Heinz Krebs
Heinz Krebs was raised and lives in Southern Germany where he runs his commercial graphic arts studio during the day and spends most of his free time either flying or painting.
He is a passionate aviator, a commercial pilot, and flying instructor with nearly 10,000 hours of flying time and almost 20.000 landings to his credit. He has flown more than 50 different types of aircraft ranging from 35 different types of gliders to DC-2s and jet fighters.
But all his life he has had one other love besides his flying: Fine Arts: Especially painting in oils. What makes his aviation art so unique is that, being able to draw on his life-long experience of both subjects, Heinz is able to convey in his unique style, true portraits of flight full of romance, action, and drama.
Heinz Krebs Signed and numbered Limited Edition Print "Birth of a Fighter Legend"
On the evening of Saturday, May 18th 1940 a young Luftwaffe fighter pilot was part of a force tasked to find, and safely escort back to its base, a German Heinkel reconnaissance aircraft over French territory. The young man’s name was Günther Rall, who would later become the third-highest ranking fighter Ace in the history of aerial warfare, with a total score of 275 confirmed victories.
Rall and his fellow pilots took off from their airfield on this fateful late afternoon, and quickly found the recce plane which was desperately trying to get back behind the lines, with a whole pack of French US-built Curtiss Hawk fighter aircraft in hot pursuit. Rall’s unit immediately engaged, and a short but ferocious battle between the Germans and the French flared up. Rall soon got a chance to align his sight on one of the French fighters, which later turned out to be flown by the exiled Czech pilot Otto Hanzlicek. The rounds fired from Rall’s Messerschmitt Me109E almost immediately sent the Curtiss down in flames.
So intensely focused on his first gunfight was this young fighter pilot, that he had failed to notice Hanzlicek’s wingman who had moved in from behind and was firing at him. Now it was Rall’s turn to take the punches. His 109 was hit several times and spun out of control, Rall had to use all of his exceptional skills as an aviator to recover from the stall.
As quickly as the fight had erupted, it was over. Günther Rall found himself alone in the skies over France with an aircraft that was just barely flyable, but he managed to survive and land at a German airfield that night.
Thus began the career of one of the world’s most exceptional military aviators. His long and hard service career, first for his native Germany, and later for NATO, could well have ended with his very first enemy encounter. But Günther Rall, showing the world a first glimpse of his outstanding qualities as a fighter and a leader prevailed, and turned a near tragedy into triumph.
This 24" by 27" print, edition size 500, is signed by the artist and co-signed by Günther Rall
All Limited Edition prints are signed and numbered (S/N) by the artist. Limited Edition prints are restricted to a certain number. For example, if 400 prints are made from an original painting, once they’re gone, that’s it. There is no limit to the number of open edition prints of a particular painting. That’s why Limited Edition prints are more expensive — and more valuable to collectors — than "open" edition. Rare objects are more valuable.
All Limited Edition artwork is subject to availability at time of order. Although seller strives to remain currrent as to inventory, seller reserves the right to cancel a sale if item is no longer available at time of purchase.
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