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Gallery of all First World War aviation prints by
Ivan Berryman, including his WW1 Aces series, depicting many of the most
famous pilots of WW1, including Albert Ball, Oswald Boelcke, Edward
Rickenbacker, the Red Baron and many more. |
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It
is easy to forget that when the Great War broke out in 1914 the aeroplane was
actually only eleven years old and yet, by the time of the 1918 Armistice, it
had been developed into a hybrid instrument of war that was capable of bombing,
reconnaissance, ground strafing and, of course, one-on-one aerial combat. And by
today’s standards – or even those of World War Two – these machines were
still extremely primitive and flying them, let alone fighting in them, was
fraught with danger.
Fragile
in the extreme, their fabric skins were prone to tearing away in the slipstream
when damaged and were so very vulnerable to the ravages of a fire that few crews
survived an aerial conflagration. These flying machines’ flimsy frames and
wings were strengthened and stressed by taut wires that, like the standing
rigging of a sailing ship, kept everything in place…until shot through or
burned away in combat. Very little protection was afforded the pilots and
observers in World War 1 and frequently jamming guns and seizing engines only
added to their peril. Spares were hard to come by and makeshift repairs at the
front line temporary airfields tested the ingenuity of the mechanics and ground
crews whose job it was to keep the aircraft in combat-ready condition. Add to
this volatile mixture of potential misadventures the fact that pilot training
was minimal and that air fighting was still so new that no hard and fast rules
had been established, then the more we might understand the mettle of the young
men who first dipped a toe in the waters of the air war.
Captain William Billy Bishop
Not until the advent of the fixed,
forward firing gun did the single seat fighter become the killing machine that
we know today. Advances in firing mechanisms that enabled the single or twin
machine guns to fire through the spinning propeller revolutionised the fighter
or scout aeroplane. Pilots began to score more and more victories, many of them
becoming national celebrities in their homelands and gaining notoriety among
their enemies. So many of these ‘Aces’ were quiet, unassuming individuals
who cared little for the war and even less for shooting down young opponents who
were, after all, no different to themselves and yet they would find themselves
thrust into the spotlight by their admirers and thus put under even greater
pressure to continue raising their tally whilst at the same time leading and
teaching others.
Novice
pilots were frequently overwhelmed by their first experience of a dogfight where
as many as sixty aircraft might be wheeling and diving in the space of just one
cubic mile of airspace. Confusion, misidentification and mid air collisions were
frequent and inevitable.
Yet,
from this melee, some semblance of order did emerge, often the product of great
leaders like Oswald Boelke who single-handedly wrote the first book of rules of
engagement which, for the first time, gave young pilots a guide to how to fight
in the air, how to surprise the enemy and how to avoid being shot down. So
precise and so prescient were these rules that they still stand today. Boelke
also was partly responsible for the instigation of the Fighting Group, bringing
together a force of 37 Jagdstaffeln – or Hunting Squadrons – whose job it
was not to venture into enemy territory, but to seek out the intruding
observation aircraft and their escorts and shoot them down. This they did with
ruthless efficiency, their superior Albatross D.IIIs decimating the aged BE.2Cs
and RE.8s of the Royal Flying Corps. Indeed, during April 1917, the RFC alone
suffered the loss of 316 pilots and observers to the German Jastas that prowled
the skies above the Western Front. In what became known as ‘Bloody April’,
the sparse numbers of Bristol F.2Bs, Sopwith Triplanes and Nieuport Scouts had
no answer to their superior German counterparts. Not until the arrival of the
Sopwith Camel, the SE.5 and Spad S.VII did these adversaries meet on even terms,
thus beginning the era of the dogfight and the aspiration to become a top
scoring ‘Ace’.
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Whilst many pilots
continued with their lone vigils into 1918, popular opinion supported the German
idea of large formations of aircraft piloted by better trained crews with the
premise of operating as a single fighting force, rather than as individuals.
Leaders such as Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock amply demonstrated the benefits of
such formations whilst Commander of 74 Squadron, Mannock himself adding 36
victories to his personal score in the space of just three months.
