Note: All Prints are Signed by the artist but do not have the text graphics that are shown on the sample images.
Lieutenant
Dean M. Huston flew this Mustang for the 487th Squadron, 352nd Fighter
Group of the U.S.A.A.F.'s 8th Air Force during late 1944/early 1945.
Hailing from Iowa, the "Hawkeye state", the origin of the name on the
plane is explained. Huston was involved in the infamous German Raid
"Operation Bodenplatte", in which the waning Luftwaffe sought to destroy
allied airpower on the continent as the last major gambit of the Battle
of the Bulge. Lt. Col. John C. Meyer anticipated the German attack, on
New Years Day 1945, and had the "Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" just
taking off as the German fighters roared over... With a little help from
a P-47 unit, the 487th accounted for 23 of the 67 attacking German
aircraft; two of the P-51s were damaged, including Huston's plane,
damaged by allied anti-aircraft but landed with the gear down and later
repaired. Later in the war Huston encountered a single Me-262 jet, as
depicted here.
