Aviation artist Robert Taylor. Modern Jet
Fighters, Bombers and Training Aircraft by Robert Taylor including The harrier
Jump Jet, The Red Arrows Hawk aircraft and the Canberra.
The Canberra is still in service today and is probably the longest
serving operational military aircraft ever, worldwide, likely to achieve
an incredible 50 years in 2001. First flown in 1949, it became Britain's
first jet bomber, entering the Royal Air Force as the B2 with 101 squadron
at Binbrook in 1951. Canberra saw action in Malaya against terrorists in
1955 and again in the Suez crisis of 1956. The versatility of the basic
airframe is proved by its adoption for training, electronic counter
measures, target towing, photo reconnaissance and intruder operations, in
addition to the normal bombing role for which it was designed. Depicted in
the painting is a B2 in the early black and grey colour scheme which it
carried when introduced. In production for 10 years, 678 British-built
Canberras were completed, plus a further 451 license-built in Australia
and America.
The BAe Hawk News of the first flight of the Hawk on 21 August 1974 was greeted
with derision by Hunter pilots at the RAF's tactical weapons training
unit. For understandably selfish reasons they were sceptical about the
ability of the Hawk to replace the rugged, versatile and much-loved
Hunter. "Forget Hawk - Fly Hunter" was one typical bumper
sticker of the time but now 25 years on, such scepticism seems barely
credible. With the arrival of the first Hawk aircraft at RAF Valley in
November 1976, a new era of flying training began, and the first of
thousands of fast-jet pilots discovered the joys of flying this truly
thoroughbred aircraft.
Since then, the BAe Hawk has earned a reputation as the world's best
advanced trainer and light strike aircraft. The basic design has been
refined and improved in a series of variants ranging from multi-role light
fighter to the US Navy's carrier trainer. But the one quality that sets
the Hawk apart from other aircraft is handling characteristics. In the
artist's own words, - "I had flown the Gnat and Hunter and in 1979
had just finished flying Canberra PR9s before transferring to the Jaguar,
when I was given the opportunity to get some flying on the Hawk. It was a
revelation. Here was an aircraft that was pure joy to fly, at low level it
settled comfortably at 450 knots at around 150 feet and it could be flown
into valleys under the most frightening weather safe in the knowledge that
it could be turned around without losing airspeed almost in its own
length. And at medium level? 1v1 combat in this aircraft is something
else, - compared with the Hawk, the Jaguar is like flying an anvil".
Bekaa Valley by Robert Taylor.
A dramatic combat between an F-16 Falcon and a Mig23 fought over the Bekaa Valley in June 1981. In a three day period the Israeli pilots brought down over 80 Syrian aircraft without loss. Robert Taylors brilliant painting shows a close-up view of the action.
Item Code : DHM2125
Bekaa Valley by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Piloting a Sea King helicopter of 820 Naval Air Squadron, Prince Andrew was first to lift off survivors after the Atlantic Conveyor was hit by an exocet missile. Robert Taylors fine painting depicts the Prince in the thick of the action.
Item Code : DHM2108
Sea King Rescue by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Pilots from the 31st and the 52nd Fighter Wings climb their heavily armed F-16 Vipers out of Aviano Air Base, Italy, on a strike mission over Bosnia, June 1999.
Item Code : DHM2178
Viper Venom by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Flying down Thud Ridge at just below the speed of sound, Jack Broughton leads an F-105 Thunderbolt raid on the power plant at Viet Tri, North Vietnam, March12, 1967. The target was destroyed.
Item Code : DHM2165
Rolling Thunder by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Irish and I came into the break smoking at 500 knots, below the level of the flight deck. I could see thousands of men watching from the catwalks. I made a six-G break turn with 90 degree angle of bank. We landed after one of my best passes of the cruise. - Commander Randy Duke Cunningham. Back on deck, first to shake the hands of Lt.Randy Cunningham and his Radar Intercept Officer, Lt (jg) Willie Irish Driscoll, was ordnancement Willie White: Mr. Cunningham, we got our MiG today, didnt we! It was January 19, 1972 aboard the USS Constellation in the Gulf of Tonkin. As Cunningham shut down the engines of his Fighting Falcons F-4J Phantom, Task Force 77 Commander Admiral Cooper congratulated Cunningham and Driscoll on achieving their first of five air victories They went on to become the US Navys only Aces of the Vietnam war.
Item Code : DHM2469
Phantom Showtime by Robert Taylor - Editions Available
A symbolic study of the very first two Sea Harriers to fly with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, 700 Alpha Squadron, commanded by Sharkey Ward. Seen overflying Plymouth Harbour, both of these aircraft fought in the Falklands War.
Item Code : DHM2168
Sea Harriers by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
A magnificent study of a pair of C130 Hercules seen in tactical trail over the Severn Estuary, 25 miles west of R.A.F. Lyneham, headquarters base of RAF Support Command.
Item Code : DHM2685
Severn Trail by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
The biggest, fastest, most powerful fighter of its day, the McDonnell Phantom was an awesome war machine that came to dominate aerial combat for over two decades. It may have been the size of many World War II bombers but it could outperform anything that crossed its path; it was quicker, could turn faster, was better equipped with electronics, carried more ordnance than anything comparable, and it had an unbelievable rate of climb. The F-4 Phantom was the benchmark against which every fighter in the world came to be judged; it was simply the best. And when it saw combat for the first time, in Vietnam in 1961, it was the lucky Navy and Marine Corps pilots who were the first to fly it. Whether it was carrier-based attack with the Navy, land-based bombing missions with the Marines, air combat sorties, or Forward Air Control missions, it was unbeatable. So impressed were the Air Force that they bought it too, and three years later, in 1964, the USAF received their Phantoms. The Air.........
Undeterred by Friday 13th, Wing Commander Beamont took off that day in May 1949, in the Canberra prototype. So accomplished was this new jet bomber that by the end of the 1950s, no fewer than 41 R.A.F. Squadrons were equipped with the Canberra, and the training of crews in another 16 countries had begun. Robert Taylors painting, shows the aircraft during a formation training sortie, rushing over the fenlands of Cambridgeshire, England, preparing to land at its R.A.F. Wyton base.
Item Code : DHM2127
Canberras Over Cambridgeshire by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
A specially commissioned study of her Majesty The Queens Flight on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary. Featured are all the main aircraft to have been in service with the flight.
Item Code : DHM2160
Queens Flight by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Flying an 805 Squadron Sea Fury from H.M.S. Ocean in Korean waters, 1952, Hoagy Carmichael became the first piston engine pilot to destroy a jet aircraft when he downed a North Korean MiG.
A pilots eye view of the last seconds of a Mirage V at the hands of 801 Naval Air C.O., Commander Sharkey Ward, flying a Sea Harrier from H.M.S. Invincible on May 21, 1982, in a ferocious dogfight during the Battle of Falkland Sound.
Item Code : DHM2120
Airstrike over West Falklands by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
The R.A.F.s Red Arrows - perhaps the finest close formation aerobatic team in the world, flying their renowned Hawk jets over the Gloucestershire countryside.
Item Code : DHM2162
Red Arrows by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
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Special signed limited edition of 1500 prints, signed by the pilot only. Full Item Details
