Victory Fly Over

On Sunday 2 September 1945 the formal surrender document to conclude WWII was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. At 09.25 hrs with General Douglas MacArthur, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admirals Halsey and Sherman presiding, the Instrument of Surrender was completed.

Robert Taylor’s classic painting Victory Flyover brings that historic moment to life again. Scarcely had the ink on the surrender document dried when, right on cue, and as if staged by Hollywood, shafts of brilliant sunlight broke through the morning mist to floodlight the scene. Above the Allied fleet a deep and growing rumble filled the air and a second armada appeared: hundreds of American Corsairs, Hellcats, Avengers, Helldivers, Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Superfortresses swept across the waters of Tokyo Bay to herald in the peace. The Second World War was finally over.