BOGEY'S! ELEVEN O'CLOCK HIGH
by Robert Taylor

A special limited edition by Robert Taylor commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Yamamoto Mission, 18 April 1943. At 07:30 hours on 13th April 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightnings depart Henderson Field on the Pacific Island of Guadalcanal. It was no ordinary mission. They were to intercept and shoot down a Japanese bomber carrying the CINC of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. With radio codes broken Admiral Nimitz had just 4 days to devise a way of eliminating the man who had masterminded the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Selected for the task were the P-38s from USAAF's 339th Sqdn. led by Major John Mitchell. Flying just feet above the waves, Mitchell had the difficult task of navigating a circuitous route over water to avoid detection during the 420-mile flight, but right on schedule they sighted the coast of the island of Bougainville. The 2 hour radio silence was broken by Doug Canning, the first to spot the Japanese aircraft, with his famous words "Bogeys Eleven O'Clock High". Robert Taylor chooses the moment that Doug Canning calls the sighting of Yamamoto's flight to record this famous action. His powerful painting shows the instant reflexes of mission leader John Mitchell, his P-38 already starting to climb even as Canning breaks radio silence. A carefully researched, evocative painting that pays tribute to all 16 pilots who flew one of the most successful missions of WWII. Each print in the edition is signed by all nine surviving P-38 Lightning pilots who flew the greatest aerial ambush in aviation history. They are: Colonel John Mitchell, LCOL ARoger Ames, COL Rex Barber, LCOL Doug Canning, CAPT Delton Goerke, CAPT Larry Graebener, LCOL Besby Holmes, MAJ Jack Jacobson and LCOL Louis Kittel.

Print is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. RELEASED IN 1993 ARTIST PROOF $650