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In
early April 1942, under the command of General Ralph Royce,
and almost a week before the Doolittle raid – seven B-25C
Mitchells and three B-17 Fortresses of the 5th Air Force,
lifted off from their base in Australia and headed for the
staging field at Del Monte on the island of Mindanao, in the
Philippines. Richard Taylor’s new painting shows one of 5th
Air Force B-25C Mitchell taking off from the Del Monte on
Sunday 12 April 1942, en-route to hit the harbor and
shipping targets at Cebu. In the three days of Royce’s
raids, the Mitchells flew over twenty sorties, sinking and
seriously damaging three Japanese transport ships, and
shooting down three enemy fighters. In a triumph of surprise
aerial strikes, all seven B-25s and their crews returned
safely to base.
Every
print in this new limited edition is authenticated by Senior
Master Sergeant Vernon Main. Flying in the B25 of the 13th
Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group depicted in Richard Taylor’s fine
new painting, Vernon Main is one of only two surviving
veterans of the Royce mission, and is joined in signing each
print by the artist Richard Taylor.
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