Poltava

Open Edition Print by Dick McNutt
Image Size: 19.5" x 14.75"
Paper Size: 24" x 20"

Plane Type: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

After protracted negotiations with the Russians, permission was granted for the USAAF to use Soviet airfields on shuttle missions. On the third such mission the 8th Air Force dispatched 145 B-17s from the 3rd Air Division. The painting depicts the 45th Combat Wing, comprised of the 96th, 388th and 452nd Bombardment Groups arriving at Poltava. In the foreground are a pair of V.V.S. Lavochkin La-5FN fighters. After the Luftwaffe bombing that night and Soviet bomb clearance the following day only 7 of the 73 arriving would be flyable.