One For The Gunner -

One For The Gunner
Open Edition
Un-signed and Un-numbered

Open Edition Paper Prints -
Small- Image size: 10" x 16" - $99.50
Medium- Image size: 16" x 24" - $155.00
Large- Image size: 24" x 36" - $225.00

Open Edition Canvas Prints - (Comes Rolled)
Small- Image size: 10" x 16" - $110.00
Medium- Image size: 16" x 24" - $175.00
Large- Image size: 24" x 36" - $255.00

Limited Edition of 50 Canvases - $695.00
S/N by the Artist
Image size- 40" x 60"
(Comes rolled with certificate)

Please Note: Peter Chilelli's prints come in different aspect ratios for each image, so sizes will vary!

Plane type: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

The crew of the B-52D, tail number 55-083, took off from Utapao Royal Thai Naval Airfield that day in 1972. Their mission was to bomb the North Vietnamese railroad yards at Thai Nguyen as part of Operation Linebacker II, which took place Dec. 18-29, 1972.

However, unlike present-day bombing missions, Diamond Lil's crew faced enemy air power. A North Vietnamese MiG-21 raced to intercept the B-52, callsign Ruby 3, and her crew. The Buff's tail gunner, Airman 1st Class Albert Moore, noticed the MiG's approach.

"I observed a target in my radar scope 8:30 o'clock, low at 8 miles," he wrote six days later in his statement of claim for enemy aircraft destroyed. "I immediately notified the crew, and the bogie started closing rapidly. It stabilized at 4,000 yards 6:30 o'clock. I called the pilot for evasive action and the EWO (electronic warfare officer) for chaff and flares.

"When the target got to 2,000 yards, I notified the crew that I was firing. I fired at the bandit until it ballooned to 3 times in intensity then suddenly disappeared from my radar scope at approximately 1,200 yards, 6:30 low. I expended 800 rounds in 3 bursts."

Another gunner, Tech. Sgt. Clarence Chute, verified the kill in his report.

"I went visual and saw the bandit on fire and falling away," wrote Sergeant Chute, who was a gunner in Ruby 2. "Several pieces of the aircraft exploded, and the fire-ball disappeared in the undercast at my 6:30 position."

Airman Moore's kill is one of only two confirmed kills by a B-52D in the Vietnam War and the last confirmed kill by a tail gunner in wartime using machine guns.