The Aviation Show

The Aviation Show

Erasing History? The Trouble with Aviation Art

Jun 4, 2026 · 17 min · 11 segments

I was recently given two prints by the renowned aviation artist, the late Robert Taylor. One is going on the wall, the other... Well, that is the focus of this video, as why would I want the signature…

I was recently given two prints by the renowned aviation artist, the late Robert Taylor. One is going on the wall, the other... Well, that is the focus of this video, as why would I want the signature of a man like Günther Rall, an ardent servant of fascism, hanging on my wall? You can listen to both parts of our Birds of Prey discussion with Dr. Philip Blood via The Aviation Show website here: https://theaviation.show/hedge-hopping/ You can grab a copy of Birds of Prey by Dr. Philip W. Blood at The Aviation Show Bookshop. 10% of each sale supports the show. UK Link: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11015/9783838215679 US Link: https://bookshop.org/a/111804/9783838215679 Jonathan Glancy's 2004 Guardian interview with Rall can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/dec/30/1 Rall's obituary in The Daily Telegraph which includes Dr Richard P. Hallion's remarks, can be found via the Wayback Machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/20091015045404/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/air-force-obituaries/6299837/Generalleutnant-Gnther-Rall.html Find out moe about the Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres and the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial on their YouTube channel @neuengamme.memorial and website here: https://www.gedenkstaetten-hamburg.de/en/ \----------------------------------------------------- 🛫 Join us on Patreon! Join from just £3 + VAT a month to get ad-free episodes, chat with Matt, and receive a personalised welcome pack. Click here for more info: https://www.patreon.com/theaviationshow \----------------------------------------------------- ✈️Get the latest from the Pima Air and Space Museum by following their socials! Website: https://pimaair.org/ https://www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace https://www.instagram.com/pimaair https://x.com/pimaair https://www.youtube.com/c/PimaAirSpaceMuseum Check out the Tucson Military Vehicle Museum here: https://www.tucsonmilitaryvehicle.org/ 👕Get your aviation on with 909 Apparel today! Check out their website here: https://www.909apparel.com/ \----------------------------------------------------- The Aviation Show © 2026 by Matt Bone is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International \----------------------------------------------------- * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was recently given two prints by the renowned aviation artist, the late Robert Taylor. One is going on the wall, the other... Well, that is the focus of this video, as why would I want the signature…

Why Display a Nazi Ace’s Autograph? (Part 1)2:15 – 10:55

2:15

Why would I want a Nazi's autograph hanging on my wall? This signature is in pencil.

2:23

Curious whether it'll come off.

2:24

Trusty eraser.

2:27

And let's see what happens.

2:33

A dear friend very kindly gave me two classic Robert Taylor prints recently.

2:37

One was given willingly, the other with a bit of a wry smile.

2:41

The first one's this one here, which is Taylor's iconic home run, which depicts three P-51s of the 361st Fighter Group low over the Rhine looking for trouble on the way home.

2:52

It's signed by some incredible aces like Don Blakeslee, Robin Olds, James Goodson, and Kit Carson.

2:59

It will be taking pride of place on the office wall just over there with my John "Catseye" Cunningham signed print of Philip E. West's Calling Starlight, showing Cunningham in a beautiful Bristol Beaufighter Mark 1F shooting down an He 111 by moonlight over the Thames Estuary.

3:17

Which brings me to the other gift, which, yeah, we need to swap these around.

3:22

Give me a second.

3:25

There we go.

3:26

So this is another classic Taylor composition showing a pair of FW 190s of JG 300 on their leader Günther Rall's last combat sortie in April 1945.

3:40

The painting is pure Taylor, showing two Doras about to roll in over a gaggle of Mustangs.

3:46

Swansong, which in itself is a rather on-the-nose title, has Taylor's unique sense of movement, speed, and purpose that has made his art so recognizable and sought after all, for all these years.

3:59

Trouble with this one is in the bottom right-hand corner.

4:03

Here.

4:04

It's signed by Günther Rall himself.

4:07

So I'm sure I'm not going to make many friends by asking this question, but why would I want a Nazi's autograph hanging on my wall? "But Boney," I hear you shout, "Rall was one of the good ones.

4:19

His wife helped Jews to escape Germany." Which is true.

4:23

"And he confronted Hitler." Uh, not so much true.

4:28

So in case you don't know, who was Günther Rall? Well, he was the third highest-scoring ace in aviation history with 275 victories claimed, which is an incredible achievement for any fighter pilot.

4:43

But the thing about Rall, for all the good chapiness he was held in post-war society and his work rebuilding the Luftwaffe in the 1950s, Rall was a pure product of the Nazi system.

4:56

Born in 1918, eight months before the end of the Great War, Rall spent his formative school years post-1933 within a Nazi system which shaped his and a generation's future.

5:09

There's a very interesting interview with Rall by Jonathan Glancy, a writer I like and whose book on the history of the Schneider Trophy, Wings Over Water, is a lot of fun.