By the Spring of 1945 the Luftwaffe was a shadow of its former self but what little remained of that once mighty force was not going down without a fight. And the Mustang pilots of the Mighty Eighth knew it. Ever alert for trouble, every mission still risked a probably one-sided yet potentially deadly encounter with the enemy.

Award-winning artist Keith Burns takes us to one such mission in the Spring of 1945 as pilots of the 352nd Fighter Group – the ‘Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney’ – head back to base following a successful operation escorting the Eighth’s heavy bombers to some of the few remaining industrial targets in Germany. As they scan the skies looking for trouble a brief glint far below has caught one of the pilot’s eyes. Could it be enemy fighters? Whatever the cause, the P-51s will investigate.