he flew two missions on d-Day itself, the second of which was a low level attack at 300ft during the evening. He flew thirty-five missions as a Flight Leader, and was Squadron Operations Officer for 5 months. He flew in Europe until the end of the war.

Master Sergeant Dale Moon
Flying B17s with the 381st Bomb Group, Dale Moon was based at Ridgewell with the 533rd Bomb Squadron. Dale undertook his first combat mission in April 1944 during the build up to D-Day, and went on 4 big raids to Berlin during his tour - surviving two crash landings following heavy action. After the war Dale saw service in Korea, and flew the B29 and B36 Peacemaker - the largest American bomber ever produced.

Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Powell
Commissioned and rated a pilot in December 1943, Lawrence Powell was posted to England, joining the 339th Fighter Group at Fowlinere. Flying P51 s, Lawrence notched up the first of his 5.5 victories, over an Fw 190 south of Hamburg, on 4 August 1944, and attained Ace status on 23 September. Shot down by flak in January 1945, and was made POW.

Major Robert W. Sternfels
Pilot Bob Sternfels was posted to the 98th Bomb Group flying B24 Liberators, and by April 1943 was in Libya where he took part in the first big Ploesti raid on 1 August 1943, flying the much photographed B24 Sandman. Flying 50 combat missions, he later commanded his squadron out of Libya and Italy, including a big Ragensberg raid.