PHANTOM FURY
by Robert Taylor 

 F-4 Phantom Fury

We are delighted to announce Phantom Fury the long awaited third and final follow-up to Phantom Strike and Phantom Showtime. Featuring the last U.S. Fighter ace, Colonel Steve Ritchie, this outstanding piece captures all the power and fury of the devastating Phantom in its unrivaled role in Vietnam.

We all know how Phantom Strike has reached iconic status and achieve significant prices on the secondary market and Phantom Fury, an outstanding new release has all the same qualities, a dramatic image with outstanding signatures. There's every chance it will go the same way - contact me now for availability, or to place an order.

The biggest, fastest, most powerful fighter of its day, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom was an awesome war machine that came to dominate aerial combat for over two decades.

It may have been the size of many World War II bombers but it could out-perform anything that crossed its path; it was quicker, could turn faster, was better equipped with electronics, carried more ordnance than anything comparable, and it had an unbelievable rate of climb. 

The F-4 Phantom was the benchmark against which every fighter in the world came to be judged; it was simply the best.

Robert Taylor’s powerful new painting shows Steve Ritchie, first into action, flying his lead F-4D Phantom through a hail of deadly enemy flak as he exits the target area after a typical FAST FAC mission on enemy installations in North Vietnam, 1972. Behind him a vast trail of devastation marks the mission’s progress, as his fellow Phantom crews continue to wreak havoc with their heavy ordnance, the target area exploding in a series of mighty detonations, caused by this 'Phantom Fury'.

Overall Print Size: 34½” wide x 23½” high

Each print is personally signed by the highly decorated Vietnam USAF fighter pilot Ace Steve Ritchie, together with his special guest, Capt. John Madden,

Brigadier General RICHARD ‘STEVE’ RITCHIE
Captain JOHN MADDEN

The Limited Edition
US $320.00 UK £200.00
Edition Size - 750

 The Artist Proofs
US $520.00 UK £325.00
Edition Size - 50

 The Giclee Canvas Proofs
US $1095.00 UK £695.00
Edition Size - 25

 Remarque
US $1195.00 UK £795.00
Edition Size - 10  Sorry, Remarque quickly sold out

SECURE ON-LINE ORDERING

Collect and cherish truly exceptional original aviation and maritime art, drawings, and supreme quality limited edition prints, by the world's most collected military artists. Select from many valuable collector prints, countersigned by distinguished and historically famous aircrew, and other military personnel.

IMPORTANT!
Before you purchase, please visit my home page here at http://printsofwar.com for important information on these collectable and very possibly great investments for the future. They are limited editions and once they are gone, they are gone!

I have sold some, such as the Bismark, in the past and wished I'd kept them myself, as the value tripled and quadrupled on several of them, within months, after they had sold out.

You will find a growing number of mainly, limited edition prints, for your collections. These will have been painted, or drawn, by some of the finest military artists in the world today.

If you are searching for a particular print, or subject, then please ask me and I shall do my best to track it/them down for you. Just send me a request signal.

Cheers,

Ray Cunningham
Sovereign Art Company, Inc.
Remember - email, or call me, before you buy, have questions, or about availability...

World War 2 Stories - What They Can Teach Us About Heroes
By Ronald Standerfer

Ron Standerfer was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, a town across the Mississippi river from St. Louis,

Missouri. While attending the University of  Illinois ... ...

Every once in a while a book manages to burrow its way into my mind and I can't make it go away. The Hellish Vortex is that kind of book. It didn't start out that way. As a matter of fact, when I first looked at the cover I thought, Gee, this is a book about a young fighter pilot in World War II. I was a young fighter pilot back in the dark ages and flew combat in the Vietnam War. This ought to be a fun read. But a funny thing happened on my way to the last chapter. Inexplicably, my whole perspective changed concerning a subject I thought I knew as well as any combat veteran can. Namely; who are heroes and who are not; and how can you tell the difference?

Brigadier General Richard M Baughn (USAF, Retired) is one of those rare authors who can pull a period of World War II history off a dusty book shelf and breathe fresh new life into it. In his latest book, The Hellish Vortex, he describes the air campaign in the European theater between 1943 and 1945, during which waves of American B-17 and B-24 bombers, escorted by P-38, P-40 and P-51 fighters, pounded Germany. In the same narrative, he chronicles the daily lives of the men who flew them. The result is pure magic; a book well worth reading. How did he do it? It's simple. For one thing, he is a good writer and for another, he flew P-51s in Europe during the same period. As the saying goes, he has been there, done that. It works every time!

The principal character in the book is 2nd Lt. Robb Baines, a nineteen year old fighter pilot who arrives in the U.K. underage and under trained for his new assignment flying P-51s and escorting bombers to Germany. Like most nineteen year olds, Baines, who I suspect is General Baughn's alter ego, secretly wonders if he is up to the task at hand. But tangling with German ME 109s and ME 110s is dangerous business with no margin for self doubt, as Baines quickly found out. In time, he became a seasoned combat veteran, a confident leader, and a candidate for bigger and better things in what would become the United States Air Force in 1947.

There are several other characters in the book worth mentioning. There is The Colonel, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, the group commander who led his pilots with a calm steady hand; Big John, a sergeant whose well meaning support for the war effort included seducing the wife of a local chicken farmer to get eggs for the pilots' predawn breakfasts; and Rocco, Baines' long suffering wing man who lives his life with characteristic gritty, New York City bravado. These characters, and many others like them, add spice to an already well prepared dish.

Speaking of spices, there is love, romance and sex in the book as well; but the author is careful not to let these asides draw him off the main theme.

One of the things I like about The Hellish Vortex, is that the author periodically inserted excerpts from a paper entitled The Army Air Forces and 8th Air Force during World War II, purportedly written by Baines while at The Armed Forces Staff College. These asides afford the reader a chance to take a break and look at the big picture. It was there that I learned things I never knew, or had forgotten, about the growth of American air power between World War I and 1947. And it was also there that I read a statistic I still can't get out of my mind; namely, There were 41,802 airmen killed in a force that never exceeded 100,000 pilots, navigators, bombardiers, and aerial gunners. This grim statistics reinforces something I have always suspected, namely: that it is tempting for warriors to tell their stories loudly, garnering praise and admiration wherever and whenever they can. But the plain truth is that not all warriors are heroes; just as not all heroes are warriors; and those that are, often prefer to speak softly in deference to the heroes that never made it home. It took a simple book, written by a talented, unassuming writer to confirm my suspicion.

You can buy The Hellish Vortex at Amazon.com. It is an excellent read.

Ron Standerfer is a retired Air Force Colonel and fighter pilot who flew 250 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He has written numerous short stories, magazine articles, and blog pieces on military aviation in general, and fighter pilots in specific. During the initial bombing of Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War, he was seen on national TV as a military analyst. His latest novel, The Eagle's Last Flight, chronicles the life of an Air Force fighter pilot during the Cold War and Vietnam years. Details of this book can be found at http://www.theeagleslastflight.com

His blog, which presents his views and opinions on a variety of subjects can be read at http://www.theeagleslastflight.blogspot.com 

Phantom Fury