"Birth of A Legend" by Stan Stokes L/E of 225 S/N by Stan Stokes and Navigator Lt. Col. Joe Bean - $125.00
On
December 10, 1941, just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Collin Kelly was piloting his B-17 back to Clark Field in the Philippines after bombing a Japanese ship when he came under attack from Japanese pilot Suburo Sakai. Kelly ordered
his crew to bail out of the badly stricken B-17 and lost his life trying to safely land the aircraft. Collin Kelly became America's first highly publicized hero of WWII. Print measures 11.5" x 16" overall.
L/E of 4750 S/N by Stan Stokes - $40.00
L/E of 225 S/N by Stan Stokes and Japanese Ace Suburo Sakai - $175.00
The Legend of Collin Kelly
by Robert Taylor
L/E of 750$295.00 $275.00 (includes companion print, below)
Signed by the artist and:
Master Sergeant James E. Halkyard
was right waist gunner on Kelly's B-17 that day in December, 1941. After being shot down, he was picked up and served for a time with the local Philippine guerillas. Evading capture, he rejoined U.S. forces and later served at Bataan.
Staff Sergeant Robert Altman was the Radio Operator and belly gunner on Kelly's B-17. Captured by the Japanese after bailing out, he served the rest of the war as a POW. He was taken to Japan and spent 36 months in captivity in Tokyo.
In the days after Pearl Harbor, American forces in the Pacific fought an overwhelming Japanese onslaught with obsolete aircraft and equipment. As the Japanese advanced through the Philippines, U.S. airmen and soldiers fought valiantly. Representative of their valor was a young B-17 pilot, Captain Colin Kelly, who, with a handful of others, flew the first American bombing missions of World War II.
Three days after Pearl Harbor, with Clark Field under air attack, Kelly made an emergency takeoff with three 600-pound bombs
aboard. He located several Japanese cruisers shelling a landing area near Aparri. Kelly's plane bombed from 22,000 feet, amazingly, hitting a cruiser. On the way back to Clark, he and his crew were attacked by a squadron of Japanese Zeros
led by ace Saburo Sakai. They raked the Fortress from the rear in a running battle for several dozen miles, killing the waist gunner and injuring others. As the crippled ship began to fall to earth, Kelly held the controls steady while the
others bailed out. As the sixth man left the ship, it blew up. His was the first B-17 lost in combat; Kelly was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Size: 33-1/4" x 25-1/2"
Also included is this companion print "Rising Sun" - a beautiful print of Saburo Sakai in his Zero, personally signed by Saburo Sakai.
Print measures 18" x 14"
Free, signed Companion Print!
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