Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Aviation Art of Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor is fast becoming one of the best military aviation artists in the world and under the expert tutelage of his father (Robert Taylor) his work is getting stronger and stronger with each new painting. We thought we would highlight some of this exciting young artist's more recent work.

Typhoons Outward Bound by Richard Taylor

The Typhoon’s lethal weaponry is clearly visible in Richard Taylor's beautiful new painting Typhoons Outward Bound. As another fine summer day begins, Typhoon Mk1b’s of 247 Squadron are en-route to the Normandy battlefront, the first of several missions that day. With prints signed by Typhoon pilots who flew and fought at D-Day, there is no doubt that this will become a fine collector’s piece for the future

Tactical Support by Richard Taylor

When it came to hammering German ground forces in the days after D-Day, Lockheed's outstanding P-38 Lightning gained an awesome reputation. Richard Taylor's evocative painting recreates the scene over Pegasus Bridge shortly after D-Day as a pair of P-38 Lightnings thunder inland in support of the advancing allied armies. Below, signs of the recent action are still plainly visible as trucks and their exhausted drivers hasten back to the beach-head to collect reinforcements.

Arctic Hunters by Richard Taylor

High in the Arctic Circle a bitter war of attrition was fought in freezing, unforgiving conditions, the desperate conflict played out against a majestic, awe-inspiring backdrop of beautiful ice-clad mountains. Richard Taylor's spectacular painting portrays the Me109s of 6./JG5 led by Oberleutnant Heinrich Ehrler, while based at Petsamo in Finland, as they soar high above the towering peaks of ice capped mountains glistening in the cold polar air, March 1943. Their dawn patrol keeps constant vigil along the glacial fjords of the Norway's far-northern coastline, as the majestic vista gives the battle-hardened Me109 pilots a brief moment of tranquillity far removed from the grim and bitter battles being fought below.