Maggiore Francesco Baracca
The Germans, meanwhile, suddenly found themselves unable to
match the Allies for sheer numbers. As the tide began to turn against Germany
early in 1918, the Jastas began to form into larger groups which earned the
nickname ‘Circuses’, largely because they travelled from location to
location to bring pressure to bear wherever it was needed instead of operating
from fixed airstrips. The most famous of these Circuses was, of course, that led
by Manfred von Richthofen, the ‘Red Baron’ who would ultimately be
recognised as the highest scoring Ace of them all with a staggering 80 confirmed
victories to his credit. Made up almost exclusively of the nimble Fokker DR.1
Triplane, the Albatross D.V and Pfalz D.III, Richthofen’s Flying Circus,
comprising Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11, took the fight to the Allied squadrons and
wrought a terrible toll on them but, with the death of von Richthofen in April
1918, their appetite to fight seemed to visibly wane and even the introduction
of the superb Fokker D.VII was unable to stem the impending victory of the
Allied pilots in the skies above France.
In August 1918, a
huge force of aircraft comprising the newly christened RAF’s 43, 54, 73, 201,
203, 208 and 209 squadrons launched a final offensive. The Sopwith Camels and
SE.5As tore into the demoralised German formations and great pilots such as
Werner Voss fell to their guns in the closing months.
William Leefe-Robinson
So ended the first
era of aerial combat in which the aeroplane proved itself to be a potent
fighting machine in the hands of young men who had learned their art in an
incredibly short time and who had set in stone the rule book on how it should be
done. The equipment and technology may have changed almost beyond recognition in
the ensuing 90 years or so, but many combat techniques and principles have
remained, a legacy of those tentative years when the World’s first air forces
and brave aerial gladiators took their first faltering steps and changed the
course of history for ever.
This series of
paintings of just some of the many Aces and their aircraft are intended not to
glorify war, but to salute their innovation and their bravery. We will never see
their like again.
Ivan
Berryman, 2008.
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 | Out Of The Sun – LFG Roland C.II by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Lieutenant Reginald Warneford by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Donald MacLaren by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Final Days by Ivan Berryman. | 3 editions available from £26.00 |  | Leutnant der Reserve Erwin Bohme by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | The Red Baron (with original WW1 signature) by Ivan Berryman. (P) | SOLD OUT / SOLD |  | Sous-Lieutenant Willy Coppens – Roasting A Sausage by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | Von Richthofens Flying Circus by Ivan Berryman. (P) | 8 editions available from £ |  | Major Edward Mannock by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Captain Euan Dickson and AGL V Robinson, DH.4 by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Leutnant Paul Baumer by Ivan Berryman. | 7 editions available from £70.00 |  | Rumpler 6.B by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Edward Rickenbacker by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Capitaine Rene Fonck by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Aviatik B.1 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Rittmeister Karl Bolle by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Oberleutnant Hermann Goring by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Junkers J.1 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | McCudden, VC by Ivan Berryman. | 3 editions available from £26.00 |  | Sikorski Ilya Muromets by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Oberleutnant Oskar Freiherr von Boenigk by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Farman F.40 by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £130.00 |  | Captain William Billy Bishop by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | Oberleutnant Godwin Brumowski by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant Werner Voss by Ivan Berryman. (P) | 8 editions available from £ |  | Bristol Boxkite by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant d R Richard Wenzl by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Tribute to the Air Gunners - Royal Aircraft Establishment FE2 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | The Final Curtain by Ivan Berryman. | 6 editions available from £95.00 |  | Last Dogfight of Werner Voss by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | A Hand of Aces by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £95.00 |  | Gefreiter Jakob Tischner - Roland D.VIa by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Ltn Fritz Kempf by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Captain Arthur Henry Cobby by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Max Immelmann by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Oberleutnant Erich Lowenhardt by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant Hans von Keudell by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Major Albert Carter by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Leutnant d R Viktor Schobinger by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | One in the Bag by Ivan Berryman (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | F Korty-Lalitz, Aviatik D.1 by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Gothas Moon by Ivan Berryman. | 6 editions available from £70.00 |  | Captain Robert Little by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Gotha UWD by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | The