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The original concept for this piece
began in late 2003 between Joe Jones, of
Art Works Studio, Bob Avery, CEO of World of Wings, Ron Kaplan from the
National Aviation Hall of Fame and Master Sgt. Chuck Ramey, Public Affairs at Nellis
Air Force Base. The idea was to create something dramatic that would capture
hearts and pay homage to those who fought during 'Operation Overlord.' for
the 2004 Nellis event. "From my earliest concepts, I knew it wasn't going to be
just the responsibility to historical integrity that would make this project
so daunting, but much more a matter of just capturing the spirit, scale and
immediacy of this pivotal moment in our history as one might witness firsthand"
Jones said. His attention to detail would soon be noticed.
In an amazing twist of fate, while Jones was trying to capture the spirit of
the aviators that were in the air on that "Day Of Days", the spirit of the
actual pilot of the very C-47 that Jones would depict in this piece would soon
capture him when the aircraft is later identified by family members.
When Joel Whitehurst, Jr. of Los Banos, California saw the advertisement for
Aviation Nation in a flying magazine he noticed the C-47 in the ad looked
strangely familiar. After digging up some old photographs of his father, he
quickly confirmed that the C-47 pictured in the art was the actual plane his father
flew during the D-Day invasion. After contacting the publisher directly,
Whitehurst got in touch with Jones to tell him of his findings. "It brought a whole
new level of meaning to this work and me personally," Jones said of learning
of the link between the C-47 he had illustrated and its pilot. "It truly was
like reaching back in time and touching a piece of history". It was learned
from Whitehurst, that not only did his father pilot the very aircraft featured in
the piece, but his father went on to fly General George Patton, in that same
C-47, but did also in fact pilot Nazi war criminals, Hermann Goering, and
Admiral Karl Doenitz, to the Nuremberg, trials in this same aircraft as captured
in this still by Life Magazine photographer Robert Capa as they disembark
Whitehurst's C-47 upon their arrival in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945. An amazing
story.
Along with the great help of the Air Force, many great aviation heroes,
historians, curators of the 96th Bomb Group Museum in Snetterton, England, the
Clark County Aviation Museum and Pima Air and Space Museum, Jones had the
distinguished privilege of working throughout this project with two notable air
veterans that were actually in the air on that "Day Of Days", June 6th 1944. "I
appreciate the tremendous help and support of D-Day Veterans Jack Griswold and
George Meshko," he said. Jack, went on to fly two missions that very day as part
of the 96th Bomb Group.
This work was created to accommodate these top aviation publications:
- Flying
- Pacific Flyer
- Flight Journal
- Air Classic
- Warbirds International
- EAA Sport Aviation
- General Aviation News
- In Flight
- Ghost Wings
- The Review Journal
- Wings Club Program
- Aviation Week And Space Technology
This work has also been featured in the "Adobe Illustrator CS2 Bible"
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