Flying with 6./JG52 during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain, Leutnant Gerhard Barkhorn and his colleagues provide escort cover to a large force of Luftwaffe bombers heading for London during the final stages of the Battle of Britain.

Many great flying Aces were talented pilots but took time to master the art of combat - and Gehard Barkhorn was no different. During training, his gunnery skills had been rated as poor and despite being posted to the elite JG52 where his combat encounters mounted during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain, his list of victories remained stuck on nil. On 27 September, a Spitfire had shot him down over the Channel. He survived, but how the Russians must have wished that he hadn't, because it was only after JG52 transferred to the Eastern Front that Barkhorn flourished so much that he was to become the second-highest scoring Ace in history, with 300 victories against the Russians, a score surpassed only by his friend in JG52, Erich Hartmann.

It is Barkhorn's early days in JG52, however, that Richard Taylor has chosen to depict in his new colour-enhanced drawing, Where Eagles Soar. With a huge force of Luftwaffe bombers assembled and heading away from the Pas-de-Calais towards London, Barkhorn and his colleagues in JG52 prepare to provide top cover ready for the sure-to-come onslaught of Spitfires and Hurricanes from Fighter Command.