Description
A Test Of Courage – Original Painting by Keith Ferris
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20″ x 48″
Oil on canvas
Unavailable – Family Collection
Fw190 II./JG 300 Fw190A-8/R8 “Sturmbock” duels point blank with gunners of the 303rd Bomb Group B-17s on 15 August 1944.
In demonstrating the tragedy of the air war over Europe in World War II, this painting shows a Focke Wulf 190 of the Luftwaffe’s II/JG300, armed with 30mm cannon, face to face with the 50 cal. machine guns of the tail gunner of mortally wounded B-17G 44-6291 of the low squadron of the 8th Air Force 303rd Bomb Group on 15 August 1944. The 303rd Bomb Group lost nine B-17 bombers with nine men in each aircraft in a little under two minutes in this duel at 25,000 feet over Germany. The average age of the crews on both sides was around 21 years of age.
For both Germans and Americans who flew almost every day, each mission was truly “A Test Of Courage”.
