Knights Of The Eastern Front

Knights Of The Eastern Front by Robert Taylor

STUDIO PROOF - GICLEE ON CANVAS
Edition Size - 75
Canvas size: 36” x 24”  (Issued pre-stretched)
S/N by artist 

Plane type:  Messerschmitt Bf 109

In 1992 the Military Gallery published what was to become one of Robert Taylor’s most iconic paintings - Knights of the Eastern Front. It was a landmark in his distinguished career and became a benchmark for the aviation art industry. The painting, with its trademark ‘Taylor skyscape’, featured the Bf109s from JG-52 – the most successful fighter wing of the Luftwaffe during World War II – in combat with Russian Yak9s.

After fighting in the Battle of Britain, Romania and Crete, JG-52 transferred to the infamous southern sector of the Eastern Front. Though conditions were often appalling, its pilots notched up an incredible 10,000 victories with sixty- seven of them awarded the Knight’s Cross or higher decorations. JG-52’s top ten fighter pilots achieved an astonishing 2286 aerial victories between them and boasted the three highest-scoring Aces in history of which two, Erich Hartmann and Gerhard Barkhorn, were the only Pilots ever to down more than 300 enemy aircraft.