D-Day Armada by Nicolas Trudgian features USAAF P-51 Mustangs escorting B-26 Marauders over the D-Day beaches. There was never a greater concentration of air power deployed in an active theatre of war as over the English Channel in May and June 1944. As D-Day approached, the USAAF's Ninth Air Force had assembled over 3500 aircraft and, dispatching up to 1000 aircraft a day, they were pounding enemy positions all the way from Pas de Calais to the coast of Normandy. 6 June 1944, arguably the most decisive single day in modem military history, saw the sky filled with waves of troop carrying aircraft towing gliders, dropping over 20,000 highly trained men in support of the massed sea-borne landings on the beaches below. Grabbing all the airspace they could find, the combat wings of the Ninth Air Force were creating havoc among the German ground forces as they scrambled to get troops and armour to the battlefront. Nicolas Trudgian's dramatic painting depicts a scene late on D-Day Plus One, as yet another aerial armada heads inland over the heavy fighting on the beaches below. Bearing their high profile invasion stripes, P-5l Mustangs of the 354th Fighter Group are seen escorting B-26 Marauders of the 397th Bomb Group as they cross the battle lines, the Marauders' mission to hit enemy targets ahead of advancing Allied ground forces. Below, endless flotillas of troop ships and landing craft are swarming onto the beaches as the second day of the invasion draws towards its close. The editions are signed by the artist along with distinguished P-51 Aces who flew combat missions on D-Day, 6 June 1944: 350 Limited Editions signed by: Captain Clayton Gross Colonel Maurice Long Major General Donald Strait 150 Anniversary Editions signed by: Captain Clayton Gross Colonel Maurice Long Major General Donald Strait Colonel Richard ‘Dick’ Denison First Lieutenant Wayne E Downing Captain John L Minech Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Milow Lieutenant Colonel William ‘Bill’ D Mitchell Published in 2004 Overall Print Size: 35 x 24 inches