DEBDEN EAGLES By John Shaw
Main Edition $225.00
S/N by the Artist and Col. Donald Blakeslee
Print size: 33"x 27"
Image size: 27"x 22"
Special Edition $325.00
Blakeslee & 18 Fourth FG signatures
Artist Proof $425.00
All signatures above, plus triple ace James Goodson-includes b/w Blakeslee portrait
Custom Hand-accented Canvas Giclée EditionEach is hand oil-accented & revarnished, signed & numbered by Artist.(All canvases are shipped rolled. Please note that due to the custom nature of these products, delivery time is usually 2 to 4 wks from when order is placed.)24 x 30" Canvas Giclée $715.0044 x 36" Canvas Giclée $1210.00
Plane Type: P-51D Mustang
Personally signed by the legendary Don Blakeslee and veterans of his famous 4th Fighter Group, the unit credited with destroying the highest number of enemy aircraft in WWII Europe
The Fourth Fighter Group, based at RAF Debden in England, was one of World War II’s finest outfits. Originally comprised of American “Eagle” Squadron pilots, the young men who enlisted in the Royal Air Force prior to the U.S. entry into the war, the Fourth would produce some of the greatest aces in history. Leading and inspiring this group was its illustrious commander, Colonel Donald J.M. Blakeslee. With more credited victories than a triple ace (in fact, many of his contemporaries maintained he’d probably gotten twice his credited score), Blakeslee was one of the rare ones to whom keeping track of the number of ‘kills’ was not important. He exhibited consistent brilliant leadership and by war’s end had flown more combat hours than any U.S. pilot. Considered by many to be the U.S.’s greatest Fighter Group commander, Blakeslee’s Debden Eagles officially achieved the highest official number of enemy aircraft destroyed in Europe during World War II.
The painting Debden Eagles was completed in 2005. The original 4’ x 5’ oil painting is owned by the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, located just north of Dallas, Texas, in the city of Addison. Among their magnificent collection is a P-51D Mustang bearing Don Blakeslee’s markings, as shown in the painting. The following year, the museum commissioned John Shaw to create a “companion” painting to feature another of the Cavanaugh collection’s aircraft, entitled Semper-Fi Skies, to make a “matching set” with Debden Eagles. This painting, of similar size and design, depicts the F4U Corsair of Marine Corps ace Archie Donahue in action over Guadalcanal. The two large original oils make an impressive set of ‘bookends’ within what is one of the world’s finest collections of flyable restored World War II aircraft in the world.