Ralph Hofer painting ... WIP

[Adam Kline]

I agree. Nice Job. What's next?

Adam Kline

[Chicoartist]

Thanks, guys - I've got about 4-5 projects brewing for collectors, including a couple of smaller pieces I'm doing for myself that will be entered in shows. Subject matter ranges from SE5s on up to Corsairs and more Mustangs. In addition, I'm doing remarques in my book.

FYI, here's what the book remarques (so far) look like: http://www.wademeyersart.com/id82.html

Cheers!
Wade

[Adam Kline]

The remarques are great. I like Mac Mckennon and the P-38 towards the end of the book. Question? What did you use as wall paper behind the book? That looks interesting too.

Adam Kline

[Jack Cook]

Beerbower's P-51 and my cousin's Corsair right err...Wade

[Chicoartist]

Adam, most of the photos are hand-helds with the book propped up on my drafting table/easel, which is what you see in the 'background'. I actually draw them on a flat surface that allows me to move the book around quickly. I just finished a P-47 ground scene that is my best so far, I think. A pic will be posted on my site Wednesday.

Wade

[Chicoartist]

Should be finished this week ... here's some updated images since the last installment:


Background finished -



A small study of the cockpit area -



Cast shadow laid in -



Fuselage shaping up -



A small watercolor from a WWII photo I did to relax -



Fuselage mainly done - famous last words!


Wade

[avenger2504]

Wow that looks stunning, so realistic.

[Django]

Thumbs up!

[Chicoartist]

This is all I can do. Dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Leeward - as an aviation enthusiast, I of course have been reading about him, and the exploits of his Mustang, for as long as I can remember. As a youngster, I thought 'Miss Candace' was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life - likely the genesis of my lifelong fascination with the lines of the P-51, and why I absolutely cannot stop painting it. I remember that Dr. Cliff Cummins painted the candy stripes on the tail in honor of his WWII P-47 unit; hopefully my memory of those old Air Classics articles is correct on that point. I have followed the various incarnations of this plane since then, and in honor of Jimmy who kept making her better, and the plane itself - true 1946-1949 "Ghost" or not this airframe has a legitimate claim to the highest honors in any air racing hall of fame in it's own right - I respectfully submit another famous Mustang and pilot that "did good work":


High-Angle Snapshot
24 x 36 in., Oil on panel
Completed 2011
Collection of Pat Foley

4th Fighter Group triple ace 2Lt. Ralph K. Hofer in his P-51B Mustang "Salem Representative" snaps off a burst at a fleeing Fw 190, but loses the nimble German fighter in the morning sun. His aim thwarted, the 'victory' is only on a few frames of gun camera film - this time - thus my title. A fellow 4th Fighter Group Mustang aggressively maneuvers above for the kill. Was he successful? I prefer to let you decide. Hofer was a natural fighter pilot, scoring 15 aerial victories while simultaneously upsetting his superiors with his independent ways. He went out in a blaze of glory on July 2, 1944 attacking a German airfield at Mostar, Yugoslavia.

[Django]

Looks fantastic Wade. Bravo.

[Chappie]

Wow Wade. I like this painting. I have three other prints of yours- Chico The Gunfighter, One Man Air Force, and Wings of Eagles. This one is really cool.


Chappie

[TOM WALSH]

Wade,

I sure wish I had your talent. On page 1 of this thread, there are five pilots sort of facing the camera: L to R - "Monty" Montgomery, Unknown, "Bee" Beeson, "Kidd" Hofer and a second Unknown. Can you help me out and put names to the two Unknowns?

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

[Chicoartist]

Thanks, guys - Tom, the pilot next to Montgomery is a mystery to me, but the officer next to Hofer is Capt. Joseph L. Lang. I'm almost certain of it.

Lang was KIA in P-51D 44-14123 QP-Z on Oct. 14, 1944. His last R/T transmission that day was,

This is Lang, I am down below the clouds with 10 109s. I got two, I don't know where I am and I need help.

He was seen to crash by ground troops in 3 mi. visibility near Kaiserslautern. Lang received official credit by the 8th AF Victory Credits Board for the two Bf 109 victories based on a Pilot's Encounter Report filed by Capt. Ben Ezzell, 334th FS Intel officer. He was an ace, and his final score was 7.833 aerial confirmed, 0 probables, and 1 damaged.

Wade

[TOM WALSH]

Wade,

Thanks for the photo identification on Captain Joseph Leo "Joe" Lang from Boston, Massachusetts. Maybe someone else reading this thread will be able to identify the other pilot at some point in time. Researching Lang's history has been difficult in the extreme. No one seems to know anything about him. I've conducted two separate searches at Library & Archives Canada over the past five years and Joe Lang definitely never served in the RCAF. Conversely, two searches over the same time frame through the RAF Personnel Management Agency turned up empty. I asked my contact there how that was possible. He had to transfer to the 4Th from somewhere! The only possible explanation she could offer up was that Lang held a private pilot's licence in the U.S. and wanted to join the RAF. He then contacted the British Embassy in Washington directly. They would have directed him to their Embassy in Ottawa, Ontario as they would have run afoul of the U.S. Neutrality Act had they tried to sign him up stateside. By referring him to Canada (which, by the way, had been at War with Germany since September, 1939), it would not get them nor him in trouble with the U.S. State Department. They also would have given him an air test to determine his level of competence as a pilot. This was probably done on Harvards at either No. 2 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) at Uplands, or on Battles at No. 31 SFTS at Kingston, Ontario. He was then sworn into the RAFVR and shipped out to England from Halifax, Nova Scotia. There were several dozen American citizens who entered the RAF in this manner. According to my contact, the list or records for those individuals never made it out of America or Canada and are lost to time!! Very frustrating for us researchers.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

[TOM WALSH]

Adam,

With your permission, I would like to use the information that you recently supplied on Kidd Hofer. I will give you and your Father credit in a rewrite of the article I posted here.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.