Nicholas
Trudgian luftwaffe art prints including Focke Wulf Fw190, Messerschmitt
Me110 and Heinkel 219. Aviation art by aviation
artist Nicholas Trudgian available from aviationprints.co.uk, subsidiary
of Cranston Fine Arts.
Having
graduated from art college, Nicolas Trudgian spent many years as a
professional illustrator before turning to a career in fine art painting.
His crisp style of realism, attention to detail, compositional skills and
bright use of colours, immediately found favour with collectors and demand
for his original work soared on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, more
than a decade after becoming a fine art painter, Nicolas Trudgian is
firmly established within a tiny, elite group of aviation artists whose
works are genuinely collected world-wide. When
he paints an aircraft you can be sure he has researched it in every detail
and when he puts it over a particular airfield, the chances are he has
paid it a recent visit. Even when he paints a sunset over a tropical
island, or mist hanging over a valley in China, most probably he has seen
it with his own eyes.
Nick was born and raised in the
seafaring city of Plymouth, the port from which the Pilgrim Fathers set
sail in 1620, and where Sir Francis Drake played bowls while awaiting the
Spanish Armada. Growing up in a house close to the railway station within
a busy military city, the harbour always teeming with naval vessels and
the skies above resonating with the sounds of naval aircraft, it was not
at all surprising the young Nick became fascinated with trains, boats and
aircraft. It was from his father, himself a talented
artist, that Nick acquired his love of drawing and surrounded by so much
that was inspiring, there was never a shortage of ideas for pictures. His
talent began to show at an early age and although he did well enough at
school, he always spent a disproportionate amount of time drawing. People
talked about him becoming a Naval officer or an architect but in 1975
Nick's mind was made up. When he told his careers teacher he wanted to go
to art school the man said, 'Now come on, what do you really want to
do?"
After leaving school Nick began a
one-year foundation course at the Plymouth College of Art. Now armed with
an impressive portfolio containing paintings of jet aircraft, trains, even
wildlife, he was immediately accepted at every college he applied to join.
He chose a course at the Falmouth College of Art in Cornwall specialising
in technical illustration and paintings of machines and vehicles for
industry. It was perfect for Nick, and he was to become one of the star
pupils. One of the lecturers commented at the time: "Every college
needs someone with a talent like Nick to raise the standards sky high; he
carried all the other students along with him, and created an effect which
will last for years to come." Two weeks after leaving art college
Nick blew every penny he had on a trip to South Africa to ride the great
steam trains across the desert, sketching them at every opportunity.
Returning to England, in best traditions of all young
artists, he struggled to make a living. Paintings by an unknown artist
didn't fetch much despite the painstaking effort and time Nick put into
each work, so when the college he had recently left offered him a job as a
lecturer, he jumped at the chance. The money was good and he discovered
that he really enjoyed teaching.
Throughout the 1970s Nick was much
involved with a railway preservation society near Plymouth and it was
through the railway society that he had his first pictures reproduced as
prints. But Nick felt he needed to advance his career and in summer 1985
Nick moved away from Cornwall to join an energetic new design studio in
Wiltshire. Here he painted detailed artwork for many major companies
including Rolls Royce, General Motors, Volvo Trucks, Alfa Romeo and, to
his delight, the aviation and defence industries. He remembers the job as
exciting though stressful, often requiring him to work right through the
night to meet a client's deadline. Here he learned to be disciplined and
fast.Towards the end of the 1980's Nick had the chance to work for the
Military Gallery. This was the break that for years he had been striving
towards and with typical enthusiasm, flung himself into his new role.
After completing a series of aviation posters, including a gigantic
painting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Royal Air
Force, Nick's first aviation scene to be published as a limited edition
was launched by the Military Gallery in 1991. Despite the fact he was
unknown in the field, it was an immediate success.
Nicolas Trudgian has painted an exquisitely detailed portrayal of I./JG54 Green Heart Warriors FW190A-4s taxiing out through the snow to sweep the skies above Krasnogvardeisk on the Russian Front in the winter of 1943. ......
