BIG FRIENDS IN TROUBLE

Severely damaged and struggling to maintain height, B17 Hard Luck II manages to cross the safety of the Essex coast after a harrowing journey home. Luckily, a P-47 was on hand to provide a miraculous escort across the North Sea.

It was a pilot’s nightmare scenario – his aircraft hit and damaged by flak that had damaged an engine and shredded the fuselage, killing his navigator and critically wounding his bombardier. Steadily losing height, the stricken warbird had fallen far behind the bomber stream to cross the North Sea lost and alone in an empty sky, an easy target for any prowling enemy fighters. The situation facing the crew of the aptly named B-17 Hard Luck II on 7 May 1944 was dire.

And then the radio crackled: ‘P-47 to Big Friend in trouble, what can I do for you?’ Salvation had appeared, the unmistakable form of a P-47 Thunderbolt was circling two miles off to escort the battered Fortress. With the welcoming sight of the Essex coast passing beneath them, the moment depicted in his beautifully executed new painting, the survivors could feel relieved. Thanks to their ‘guardian angel’ they’d soon be safely home.