Rittmeister by Ivan Berryman. | 3 editions available from £75.00 |  | Difficult Journey Home by Ivan Berryman. | 6 editions available from £130.00 |  | Maggiore Francesco Baracca - Spad S.VII by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | A Zeppelin over London by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Lanoe G Hawker by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | AGO C.1 by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Captain Ivan Smirnov by Ivan Berryman. (APB) | 6 editions available from £60.00 |  | Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Captain Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Major John Gilmour by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £150.00 |  | Sergeant John H Jones and pilot Captain W G Mostyn, Bristol F2b Fighter claiming a Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft LVG by Ivan Berryman. (Y) | 6 editions available from £40.00 |  | Leutnant Josef Mai by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Major William Barker VC, DSO - Nearly an Ace in a Day by Ivan Berryman. (SM) | 7 editions available from £12.00 |  | Sous-Lieutenant Charles Nungesser by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Captain Andrew McKeever and 2nd Lieutenant Leslie Powell by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | 1st Lieutenant Paul Baer by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Major Arthur Coningham by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | In For The Kill by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | Felixstowe F.3 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant Hermann Becker by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant Wolfram von Richthofen by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Oswald Boelcke by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | Kleiner Freund - Zeppelin Staaken R.VI by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Captain William Avery Bishop by Ivan Berryman. | 3 editions available from £51.00 |  | Zeppelin Gunners by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Handley Page 0/400s by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Flight Lieutenant Rutland and Assistant Paymaster Trewin Locate the German Fleet at Jutland, 31st May, 1916 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | James McCudden by Ivan Berryman. (SM) | 7 editions available from £12.00 |  | Albatros W.4 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Lieutenant Croye Rothes Pithey and Lieutenant Hervey Rhodes, RE.8 by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Oberleutnant Ernst Udet by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Kapitanleutnant zur See Friedrich Christiansen by Ivan Berryman. (Y) | 6 editions available from £40.00 |  | Deadly Partnership - Captain W E Staton and Lieutenant John R Gordon, Bristol F.2b by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Hansa Brandenburg W.12 – Attack on the C.17 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Seeing Red by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 8 editions available from £51.00 |  | Shuttleworth Salute by Ivan Berryman. | £100.00 |  | Lloyd C.V by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant d R Paul Strahle by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond Collishaw by Ivan Berryman. (SM) | 7 editions available from £12.00 |  | Phonix D.I by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £130.00 |  | Manfred von Richthofen by Ivan Berryman. (P) | £1200.00 |  | Caproni Ca.3 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Capitaine Georges Guynemer by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Friedrichshafen FF.33 by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Gotha G. V. by Ivan Berryman. | 6 editions available from £150.00 |  | Oberleutnant Lothar Freiherr von Richthofen by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Gottfried von Banfield by Ivan Berryman. | 8 editions available from £130.00 |  | William Leefe-Robinson by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Otto Pusher Type M by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Leutnant Josef Jacobs by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |  | Vfw Emil Schape by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Captain Roy Brown engages the Red Baron, 21st April 1918 by Ivan Berryman. | 6 editions available from £70.00 |  | AEG G.IV by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Albert Ball by Ivan Berryman. (SM) | 7 editions available from £12.00 |  | Immelmanns Last Flight by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Kurt von Crailsheim by Ivan Berryman. (Y) | 6 editions available from £40.00 |  | Oberleutnant Otto Kissenberth by Ivan Berryman. | 5 editions available from £70.00 |  | Flight Lieutenant R L G Marix by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 7 editions available from £51.00 |  | Etrich Taube by Ivan Berryman. (B) | 6 editions available from £51.00 |
| SHOWCASE PRODUCT | |
| ARTIST | Featured Artist - Nicolas Trudgian
