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| Since this edition is sold out and no other editions are available, here is a similar item which may be of interest : |
 Dogfight over Asch, Belgium, 09.20 a.m., New Years Day, 1st January 1945 by David Pentland. £140.00 |  Checkertail Clan by Nicolas Trudgian £150.00 |
| Signatures on this item | |
| *The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
| Name | Info |
  Colonel C E Bud Anderson (deceased) *Signature Value : £55 | Bud Anderson went to England with the 357th Fighter Group in 1943, the first Eighth Air Force Group to be equipped with the P-51 Mustang. He got himself on the score sheet on one of the first Berlin missions, dog fighting with a bunch of Me109s who had set upon a straggling B-17. On 29th June 1944, leading his squadron on a mission to Leipzig, they ran into a formation of Fw190s. In the ensuing battle Anderson shot down the leader, and two more Fw190s. After a short rest in the U.S., Bud returned for a second tour, just in time for the 357th's big day on 27th November 1944. With the 353rd they took on a huge formation of some 200 enemy fighters, Anderson adding three more to his score. He finished the war with 16 air victories and many more probables. Sadly Bud passed away on the 17th of May 2024. |
 Colonel Donald Cummings (deceased) *Signature Value : £50 | Joining the USAAF in 1941, Don Cummings saw action in England, Africa and Italy, taking part in the Battle of Anzio. Flying first with the 12th Air Force and then posted to the 8th Air Force in England, flying with the 39th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group out of Wormingford. Don Cummings flew a total of 150 combat missions and on 25th February, 1945, became one of only two fighter Aces to shoot down two Me262 jet fighters on a single mission. He then served in occupied Germany after the war ended. Sadly, we have learned Don Cummings passed away in November 2012. |
  Colonel Walker Bud Mahurin (deceased) *Signature Value : £70 | Walker Melville 'Bud' Mahurin was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on 5th December 1918. He joined the Army reserves on 29th September 1941 and entered flight training, being commissioned as a pilot on the 29th of April 1942 at Ellington Field Texas. 'Bud' Mahurin gained a reputation as one of the USAAF's most colourful fighter Aces. Arriving in the European theatre, flying with the 56th Fighter Group at Boxted, England, on the 17th of August the 56th Fighter group flew escort for the Eighth Air Force Bombers whose mission was to bomb Schweinfurt and Regensburg. They encountered a large force of German fighters and Bud Mahurin shot down two Fw190s. He went on to become an Ace on the 4th of October, and by the end of November he had achieved 10 kills. Bud Mahurin was promoted to Major on the 21st of March 1944. On the 27th of March he shared a victory of a Do217 but was hit by the bomber and was forced to bail out of his Thunderbolt, when his aircraft was set ablaze by the gunfire. Mahurin evaded the Germans with help of the French resistance and returned to Britian. He had by this time shot down 20 German aircraft. He then transferred to the south west Pacific Commanding the 3rd Air Commando Squadron where he added a Japanese aircraft to his score, shooting down a KI-46 Dinah, making hinm one of very few American pilots to shoot down German and Japanese aircraft. Mahurin saw combat from New Guinea to Okinawa. After this tour he returned to the US and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. After the war he spent two tours at the Pentagon and went on to obtain an aeronautical engineering degree. During the Korean War 'Bud' Mahurin commanded the 4th Fighter Interceptor Group in Korea where he added 3.5 MiG-15s to his tally before being shot down in his Sabre. He was shot down by ground fire on the 13th of May 1952, and bailed out for the last time, to spend a gruelling sixteen months as a POW in North Korea undergoing extensive torture. Mahurin returned to the US and stayed in the USAF until 1956 when he worked for the aerospace industry. Sadly, Bud Mahurin passed away on 11th May 2010. |
