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This description of the painting 'Queens of the Sky' originally accompanied a series of paintings by Pfc Ernest Berkowitz, who painted a series of pictures of the aircraft and men of the 19th Bombardment Group while they were all based at Dyersburg Air Force Base, Tennessee, after their exploits in the Far East. Although we don't have the paintings, the stories themselves are still of great interest. Berkowitz later went on to become succesful artist under the name Ernest Berke, mainly producing paintings of Native Americans and their horses.
Many thanks to Dennis Gagomiros for sending us these documents.
"QUEENS OF THE SKY"
From the waist gunners window of a Flying Fortress comes this picture of a group in "Vee" formation. These birds of the sky, so graceful yet so deadly, truly as efficient as the powerful machine gun that points its muzzle menacingly toward that quarter of the sky from whence may spring a deadly foe.
Directly above and ahead is the lead plane of this "Vee", its waist gunner clearly visible, so close do they fly. At the right, the wing plane of the formation drones steadily along its crew ever on the alert. Almost a thousand feet below flys another "Vee" silhouetted by the fleecy clouds. On a mission of destruction, heavily loaded, these planes are still beautifully graceful. Truly have they been named "Queens of the Sky".