Details
BOGEY'S! ELEVEN O'CLOCK HIGH
by Robert Taylor
Overall Print Size: 33 1/2" x 24 5/8"
Edition Size: 1250
Secondary Market
Zero seven thirty hours of April 13, 1943 saw sixteen P-38 Lightnings depart Henderson Field on the Pacific Island of Guadalcanal. It was no ordinary mission. They were to intercept and shoot down a Japanese bomber carrying the C-in-C of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. With the enemy radio codes broken and details of Yamamoto's morale-building tour of the Solomon Islands at hand, Admiral Chester Nimitz had just four days to devise a way of eliminating the man who had masterminded the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Selected for the task were the P-38s from USAAF's 339th Squadron, led by Major John Mitchell. Flying just feet above the waves, Mitchell had the difficult task of navigating a circuitous route over water to avoid detection during the 420 mile flight, but right on schedule they sighted the coast of the island of Bougainville. The two hour radio silence was broken by Doug Canning, the first to spot the Japanese aircraft, with his famous words, "Bogeys! Eleven o'clock high." Mitchell led twelve P-38s at full throttle to 18,000 feet to provide high cover while Tom Lanphier led the 4-ship attack flight, turning towards the enemy aircraft - two "Betty" bombers escorted by six Zero fighters. In an amazing fire-fight lasting just a few minutes, both bombers were brought down, the second, carrying Yamamoto, crashing into the jungle in a pall of smoke. Rex Barber was credited with striking the coup de grace. The P-38 pilots had accounted also for three escorting Zero fighters when Mitchell radioed, "Mission completed," and they headed home.
A carefully researched, evocative painting that pays tribute to all 16 pilots who flew one of the most successful missions of World War II, "BOGEY'S! ELEVEN O'CLOCK HIGH" records the moment that Doug Canning calls the sighting of Admiral Yamamoto's flight. It shows the instant reflexes of mission leader John Mitchell, his P-38 already starting to climb even as Canning breaks radio silence. This print commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Yamamoto mission and is one of the most significant aviation collectors prints ever published.
In addition to the artist it is signed by all nine surviving pilots who flew the greatest aerial ambush in aviation history:
- Colonel John Mitchell
- Lt. Colonel Roger Ames
- Colonel Rex Barber
- Lt. Colonel Doug Canning
- Captain Delton Goerke
- Captain Larry Graebener
- Lt. Colonel Besby F. Holmes
- Major Julius Jacobson
- Lt. Colonel Louis Kittel
Comes with a descriptive Certificate of Authenticity.