  General Gunther Rall (deceased) *Signature Value : £75 | A young pilot with III/JG52 at the outbreak of war. He quickly demonstrated his natural ability and leadership qualities, scoring his first air victory early in the Battle of Britain, and by July 1940 was leading 8/JG52. After transfer to the Eastern Front his air victories mounted at an astonishing rate. A crash hospitalised him but within nine months he was back in the cockpit, and, when commanding III/JG52, gained the Wings 500th victory. Gunther fought throughout the war to become the 3rd highest Ace in history with 275 victories. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Gunther Rall was born on March 10, 1918 in the small Bavarian town of Gaggenau, Baden. Immersing himself in Boy Scout activities during the difficult economic times in Germany following WW 1, Rall finished school in 1936 and joined the German Army. Influenced by a friend, who was a young officer in the Luftwaffe, Rall entered pilots school in 1938. His initial posting was with JG52. He attained his first aerial victory during the Battle of France in May of 1940. During the Battle of Britain JG52 absorbed many casualties, and Rall was promoted to Squadron Commander at the young age of 22. With his fair-hair and smooth complexion the young officer looked even younger than his years. But behind this pleasant exterior was a fierce competitor with the heart of a tiger. Later, Ralls squadron would support the attack on Crete, followed by deployment to the Southern Sector on the Eastern Front. Ralls victory totals began to mount. Following his 37 th victory, GiInther was himself shot down. He was lucky to survive the crash, but with a badly broken back he would spend most of the next year in various hospitals. In Vienna at the University Hospital he would meet his future wife, Hertha. Miraculously, Rall recovered and returned to the Luftwaffe in August of 1942. By November his score exceeded 100 and he was awarded the Oak Leaves to accompany the Knights Cross he was awarded only weeks earlier. As the War progressed against Russia, Rall began to encounter ever more experienced Soviet pilots flying better performing aircraft. Despite this fact, and being shot down several more times himself, Ralls victory tally kept rising. By March of 1944 the ace had attained 273 aerial victories. With the War now going badly for Germany, Rall was transferred to the Western Front. He was able to attain only two more victories against the swarms of Allied bombers and fighter escorts which now pounded Germany every day and night. In May of 1944 Rall was shot down by a P-47. Losing his thumb in the battle he remained out of combat until later in 1944. Ralls final assignments included flying 190Ds as Kornmodore of JG300, and flying the Me-262 jet. Ralls 275 aerial victories (attained on less than 700 combat sorties) make him the third highest scoring ace of all time. If not for the down time suffered as a result of his broken back, Rall might have actually equaled or exceeded Erich Hartmanns alltime record of 352 aerial victories. Rall was not much for socializing during the War. He was a fierce competitor with a businessmans attitude about flying. He was an excellent marksman, and possibly the best deflection shot expert of the War. He continued to fly with the Bundeslufwaffe following the War, serving as its Commander-In Chief in 1970-74. Sadly Gunther Rall died on 4th October 2009. |
 Hauptmann Hans Weik (deceased) *Signature Value : £55 | Born in 1922, Hans Weik was one of the younger Luftwaffe Aces who, after commissioning, was posted to Russia in the spring of 1943 as a young Leutnant flying with the Geschwaderstab JG3. In the spring of 1944 he was promoted Staffelfuhrer 10./JG3 and as such was to become one of the most respected Staffel commanders in the home defence of Germany. In the final weeks of the war he transferred to Lechfeld for training on the Me262. Hans Weik flew over 100 combat missions and achieved a total of 36 victories, 24 of them in the west. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in July 1944. He died 5th June 2001. |
 Lt Col Ernest E Bankey (deceased) *Signature Value : £25 | After training in the US, Erenst Bankey arrived in England for his first combat tour with the 364th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force in February 1944. On 27th December during the Battle of the Bulge, his group ran into a large mass of Luftwaffe fighters whilst flying over the Bonn area of Germany, In the melee of dogfighting that followed, Ernest Bankey shot down 5 enemy aircraft and shared another. During his two tours in England, he flew over 110 combat missions and was credited with 11.5 aerial victories and another 5 on the ground. Sadly, we have learned that Ernest Bankey passed away in June 2009. |
  Oberfeldwebel Helmut Ruffler (deceased) *Signature Value : £65 | Helmut Ruffler joined 9./JG3 in February 1941 and was soon to prove himself a masterful fighter pilot. His scores began to mount quickly and by the end of 1942 his tally had risen to 50 victories. Surviving being shot down in 1943, he was posted as a much needed fighter instructor but was soon back in the fray - joining 4./JG3 in the home defence of the Reich. In March 1945 he was promoted Staffelfuhrer of 9./JG51. Shot down 5 times during the war, Helmut Ruffler fleww over 690 missions and scored 98 victories. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in December 1942. He died on 21st September 2001. |
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