Checking Out - Limited Edition

In the art print ‘Checking Out’ Anthony Saunders depicts P-51 Mustangs of the 352nd Fighter Group of the Mighty Eighth's to honour all those who heroically flew Mustangs out of England with the US 8th Air Force during the Second World War. When the American Eighth Air Force arrived in England in 1942, it had a second enemy to fight alongside the Air Force - the English weather.

The mighty Eighth, the largest and most powerful air force in the world, was often almost paralyzed by the unpredictable and unexpected climate - much to the Luftwaffe's delight. Many of the aircrews had trained in the sunny air of Southern California and needed time to adapt to the grey, cloudy skies and gentle cloud banks that gathered over England and the nearby continent.

The winter of 1944/45 was one of the worst in a long time, with temperatures collapsing across the country bringing ice, icy fog and drifting snow. But the war had continued regardless of the weather, and by April 1945 the sunless, dreary sky that had cast its frosty shadow over much of northwestern Europe had disappeared and an end was finally in sight. In Anthony Saunders' 'Checking Out', the bad weather of the last few days fortunately clears up so that the group can begin their spread from Bodney to participate in an escort mission in early 1945.

This reflected the feeling amongst most of Europe towards the war in general – the storm was finally passing. Shortages of fuel, pilots and spares meant that the Luftwaffe was on its last legs, putting up little serious opposition. By now, after escorting the heavy bombers to their targets, complete groups of P-51 Mustangs were sweeping the entire western Reich on the return trip, strafing anything hostile on the ground. On one such mission fifteen Fighter Groups had gone on a strafing spree attacking 40 airfields in eastern Bavaria and western Czechoslovakia, claiming a record number of 747 aircraft destroyed on the ground. There wasn’t much left for the P-51s to destroy.

Limited edition: