USAAF P-38J Lightning & Luftwaffe He 177 Greif D-Day Combat Relic Display

In July of 1944 an unequal aerial combat took place in the skies over Bourges, France between the United States Army Air Corps and the Luftwaffe. 

Germany's Heinkel He 177 might have been a formidable strategic heavy bomber for the Luftwaffe if its development had been given time and resources like the American B-29. But German industry and weapons procurement were under extreme duress, not to mention bombardment, and He 177s were thrown into both production and combat as they were.  

The American P-38 Lightning was a tried and proven aircraft by 1944, but that did not mean it was any less difficult a machine than the He 177 could be. Pilots literally froze within underheated cockpits, and when engaged by Luftwaffe fighters the P-38 pilots then had to begin a complicated and time-consuming process of switching from cruise to combat modes or risk destroying the engines in the fight. 

No reliability issues impacted the short and unequal battle that took place on July 9, 1944, however, between a sky filled with P-38J Lightnings from the 20th Fighter Group and one of the last operational He 177s of KG 40:

"Briefed to take off at 0600hrs with one of the few remaining serviceable He 177A-5s, the presence of enemy aircraft meant this [flight] was delayed until 0900hrs. For this flight, Neuenfeldt’s crew had been joined by two groundcrew.

Briefed to fly at just over 1,000ft, an unknown aircraft was spotted ahead and to the right about an hour after taking off. With another 15 aircraft appearing, they turned out to be P-38 Lightnings from the 20th FG. Neuenfeldt immediately pulled up into cloud, but on emerging the P-38s pounced on them . . .  Kappestein tried to jettison the escape hatch, but it failed to unlock – only when two more of the crew jumped on it did it drop away. Neuenfeldt, Comans and Kappestein managed to bail out with severe burns to their hands and faces. Gunner Ogefr Wegener was wounded by gunfire, while the observer Ogefr Pöschko and one of the passengers, Uffz Hans Jacobsen, were slightly injured. While the unnamed tail gunner got out without a scratch, the body of the other passenger, Uffz Franz Weinreis, was found near the wreckage of the bomber, which came down east of Bourges in central France."

Ron Cole has captured the moment of this encounter in this original artwork, which has been combined with pieces from each of these aircraft. The aluminum skin from the KG 40 He 177 bears some original paint and markings along with obvious fire damage - discoloration and paint blistering, all inflicted upon the material in this combat. The He 177 material was excavated in the 1980s from the known crash site and was positively identified by several '177' prefix part numbers (included in the artwork). The aluminum skin from the P-38J was found in an outbuilding in Normandy, France in the early 1980s, and was identified by its remains and markings. The first several displays will be made with P-38 parts that include the remains of this aircraft's white painted unit markings.   

Limited to only 75. Signed & numbered by the artist.

Size: artwork is 11x17-inches, with frame roughly 13x19-inches.

Two rare aircraft parts in one display with stumming artwork of both portrayed in a well-documented moment in history!