Having graduated from art college, Nicolas Trudgian spent many years as a professional illustrator before turning to a career in fine art painting. His crisp style of realism, attention to detail, compositional skills and bright use of colours, immediately found favour with collectors and demand for his original work soared on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, more than a decade after becoming a fine art painter, Nicolas Trudgian is firmly established within a tiny, elite group of aviation artists whose works are genuinely collected world-wide. When he paints an aircraft you can be sure he has researched it in every detail and when he puts it over a particular airfield, the chances are he has paid it a recent visit. Even when he paints a sunset over a tropical island, or mist hanging over a valley in China, most probably he has seen it with his own eyes. Nick was born and raised in the seafaring city of Plymouth, the port from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in 1620, and where Sir Francis Drake played bowls while awaiting the Spanish Armada. Growing up in a house close to the railway station within a busy military city, the harbour always teeming with naval vessels and the skies above resonating with the sounds of naval aircraft, it was not at all surprising the young Nick became fascinated with trains, boats and aircraft. It was from his father, himself a talented artist, that Nick acquired his love of drawing and surrounded by so much that was inspiring, there was never a shortage of ideas for pictures. His talent began to show at an early age and although he did well enough at school, he always spent a disproportionate amount of time drawing. People talked about him becoming a Naval officer or an architect but in 1975 Nick's mind was made up. When he told his careers teacher he wanted to go to art school the man said, 'Now come on, what do you really want to do? After leaving school Nick began a one-year foundation course at the Plymouth College of Art. Now armed with an impressive portfolio containing paintings of jet aircraft, trains, even wildlife, he was immediately accepted at every college he applied to join. He chose a course at the Falmouth College of Art in Cornwall specialising in technical illustration and paintings of machines and vehicles for industry. It was perfect for Nick, and he was to become one of the star pupils. One of the lecturers commented at the time: Every college needs someone with a talent like Nick to raise the standards sky high; he carried all the other students along with him, and created an effect which will last for years to come. Two weeks after leaving art college Nick blew every penny he had on a trip to South Africa to ride the great steam trains across the desert, sketching them at every opportunity. Returning to England, in best traditions of all young artists, he struggled to make a living. Paintings by an unknown artist didn't fetch much despite the painstaking effort and time Nick put into each work, so when the college he had recently left offered him a job as a lecturer, he jumped at the chance. The money was good and he discovered that he really enjoyed teaching. Throughout the 1970s Nick was much involved with a railway preservation society near Plymouth and it was through the railway society that he had his first pictures reproduced as prints. But Nick felt he needed to advance his career and in summer 1985 Nick moved away from Cornwall to join an energetic new design studio in Wiltshire. Here he painted detailed artwork for many major companies including Rolls Royce, General Motors, Volvo Trucks, Alfa Romeo and, to his delight, the aviation and defence industries. He remembers the job as exciting though stressful, often requiring him to work right through the night to meet a client's deadline. Here he learned to be disciplined and fast. Towards the end of the 1980's Nick had the chance to work for the Military Gallery. This was the break that for years he had been striving towards and with typical enthusiasm, flung himself into his new role. After completing a series of aviation posters, including a gigantic painting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Nick's first aviation scene to be published as a limited edition was launched by the Military Gallery in 1991. Despite the fact he was unknown in the field, it was an immediate success. Over the past decade Nick has earned a special reputation for giving those who love his work much more than just aircraft in his paintings. He goes to enormous lengths with his backgrounds, filling them with interesting and accurate detail, all designed to help give the aircraft in his paintings a tremendous sense of location and purpose. His landscapes are quite breathtaking and his buildings demonstrate an uncanny knowledge of perspective but it is the hardware in his paintings which are most striking. Whether it is an aircraft, tank, petrol bowser, or tractor, Nick brings it to life with all the inordinate skill of a truly accomplished fine art painter. A prodigious researcher, Nick travels extensively in his constant quest for information and fresh ideas. He has visited India, China, South Africa, South America, the Caribbean and travels regularly to the United States and Canada. He likes nothing better than to be out and about with sketchbook at the ready and if there is an old steam train in the vicinity, well that's a bonus! |
| | Messerchmitt Me109 Signature Prints |
Save £170 on this specially selected pack of pilot signed Me109 aviation art prints. All four prints for £400, giving collectors these prints at trade discounted prices!
This pack of aviation art prints includes 4 separate prints, at a highly discounted price when purchased in this special pack. The prints included in the pack are :
Stormclouds Gather by Nicolas Trudgian,
Fighter General by Graeme Lothian,
Adolf Galland / Messerschmitt Bf109 E-4 by Ivan Berryman
and
LJG52 - Summer 1940 by Ivan Berryman.
In all, the prints have 11 different signatures (12 in total) of pilots of Me109 aircraft of WW2.
Click the 'Special Offer Pack' Edition to order.
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| DETAIL IMAGES |
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| EXTRAS |
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See more Chris Collingwood Prints at ChrisCollingwood.com
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Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu,
Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE
Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Fax:
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