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In the cruel combat over Germany throughout 1944, both sides experienced devastating effectiveness of their opponent's weapons. Massed formations of heavily armed and armored "Sturmgruppen" were hurled at unfortunate American bomber groups found by ground level radar to be unescorted at the moment by American fighters.
The German formation often passed one American unit, just beyond the lethal 3,500-foot range of its defensive .50 caliber machine gun fire, while positioning themselves to attack the American unit ahead. Armed with bomber-destroying 20mm and 30mm cannon, Lt. Klaus Bretschneider (Staffelkapitan, 5 Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 300) leads his wingman and the right side of his formation past an American unit and into position behind their targeted quarry up ahead. Both sides recognized "Real Trouble" when they saw it!
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An artist’s career can rest on the simplest of things. For Keith Ferris, it was
an allergic condition which kept him from becoming a pilot for the Air Force.
But he didn’t let that stop him from making his love of aviation his life.
Instead, he channeled his energy and enthusiasm into becoming an aviation
lecturer, historian, model-builder, inventor and artist known for his
scrupulous accuracy of aircraft and events. It also didn’t keep him from flying
all over the world in almost every type of jet aircraft possble.
His knowledge of the industry and passion for sharing the thrill of flight was
all in the family. He was the son of an Air Force officer and grew up on
military bases in the U.S. and England. He majored in aeronautical engineering
at Texas A&M University and enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. Since then he has
painted for almost every major defense contractor in America and completed a
variety of commissions for the U.S. Government, both practical and creative.
He holds the patents for five air combat camouflage paint schemes and painted
two twenty-five by seventy-five-foot murals for the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He has been elected a life
member of the Society of Illustrators and the Order of Daedalians, the national
fraternity of military pilots. He is Honorary Air Force Art Chairman, past
executive vice president of the Society of Illustrators and founder as well as
past president of the American Society of Aviation Artists.
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