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1620 The Mayflower Landing (Artist Rendition)
December 1620, the historic Pilgrim vessel Mayflower eases into Cape Cod seaching for an
appropriate anchorage from which to launch a shore party to find a suitable settlement site and to gather any food items they could find. They made several trips in that regard until
they reached what is now called "Plymouth".
We know very little about the Mayflower as an individual vessel. However, most historians agree that she was of the general form of a Dutch fluyt,
a small to medium three-masted merchantman with lateen mizzen and square main and fore courses and topsails. She probably also carried a spiritsail.
It is known however that she underwent some modification to accommodate passengers and possessions.
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The Golden Hinde
A small early English galleon, originally named the Pelican.
It was the ship commanded by Francis Drake as he raided Spanish treasure shipping off the Pacific Coast of North and
South America in 1579.
At one point, Drake found it necessary to find a secure harbor to put it to make repairs and give his crew a little R&R.
He found a suitable bay a little north of what is now San Francisco. The bay is now known as Drake's Bay. Interestingly,
Drake apparently sailed right by the entrance to the San Francisco Bay and never knew it was there. It is uncertain as to what ultimately happened to the Golden Hinde after
Drake's return to England, but it appears to have been engaged in
the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The painting of Duwain Herring depicting the Golden Hinde is based on the study of old prints and drawings of early British ships of the type,
and on a superb replica of the vessel built by the Hinks' shipyard in England in 1972-73, and slightly reinterpreted by the artist.
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Solomon Sea Incident
The mighty Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair, known through the Pacific as the "bent wing."
This painting depicts the hair-raising encounter by Navy Lieutenant, Junior Grad, Ira Kepford with a flight of Japanese fighters over the Solomon Sea,
on February 19, 1944.
Finding himself detached from the rest of his group and at wave top level after dispatching two enemy fighters,
Kepford was attacked from the rear by another group of enemy fighters. As the lead "Zeke" was closing in for an easy kill,
Kepford maneuvered frantically and hit full throttle. The F4U shot forward with tremendous speed. The lead "Zeke" made a fatal miscalculation
and wound up in the sea. Kepford made it back to Bougainville, fuel gone and full of holes. A classic example of a superb aircraft and pilot.
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Delta Sweep
This painting depicts two Mcdonnel Douglass F-4B Phantom II's of VF-142 heading back to their carrier,
USS Ranger, after a combat patrol sweep over the east coast of Viet Nam. VF-142 was deployed seven times during the Viet Nam War, at various times from the carrier
Enterprise, Constellation, and Ranger, flying both F-4Js. It was credited with five MiGs destroyed.
Operationally, the Phantom II was superb; breaking virtually every world speed and altitude record. It was the first interceptor to carry both pilot and full time radar
and weapons specialist in the "rear office." First introduced into service 1961, updated models of the Phantom II remained in operational status until the 1980's
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Tiger 77
A limited edition full color lithograph of the Curtis P-40C flown by R.T. Smith of the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, American Volunteer group,
Chinese Air Force - better known as the "Hells Angels" squadron of the famed flying Tigers. The painting depicts "R.T." and his P-40C, No.77, at a moment after his victorious head-on joust with a
Japanese land based "Zero" in a late December, 1941, engagement over the Irrawaddi Delta near Rangoon, Burnma.
This is a limited edition of 1000 museum quality lithographs, printed on 18" x 24" acid-free paper. Each print is hand-numbered and signed by the artist and the pilot, R.T. Smith
and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity with a brief personal historical sketch of the pilot.
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Fokker EIII (1915-1916)
The E-I throught E-IV of Fokker eindecker (monoplane) were the first operational aircraft to have an effective
synchronizing system permitting the firing of a machinegun through the propeller arc, and were the types in which German Aces Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelke gained fame.
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Nieuport XI (1915-1917)
The Nieuport BéBé, was introduced into the French service in 1915, and ws efective in helping the Allies regain control of the skies from the
German Fokker monoplanes. The Bébé was flown by the American pilots of the French Lafayette Escadrille during its early period.
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Bristol Scout 'C'(1914-1916)
Developed from a 1913 British sports plane, and at first unarmed, The Bristol "Scout C, with a machine gun jury rigged
by their pilots, was successful in opposing enemy aircraft of the period. On July 25, 1915, while flying a Scout C armed with one machinegun, Captain L.G. Hawker of the RFC won a Victoria Cross
for his victories over three German aircraft on a single patrol.
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Sopwith Triplane (April 1917)
The scene is the Sopwith triplane of the British Royal Navy Squadron 1 chasing a German Albatros D-4 in an engagment 1917.
The Sopwith Triplane was the first 3-wing aircraft to see action in WWI. The Appearance of this "tripe" in April 1917 caused great concern in the German Imperial High
Command and it immediately directed
Anthony Fokker to produce a Triplane for the Imperial German Air Command. Consequently, the famous Fokker DRI of Richtoffen fame. The Fokker came out about 6 months
later.
Production of the Sopwith triplane was short-lived because sopwith needed the engines for the new Sopwith Camel, which some claim was the finest scout plain of WWI. (ask "Snoopy")
