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Sundowner Fresco 24x18
Acrylic on Canvas
24 x 18
$40.00 Available
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24x18 version of the "Sundowner Fresco".
March 6th,1972, 50 miles north of Quan Lang Airfield, North Vietnam.
"The MiG is back at my right four o'clock. Shoot him! Shoot! We're holding him off!"
VF-111 "Sundowner" F-4B driver Lt Garry "Greyhound" Weigand and his RIO Lt(Jg) Bill "Farkle" Freckleton, flying from the USS Coral Sea as wingman to recent Top Gun graduate Lt Jim "Yosemite" Stillinger and his RIO Lt(Jg) Rick Olin, needed no prodding. Seconds earlier, the MiG-17 that had been intent on shooting Stillinger and Olin had reversed hard and broken into Weigand's "Old Nick 201" as the MiG pilot spotted him slicing down from his high cover position and into firing parameters. Weigand executed a hard close in lag roll at less than 500 feet AGL to stay near the bandit's six o'clock and avoid overshooting. Inexplicably, or maybe because the MiG driver thought Weigand's low altitude rolling maneuver would cause him to crash, the "Fresco" pilot banks hard away from "Old Nick 201" and, streaming "vapes" from his wings, pulls max G in an attempt to pull lead on Stillinger and Olin for a gunshot. It is a fatal mistake. As "Farkle" cranes over his shoulder to "check their six" for any other unseen bandits, "Greyhound" deftly recovers from the lag roll at only 300ft AGL in full afterburner with the help of some top rudder to get the hulking Phantom's nose above the horizon. He rips his nose onto the MiG, gets a screaming tone in his headphones, uncages his AIM-9D Sidewinder's seeker head on the MiG's afterburner plume, and pulls the trigger on his stick... Weigand later relates that after what seems like an eternity but in fact is only a second, the "Winder" comes off the left rail and in only 4 more seconds eats up the 3500 feet or so between them, guides perfectly into the hapless MiG driver's tailpipe, and blows the airplane in half. The Sundowners have bagged a Fresco!! But experienced "Red Crown" radar controller Senior Chief Larry Nowell, aboard the USS Chicago, who earlier was instrumental in getting the F-4 crew's eyes onto the attacking MiG, has spotted new threats. "Blue bandits bearing 300 for 15 and closing!" Four MiG-21 Fishbeds are only 15 miles away and mighty pissed off at the loss of their "Fresco" buddy. Exhausted from the long turning fight with the Fresco, low on missiles and fuel and having only one functioning radar in the flight, "Yosemite" wisely decides to bug out. They use their remaining fuel to "light the cans" and exit North Vietnam at 1200 feet. After their supersonic dash to safety, they join up with a tanker to feed their thirsty Phantoms, then trap back aboard the "Coral Maru" to a rousing celebration with 4,000 of their closest friends.
Weigand and Freckleton are awarded the Silver Star and a well deserved R and R trip to Bangkok. Not bad for only a few minutes work!
The painting was executed after close correspondence with the MiG killers Weigand and Freckleton to show the moment that hunter had become the hunted and the tables were turned on the MiG pilot. I am grateful to them for their help in completing the painting and as a fellow combat aviator thank them for their service on the sea and in the skies of North Vietnam.
Comes with this "back story" on frameable parchment paper as well as certificate of authenticity. Paypal will add $8 shipping/handling charge(comes in a re-usable "nuclear capable" shipping tube)and Mass. residents 5% sales tax.
If you want a specific print # of the signed limited edition of 201 specify a few on the "contact the artist" page of this site as the # may already be taken.
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