Mig Encounter

£75.00£625.00

Part of a powerful pair of prints featuring the iconic McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II which was used extensively by both the USAF and USN in Vietnam.

In September 1966 when the 44-year-old former WW2 fighter ace Colonel Robin Olds arrived to take command of USAF’s 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon, a Royal Thai Air Force base close to the border with Laos, the war in south-east Asia was escalating rapidly. There were now some 385,000 American forces stationed in Vietnam, plus another 60,000 sailors offshore and the numbers were increasing. But so were the casualties. Olds arrived at Ubon to find that many of the pilots in his new command were accomplished and experienced fliers, but morale was flagging – what they needed was some inspirational leadership. It only took Olds a few weeks to prove he was the best leader they’d ever had.

If he’d found some of his pilots dejected he found nothing wrong with their aircraft: the iconic McDonnell Douglas F4-C Phantom II, used extensively by both the USAF and USN in Vietnam and those belonging to Olds’ 8th TFW would soon be involved in some of the biggest and most successful air battles of the war.

One such incident occurred on 20 May 1967 shortly after the moment depicted in Anthony Saunders’ outstanding Phantom painting MiG Encounter when Robin Olds and his flight of eight Phantom F-4s encounter a large group of North Vietnamese MiG-17s over the hills north of Hai Phong. During the clash that followed Olds and his WSO, 1st Lt. Stephen B. Croker, would destroy two MiG-17s. These were aerial victories three and four for Olds, making him the leading MiG killer in south-east Asia at that time.

By the time Robin Olds relinquished his command later that year, his 8th TFW, nicknamed the ‘Wolfpack’, had become the USAF’s top MiG-killing Wing in south-east Asia. He’d flown 152 combat missions during this time, scoring another four air victories to add to his World War 2 tally – now a ‘triple ace’ his final score was an impressive 17 victories.

The Signatures:

  • Signed by the artist

Description

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it entered service with the Navy in 1961 before it was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, and by the mid-1960s it had become a major part of their air arms. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981 with a total of 5,195 aircraft built, making it the most produced American supersonic military aircraft in history, and cementing its position as a signature combat aircraft of the Cold War.

The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was initially designed without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated an M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record and an absolute altitude record.

The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War. It served as the principal air superiority fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. During the Vietnam War, all five American servicemen who became aces – one U.S. Air Force pilot, two weapon systems officers (WSOs), one U.S. Navy pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) did so in F-4s. The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force, the F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight demonstration teams: the United States Air Force Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the United States Navy Blue Angels (F-4J). The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms, acquired before the fall of the Shah, in the Iran–Iraq War. The F-4 remains in active service with the air forces of Iran, Greece, and Turkey. The aircraft has most recently been in service against the Islamic State group in the Middle East.

Additional information

Dimensions 67.31 × 48.89 cm
Print Type

Signed and Numbered, Artists Proof, Remarque, Double Remarque, Canvas Print

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