Apr
28

Today in Smithsonian History: April 28, 1988

Valor in the Pacific, Robert Taylor. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of victory in the bitterly contested three and a half year Air War in the Pacific, Robert Taylor's magnificent reconstruction shows a mission during the final stages of that momentous conflict. Depicted are B-29s of the 499th Bomb Group, 73rd Wing of the 20th Air Force, after a daylight raid on Tokyo. At the extremity of their range, "little friends", very-long-range P-51 Mustang escort fighters, peel off and head for home - reluctantly leaving the mighty bombers to fend for themselves.

“Valor in the Pacific,” Robert Taylor. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of victory in the bitterly contested three-and-a-half- year Air War in the Pacific, Robert Taylor’s reconstruction shows a mission during the final stages of that momentous conflict. Depicted are B-29s of the 499th Bomb Group, 73rd Wing of the 20th Air Force, after a daylight raid on Tokyo. At the extremity of their range, “little friends,” very-long-range P-51 Mustang escort fighters, peel off and head for home. (Image via Wings Fine Art)

April 28, 1988 “Horizons: The Drawings and Paintings of Robert Taylor” opens at the National Air and Space Museum. The exhibition showcases more that 100 works by one of the world’s most prominent aviation artists. Many of the thoroughly researched and meticulously detailed paintings and drawings are highly realistic portrayals of incidents that occurred during Word War II.

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Posted: 28 April 2019
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