2 print editions available from £75.00 1 canvas print edition available from £325.00
Nicolas Trudgians painting Desert Victory recreates all the atmosphere of the North African desert war with a stunning portrayal of the Me109s of 3./JG-27. The wing is depicted being led by Staffelkapitan Gerhard Homuth as they escort Afrikakorps ar......
In the summer of 1940, as a 28 year old captain, Hannes Trautloft took command of JG 54. During the next three years this extraordinary fighter leader shaped the unit into one of the most successful combat fighter wings of World War II. The Green H......
HM Stephen - one of the Battle of Britains top scoring fighter pilots, brings down two Me109s in quick succession over the White Cliffs of Dover, early on August 11, 1940. Flying a Spitfire with 74 Squadron, HM shot down five German aircraft on this......
A Heinkel 219 and a Messerschmitt 110 of NJG-1 climbing out from their base a Munster Hansdorf, as they set out on a deadly mission. Ten aircraft took off to intercept a major raid on Dusseldorf, the night witnessing a fierce battle high above the d......
4 print editions available from £100.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
With their brightly coloured checkertail tails there was no mistaking the P.51 Mustangs of the 325th Fighter Group. Escorting B-24s over Austria in August 1944, tangled with a group of Fw190 fighters. The ensuing dogfight spiraled down below the mou......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
A classic head-to-head combat between Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone in his Spitfire and an Me109 over the south coast of England on 25th August, 1940. With 602 Squadron scrambled to intercept an approaching raid. The Commanding Officer notches up ......
The German High Command entered World War II with the notion that the war would be quickly won, and certainly without the need to fight at night. The RAF changed all that when Bomber Command, having suffered appalling losses in daylight, turned to ......
Typical of great air battles fought in the skies above occupied Europe were the determined interceptions by Luftwaffe fighters, particularly upon the massed daylight raids mounted by the American Eighth Air Force. Major Herman Graf, Gruppenkommandeu......
The dramatic scene depicts an aerial dog-fight between Sopwith Camels and SE5A fighters of the Royal Flying Corps, and the bright red planes of Baron von Richthofens JG1 fighter wing. High over Northern France, the highly manoeuvrable fighters wheel......
2 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
Messerschmitt Me110s and 109s of the Luftwaffes 210 Gruppe based at Calais-Marck in northern France, make a low-level run across the Kent countryside after a surprise attack on R.A.F. Biggin Hill, August 30, 1940 ......
It required more than a little nerve to fly a fighter into the barrage of fire sprayed out by the gunners of a box of B17 bombers; it took even greater courage to do so in the rocket propelled Me163 Komet. With rocket science still in its infancy, t......
Set in a spectacular mountain scene, Nicolas Trudgians print records the last days of air combat as World War II drew to a close. The most feared of the Luftwaffes remaining units were those equipped with the remarkable Me262 fighter jet, but they w......
Me109s of I/JG2, under the command of the brilliant Helmut Wick, setting out on a mission across the English Channel in September 1940. Wick, seen in the foreground, with Gunther Seeger off his starboard wing, was the top-scoring Luftwaffe Ace in th......
2 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £95.00
Released on the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain a new limited edition to commemorate Churchills famous few. Stalwart of the Battle of Britain, the Hawker Hurricane equipped the majority of the RAF squadrons that defended Britain during tha......
Captain Erich Topp steers his Type VIIc U-Boat number U-552 Red Devil towards the sanctuary of the base at St Nazaire after another patrol during the gruelling Battle of the Atlantic in 1942. In the skies above, heading back out to hostile waters i......
1 print edition available from £365.00 1 canvas print edition available from £365.00
Of the many famous combat aircraft to serve their respective countries in the Second World War, two perhaps more than any others, created huge impact and consternation upon seasoned opposing pilots when they first appeared on the battlefront - the Su......
4 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
On 5 July, 1943 over 6000 German and Russian tanks clashed near the town of Kursk, just 300 miles south of Moscow. It was the beginning of what became the greatest tank battle in history. In the skies above this conflagration, an air battle of monum......
