THE LONG SHORT DAYS - Original Oil on Canvas

Robert Taylor’s powerful painting captures a group of Bf109Gs from III./JG26, as they return to base after a long range fighter sweep along the Channel coast in early 1944. In his unmistakable style, and with extraordinary skill, Robert evokes a moment of rare tranquillity amidst the carnage of war as the lengthening sun glints across the frozen landscape, during the short days of winter.

It was known as the Jagdverbände, the fighter arm of the Luftwaffe, and by June 1940 it boasted some of the world's greatest fighter pilots. With tactics honed to perfection, these battle-seasoned veterans dominated the skies of Europe.

But as the war progressed, the Luftwaffe fighter pilots faced another battle, the increasingly desperate war of attrition as the Allied air forces slowly, but inevitably, ground the German war machine into defeat. By early 1945 Allied air supremacy was overwhelming.

And yet despite overwhelming odds, from within their ranks came the most successful air Aces ever to fly in combat - names such as Hans-Joachim Marseille, the top-scoring fighter pilot in the West, the legendary Erich Rudorffer who scored more multiple victories than any other pilot and of course the Fighter General, Adolf Galland, who achieved all of his 104 victories in the West.