Robert Taylor’s much-loved painting shows Spitfires of Johnnie Johnson’s famous 144 Canadian Wing scrambling from the newly prepared airstrip outside the village of St Croix-sur-Mer for the RAF's first combat sweep from French soil after D-Day.

Little over a mile inland from the junction of Gold and Juno beaches, the village was liberated by the Canadians on D-Day. Within hours, Sappers and Pioneers using bulldozers and graders had started levelling the site and, still under enemy fire, begun to unravel the tons of wire mesh to complete the first temporary airstrip in Normandy. On the morning of 10 June 1944, just four days after D-Day, the Mk IX Spitfires of 144 Canadian Wing arrived.

• 34” x 24”

• 1 of 1250

• Signed by Robert Taylor along with 144 Canadian Wing's Commanding Officer and two of his most distinguished pilots:

  • Air Vice Marshal JOHNNIE JOHNSON CB CBE DSO** DFC*

  • Squadron Leader DANNY BROWNE DFC

  • Flight Lieutenant LARRY ROBILLARD

• Issue date: 1990

• Includes certificate of authenticity with print number and short history of each signatory.

$795 NZD