Wade Meyers
Pressing West at FRISCO, by Wade Meyers
19.5 x 34. Oil on Linen mounted on panel
Completed 2005
Collection of Lt. Col. Randy "Hacker" Haskin
Two F-15E Strike Eagles of the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron "Rocketeers" turn west over the FRISCO reporting point during an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat mission on 8 April 2003. The lead jet, callsign Shogun 53, was named Shangri-La II in honor of Capt. Don Gentile and his famous P-51B Mustang. The second Eagle, Back for More - Mad Duck IV, was named after a WWII F4U Corsair maintained by the grandfather of the F-15E's nose artist.
Interestingly, the date is significant because on 8 April 1944 Capt. Gentile got his last three kills while flying the original Shangri-La. Gentile earned the Distinguished Service Cross (now Air Force Cross) on that mission, and I depicted part of the action in my painting, One-Man Air Force.
FRISCO was an OIF reporting point. The procedure to fly up the Arabian Gulf, thru Kuwait, and into Iraq was called the "Ocean Parkway". There were assigned altitudes for inbound and outbound aircraft to fly, as well as named reporting points that, when passed, had to be reported on the radio to the controlling agency (Red Crown, