Pacific War Aviation Artwork- (not screenshots/game images or real life photos) - Share your favourites

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Antonis (rOEN911) Karidis artwork

 

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Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter by Roy Huxley

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By: Tony Weddel:

A Vought OS2U Kingfisher naval scout aircraft comes under fire after rescuing what appears to be a three man aircrew of a downed USN aircraft while Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters fly protectively in the background.  

This may be part of the April 1944 rescue accomplished by Lieutenant John Burns and his crew at the Japanese base at Truk.

  While USN aircraft attacked the major base, destroying and damaging many ships and facilities there, the Japanese were not defenseless and several US aircraft were shot down.  The Navy had deployed a number of submarines outside of Truk to rescue airmen in ditched aircraft outside the base, but they could not enter. 

 Burns, flying his Kingfisher off of the battleship USS North Carolina flew into Truk Lagoon and began picking up downed US  airmen before the Japanese could. One after another, the soggy crews were hauled aboard and laid out on the wings as the ungainly Kingfisher taxied from man to man. 

 Unable to fly with more than three men aboard, Burns essentially turned his aircraft into a motor launch, pulling up no less than 10 downed fliers, while under fire. 

 By the time he exited Truk, the Kingfisher was dangerously overloaded and wallowing in the water, yet he was able to find the submarine USS Tang, and transferred the 10 -- no doubt exhausted -- men to the submarine. 

 Burns found that the aircraft had been damaged from the action and was unable to fly back to the USS North Carolina.  So they joined the others aboard USS Tang and their tough Kingfisher was sunk by gunfire from the sub.

Burns was awarded the USN's highest decoration after the Medal of Honor -- the Navy Cross.  (also included, a photo of the actual event).

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"Ducks on a pond" by Rick Herter

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"Just Another Hole in My Head" by Roy Grinnell

Part of the Battle of Midway took place over the atoll itself, as land based aircraft from the US Marine Corps took off to intercept Japanese carrier aircraft that had been detected on Midway Island's radar system.  The aircraft based at Midway were a mixed bag, the USAAF for example having B26 Marauder bombers along with USMC Grumman Avengers as part of the island's strike force, while the Marines also maintained 26 fighter planes, six Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters -- tough, rugged scrappers capable of fighting anything the Japanese had if used in the right way -- and 20 Brewster F2A-3 "Buffalo", a barrel-shaped fighter that had shown great initial potential but upgrades had turned into a slower, less maneuverable aircraft. Despite the lesser quality of most of their fighters, there was no doubting the skill or courage of the USMC pilots, who took off and tore head on into the oncoming Japanese attack.  One of the Buffalo pilots, 2nd Lt. Charles M. Kunz, USMCR, hurled his stubby mount at the Japanese , picking out an Aichi D3A "Val" dive bomber as his target and quickly downing it. As the swirling air fight went on between the American and Japanese pilots, Kunz lined up a second "Val" and downed it as well.  But his luck didn't hold, as escorting Japanese fighters also got into the fight.  Kunz saw tracers flying past his cockpit and the fabric of his wings being torn up by Japanese cannon and machine gun fire.  One of these bullets ricocheted into the cockpit and hit Kunz in the head, creasing his skull and causing heavy bleeding. He pulled out of the fight, knowing his aircraft was no longer capable of fighting and landed at Midway's airstrip. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the Buffalos, despite the courage of their pilots were shot down, and most of their pilots lost with them. As he was being helped out of his cockpit, somebody yelled "Are you all right?"  Dizzy and bleeding  Kunz replied "It's just another hole in my head!" Kunz recovered quickly, and won the Navy Cross for his actions at Midway.  He finished the war with 8 victories -- an ace -- in fact the only American ace to have had any victories in a Buffalo. He retired from the Corps in 1967.

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Art by Mark Postlethwaite.
Grumman F6F Hellcat from the VF-11/111 Sundowners squadron.

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Sometimes WWII aviation art comes in the form of a world famous comic series... Francis Bergèse is the master behind this drawing of Buck Danny. The scene depicts a dogfight - possibly during the Battle of Midway - between him in his Grumman F-4F "Wildcat" and Mitsubishi A6M-2 "Zero's" in early 1942 when Buck Danny, Sonny Tucson and Jerry Tumbler were stationed aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

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N1K2 - J Shiden George versus Grumman F6F Hellcat. Artwork by Gareth Hector.

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Art of Ron Jobson.
Grumman TBM-3 Avenger.

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F6F Hellcat Turkey Shoot. Artwork by Jim Laurier.

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Petri Kauppi - P40 hunting Zero.

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P-40 vs Zero by John Carter

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In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

“Retribution” by Mark Donoghue. 
During the Battle of Midway, USS Enterprise VB-6 pilot Richard Halsey "Dick" Best, having already delivered a fatal bomb hit to the Japanese fleet carrier IJN Akagi on the morning of 4 June 1942, unleashes a second bomb on the IJN carrier Hiryu in the afternoon of the same day. It too is thought to have found its mark, making Best one of only a few pilots in history to score two bomb hits on an aircraft carrier.

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Gil Cohen - "Requiem for Torpedo Eight" 

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A nice illustration of Helldiver created by artist Nakanishi Rita for the vintage 1/48 kit of Nichimo in 1980's. It could describe an air raid to one of Japanese fleet during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. The background is IJN battleship Fuso under attack in Sulu sea that she was being tried to reach the Strait of Surigao.

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Kawaski KI -61-I Otsu Hein - Tony. Artwork by Takayoshi Wada.

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"Kiwi Strike" by Nicolas Trudgian

A dramatic low-level attack on a Japanese base near Rabaul by F-4U Corsairs of 16 Squadron, RNZAF. Taking the lead is Warrant Officer Brian Cox. As the Corsairs leave a trail of smoke and debris in their wake, Cox's wingman banks sharply to avoid groundfire. The Kiwi Corsairs were very active in the Solomons and Guadalcanal campaigns.

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“Pacific Warhorse” - Mark Donoghue. 
13th Air Force, 18th Fighter Group Curtiss P-40 Warhawks return to Guadalcanal after a combat air patrol over Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands.

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"Hunter of the Pacific" by Antonis Karydis

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B24 Liberator in the Pacific. Artwork by Stan Stokes. 

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B24 Liberator in the Pacific. Artwork by Roy Grinnell.

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P-38 in the Pacific by Iain Wyllie

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B 24 J Liberator Flack Fled Flapper 528th BS 380th BG Pacific 1944. cover book art by Jaroslaw Wróbel

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Kaiho Hideichi - Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-51s (code name "Sonia") attack an American airfield, Pacific Theatre. 

Starting in service in 1939 as a light bomber, the "Sonia" was not particularly effective, although it was useful as a ground attack aircraft when its MG armament was upgraded from .30 cal to .50 cal guns, and it did have the advantage, thanks to a sturdy undercarriage, of being to operate from rough airfields.

 Still it was easily outperformed, outgunned and outclassed by Allied and other Japanese aircraft, and by the end of the war had been relegated to the role of kamikaze flying bomb.

 

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B-29 Superfortress "Valor in the Pacific" by Robert Taylor