The Long-EZ was the follow-on design to the famous Vari-eze, an aircraft which revolutionized the homebuilt industry in the 1970s. The Vari-eze and Long-EZ from Burt Rutan's design shop. A well-built, carefully refined Long-EZ could cruise at nearly 200 mph, carrying two, and with added tanks would offer a 2,000 mile range -- nearly cross-country in ten hours. Beyond its performance, the Long-EZ is simply great to look at -- even 22 years after the first designs flew, they still look like planes from the future.
Estimated Availability: September 10, 2002
Early (Pre-Printed) Commitment Cost: $49.95, plus $6.95 s/h
+ Interested in getting one of the first prints?
During the Korean War, the 11th and 12th Tac Recon Squadrons flew the Douglas RB-26C Invader on missions around the Korean Theatre, ranging from electronics intelligence to weather reconnaissance flights from Kimpo AFB (K-14), outside of Seoul (now Seoul International Airport). This particular aircraft was known as "Triple-Nickel" and is seen here flying low over the water on a Baker Mission with the Shangtung Peninsula in the background, down the coastline of "Red China".
Estimated Availability: August 25, 2002
Early (Pre-Printed) Commitment Cost: $69.95, plus $6.95 s/h
+ Interested in getting one of the first prints?
During the Korean War, John Glenn served as an exchange officer with the US Air Force, flying F-86 Sabres against the North Koreans. This artwork honors John Glenn's service to this country from the years before he was a famous astronaut. His personal F-86 bore the nose art, "MiG Mad Marine" with the names of his wife and two children. Depicted here is one of the three MiGs that he shot down over North Korea. Our hat is off to a true American Hero.
The Boeing P-26 was the Air Corp's first all-metal monoplane fighter. Called the "Peashooter" by its pilots, the plane formed the backbone of the "new" Air Corps, struggling in the early 1930s to modernize itself despite low budgets and little support from the Army. This arwork features a P-26A of the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group. In 1938, this plane was stationed at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, and was the "personal" steed of the squadron commander.
The O-2, the US Air Force's variant of the Cessna 337 Skymaster, was the Forward Air Control airplane of choice during the Vietnam War. Flying down in the weeds, pilots performed the crucial and highly dangerous mission of spotting enemy forces and directing air attacks from nearby F-105s, F-4s, SPADs, and F-100s. This Skymaster features nose art painted as Puerto Rico's unofficial mascot, the "Coqui", a diminutive tree frog that is native to the island.
"Come On! Put 'em Up!" A German Me-109G falls prey to a P-51D of the 4th Fighter Group down low over the beaches of Normandy not long after D-Day. The 4th FG, while arguably one of the most famous, was actually the second highest scoring, behind the 354th. The P-51D Mustang was perhaps the most capable fighter plane in World War II. In the hands of such famous pilots as James Howard, Chuck Yeager, George Preddy, and "Buddy" Anderson, it ranged deep into Germany from England with the USAAF's 8th and 9th Air Forces.
This work features a World War I era RAF BE2 taking off on an evening patrol. The BE2 was a British two seat biplane, originally built in the summer of 1914 for aerial reconnaissance. The slow, unwieldy craft was later nicknamed, "Fokker Fodder" by its pilots, who were called on to fly many missions well into 1915 when the plane was hopelessly outclassed by German pursuit planes. During this time, the average life expectancy of an RAF flight crewmember was measured in just weeks -- a horrifyingly revealing statistic about the cost of war. This beautifully restored BE2, one of the few survivors of the type, can be seen at the Imperial War Museum in London.
This month's desktop calendar recalls the early 1970s with a pair of Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) Saab J 35A Drakens of Wing F 16, flying from around Uppsala. At the time, the Draken was serving as Sweden's front line interceptor, filling this role by flying from hidden revetments and highways across the country. The Draken was Sweden's first supersonic aircraft and initially entered active service in March 1960. The jet was designed to operate from damaged airstrips and unimproved roadways and still provide rapid response to intruders from the nearby USSR.
This artwork takes you back to 1944 with a painting of a B-17G Flying Fortress as it readies for a ferry flight up the East Coast from its temporary home at Eglin Field, Florida. A few days later, the plane and its new crew would arrive overseas to join the 8th Air Force in England, after a flight taking them through New York City, on to Gander, Newfoundland, and then to Iceland, and ultimately to Ireland, before arriving in Southeast England. As the crew readies the plane for the flight, another Group flies overhead already on the way. The nose art on the plane is a classic Vargas pin-up on a heart-shaped background.
The Cavanaugh Flight Museum commissioned an artwork of the museum's own Grumman F9F Panther jet. The Panther jet was an aircraft of "firsts". It was the first jet powered fighter to see widespread service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the first Navy jet to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first Navy jet to shoot down an enemy jet-powered aircraft and the first jet aircraft used by the Blue Angels aerobatics team. The strong and reliable Panther proved that jet-powered aircraft could handle the harsh requirements of carrier operations. The Panthers supported the United Nations operations during the Korean War and proved the plane's flexibility and effectiveness.