The success of Operation Bodenplatte, on January 1, 1945, was to be achieved by mass surprise attacks on British and American bases in France, Belgium and Holland. It was a battle fought at great cost to the Luftwaffe. During the battles some 300 Lu......
3 print editions available from £150.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
The legend of Willie Messerschmitts Me262, and the elite fighter Aces who piloted this revolutionary jet aircraft, is as secure as any born during the Second World War. As they hurtled into the air, climbing at speeds hitherto unknown, a small grou......
Nicolas Trudgians dramatic painting recreates a scene near Cambrai, Northern France on the morning of March 18, 1918. Aware of a build-up of forces for a massive German offensive, many RFC squadrons attacked the German positions at very low altitude......
The air war fought in the skies above the inhospitable wastelands of the North African desert were among the most hotly contested of the war. The outcome of the bitter land war raging below largely depended upon who controlled the air space above, a......
3 print editions available from £140.00 1 ex-display print available from £120.00
Although the true qualities of a fighter pilot cannot be measured simply by tallying his number of air victories - some of the greatest fighter leaders do not feature in the top score sheets -there can be no question that any fighter pilot whose vict......
The first successful daylight raid on Berlin. Nicolas Trudgians painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th B.G. are attacked. Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I charge into the bomber s......
Slow, frail, out-dated and hopelessly outnumbered, Gladiator biplanes of 112 Squadron RAF tenaciously throw themselves into the fray, attacking Luftwaffe fighter-bombers in the battle for Crete, in April 1941. This painting shows Me110Cs of II./ZG76......
Arguably the most significant fighter leader of World War II, Adolf Galland took command of all German day and night fighters, but was in constant dispute with Luftwaffe supreme, Goering, who ultimately sacked him. Reinstated by Hitler, Galland retu......
Even the most faithful of Messerschmitt Me 109 pilots that also flew the Focke-Wulf Fw190 grudgingly admitted the well-proportioned and aesthetically pleasing Fw190 was the finest single-seat fighter in the Luftwaffes armoury during World War II. So......
2 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £90.00
For bomber crews, any daylight-bombing mission almost certainly meant combat. If it werent the attentions of determined Luftwaffe fighter pilots, it would be an aerial carpet of flak that welcomed the bombers en route to the target - and again on th......
4 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
Hannes Trautloft in his FW190 leading his famous JG54 bring down a Russian Petlyakov Pe-2 on the Eastern Front in 1943. This dramatic painting is set in a superb winter landscape. ......
They came across the English Channel at wave top height, their propeller slipstreams leaving wakes on the surface of the water. Nine Dornier Do17Z bombers of 9th Staffel, KG76, detailed to attack the RAF airfield at Kenley as part of Reichsmarshal ......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
Messerschmitt Me262s of JG7 race back to their base at Brandenburg after intercepting a USAAF bomber raid on Munich, and Luftwaffe air bases in the area. Below them a B-26 has crash-landed in the fields still covered with a sprinkling of late winter......
Flying a bomber escort mission, a P- 51 Mustang of the 357th Fighter Group engages Me109s about to descend upon a formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses. ......
In the summer of 1940, JG3, under the command of Hans von Hahn, scramble their Me109s from their French countryside base at Colombert, near Calais. With the deafening sound of their piston-engined aircraft, sporting the groups colourful Dragon emble......
The pilots of I Gruppe JG-1 were up early on August 17, 1943. It5 was high summer, and even as the first streaks of light appeared in the sky to the east, four pilots got airborne out of Deelan, Holland, and headed for the coast. It was the first ......
By late April 1945 most of the Third Reich had been cut to shreds by the advancing Allied forces and those units remaining intact were regrouping in southern Germany and Austria. With American advance units nearing the outskirts of Munich, on 28th A......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £125.00
When the American Army reached the Rhine at Remagen on March 7, 1945, such was the speed of their advance, they arrived before the retreating Germans had time to blow the vital bridge. The Americans seized the bridge intact. Realising the threat to ......
3 print editions available from £130.00 1 ex-display print available from £110.00
A typical scene from a bright August morning in that momentous summer of 1940. Having climbed into the dawn sky at daybreak, the Spitfires of No 603 Squadron have already been in action, and with more heavy raids on the plotters table, they scurry b......
