Phantom Showtime

Phantom Showtime by Robert Taylor

STUDIO PROOF - GICLEE ON CANVAS
Edition Size - 75
Canvas size: 38” wide x 22”  (Issued pre-stretched)
S/N by Artist 

Plane type: Phantom F-4J 

On 19 January 1972 Lt. Randy Cunningham and his Radar Intercept Officer, Lt. Willie ‘Irish’ Driscoll flying a Phantom F-4J from VF-96 off the carrier USS Constellation destroyed a MiG-21 over North Vietnam. It was the first of five air victories that paved the way for them to become the US Navy’s only Aces of the Vietnam War.

The action happened as Cunningham led a three-ship section tasked to escort a reconnaissance mission undertaken by an RA-5C Vigilante over an enemy airfield. As the Vigilante came under heavy fire, Cunningham and Driscoll spotted two MiG- 21s below them, just above the jungle tops. As the first MiG broke hard to avoid Cunningham’s heat-seeking Sidewinder, the Navy pilot then turned his full attention on the second MiG and fired again. This time it was a direct hit.

Robert Taylor’s incredibly powerful painting depicts Cunningham’s returning F-4 Phantom – call sign ‘Showtime 112’ – screaming past the carrier at 500 knots just feet above the murky waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and has become one of the most popular portraits of the Phantom in Taylor's extensive portfolio.