Top-scoring ace of all time, Erich Hartmann, scrambles his black tulip nose Me109 from a snow-covered airfield on the Eastern Front. Christened Black Devil by Russian pilots, many of whom hurriedly vacated the vicinity when Hartmanns distinctively p......
As the air war raged over Berlin and other German cities, night-fighter units such as NJG100, the original Eastern front night fighter Geschwader, were redeployed nearer home in the final desperate defence of Germany. By late 1944 the Luftwaffes ni......
Mickey Mount, flying his 602 Squadron MkII Spitfire, successfully attacks a Messerschmitt Me109 low over the cliffs of Beachy Head on the south coast during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. Spitfires and Me109s were so evenly matched at ......
5 print editions available from £85.00 1 ex-display print available from £75.00
Herbert Ihlefelds personal He162 White 23 - the revolutionary Heinkel Peoples Fighter - on patrol with JG1.This aircraft was captured intact and is today preserved in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. <br><br><b>Published 2000.</b>......
Leutnant Klaus Bretschneider, Staffelkapitan of 5./JG300 kicks up the dust as he taxies his Fw190 A-8 Red One from its forest hiding place into the sunlight in preparation for take-off. The scene is northern Germany, November 1944. The Staffelkapita......
The Black Widow is a formidable creature. It lurks in the dark, carefully chooses its moment of attack and strikes unseen, cutting down its prey with deadly certainty. Northrop could not have chosen a more apt name with which to christen their new......
On December 16th 1944, Hitler mounted the largest offensive in the west since 1940. It was his last desperate offensive of World War II. With Germanys industrial heartland in ruins, its factories pulverised by Allied air raids, and opposing armies......
The Green Heart Warriors carried their famous emblem throughout almost every European theatre during World War Two. Having fought with distinction in the Battle of Britain, JG54 transferred to the Eastern Front, where it was to acheive historic succ......
3 print editions available from £120.00 1 ex-display print available from £85.00
Nobody, least of all Allied aircrew, ever doubted the tenacity of the Luftwaffe, more particularly that of the German fighter pilots. From the early encounters during the Battle of Britain to the greeat air battles in defence of their homeland late......
5 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
Mountain Wolf by Nicholas Trudgian
Focke-Wulf "Red Three" prepares to scramble from the Alpine
region airfield at Ainring, 1945
With the inexorable advance
of the Allied forces through Germany, many of the fighter units moved into
Alpine regions in their effort to stay operational. Among the most feared
of the Luftwaffe's remaining combat units were those equipped with the
remarkable Me262 fighter jet. With their huge speed advantage, the 262s
were a difficult target in aerial combat even for the fastest Allied
fighters, but the German jets were especially vulnerable to attack during
take-off and landing. The American long range fighter pilots were quick to
spot this weakness, and scored many successes by catching the jet pilots
as they returned low on fuel and ammunition. Commanding JV-44, General Adolf Galland countered the
threat by employing the Fw190 "Dora" 9s to fly top cover, their
task being to sweep the sky as the jets returned from combat. Nicholas
Trudgian's new painting Mountain Wolf depicts the colourful Fw190 of Hptm
Waldermar Wubke of JV-44 as he prepares to scramble "Red Three"
at Ainring airfield in May 1945. The brightly coloured paint schemes
brought about the staffel's radio call sign Papagei, the German for
Parrot! Set in a spectacular mountain scene, Nicholas
Trudgian's latest print records the last days of air combat as WWII drew
to a close. Authenticated with the signatures of two Fw190 pilots, both
Knight's Cross holders, Mountain Wolf makes a valuable pint which will
enhance the serious collector's portfolio.
Into The Cloak of Darkness by Nicholas Trudgian
The eerie world of the night-fighter was a far
cry from the swashbuckling cut and thrust of the day-time aerial
dogfights. It took inordinate flying skills, teamwork, patience, and
nerves of steel to achieve success in the dark when all that could be seen
of the enemy was the tell-tale glow of an engine exhaust.
From the spring of 1940 Germany had developed their night-fighting
aircraft and honed their skills to combat the nightly bombing raids of the
RAF. By 1944 the Luftwaffe had sophisticated electronic range-finding and
navigation equipment fitted to their night-fighters, and their skilled
crews had become adept at intercepting the British heavy bombers under
cover of darkness.
As the war progressed and proficiency increased, the greatest fear of
the RAF bomber crews as they approached their targets was the ever-present
danger of the marauding Luftwaffe night-fighters. Each night a deadly game
of hide-and-seek was played out in the skies above the Reich.
Messerschmitt 110s, JU-88s, and the specifically developed Heinkel 219
would rise up into the darkening skies from bases in the Rühr to await
the arrival of the RAF heavies. Loitering singly and in pairs, they would
infiltrate the bomber streams, each crew using their own individual method
of hunting and attack. They seldom came home empty handed.
Based in the Rühr Valley in 1944, NJG-1 was among the most successful
night-fighter units, being credited with 2173 night victories and another
145 scored in daylight. Nicolas Trudgian's emotive new painting recreates
a scene from one of this successful unit's missions on the night of
November 2, 1944:
Ten aircraft took off to intercept a major raid on
Dusseldorf, the
night witnessing a fierce battle high above the darkened city. NGJ-1 crews
assisted with the downing of 19 RAF bombers, one Luftwaffe pilot being
credited with no fewer than 6 victories that night. Seen in Nick's
painting are a Heinkel 219 and a Messerschmitt 110 climbing out from their
base at Münster Handorf, as they set out on their deadly mission. Below
them the spectacular Rühr Valley is vibrant in its mantle of winter's
first snowfall. A moving and evocative rendition, made all the more
poignant by the signatures of 3 leading World War II Luftwaffe
night-fighter aircrew on each print in the edition.
Messerschmitt Country by Nicolas Trudgian
Nobody, least of all Allied aircrew, ever doubted the tenacity of the
Luftwaffe, more particularly that of the German fighter
pilots. From the early encounters during the Battle of Britain to
the great air battles in defence of their homeland late in the war, at all
times they were held in high regard, even if resented as a foe. At
no time was their dedication, determination, and courage better
demonstrated than during the final stages of World War Two. By the
summer of 1944 the Allies had gained a foothold in Normandy, and total air
superiority above Northern France. German installations and ground
positions were being pounded daily from the air, and the Ruhr, the
heartland of industrial Germany, was under constant siege. Even the
factories in southern Germany were not safe from the attentions of the
USAAF bombers by day, and the RAF by night. But in spite of the
pressures of mounting losses and diminished supplies, the Luftwaffe fought
doggedly on in best traditions of the fighter pilot. The morning of
19 July 1944 saw the USAAF's 8th and 15th Air Forces mount an attack of
awesome proportion against the aircraft factories in the region of
Munich. To combat a seemingly overwhelming force of 1400 bombers and
almost as many fighter escorts, the Luftwaffe were able to put up just
three Gruppen from JG300 and one from JG302, flying a mix of Me109G's and
Fw190's - barely 50 serviceable fighters between them. They were
joined by a dozen Me109's of II./JG27, these fighters desperately trying
to defend the very factories in which they were made.
Although the true qualities of a fighter pilot
cannot be measured simply by tallying his number of air victories - some
of the greatest fighter leaders do not feature in the top score sheets -
there can be no question that any fighter pilot whose victory tally is
counted in 100's has got to be exceptional. That two of them
achieved more than 300 air-to-air victories is pure phenomena. In
paying tribute to Erich Hartmann and Gerhard Barkhorn, the only two
fighter pilots ever to top the 300 victory mark, Nicolas Trudgian has
painted a gripping combat scene being played out in the typically harsh
environment where these two remarkable fighter aces achieved
immortality. Both "300 Club" members flew the majority of
their combat missions with JG-52, the most successful fighter wing of
WWII, where, on the Eastern Front they encountered and conquered every
type of fighter including British built Spitfires and Hurricanes, the
American Aircobra, and all the best Russian built fighters, including the
Yak-9.
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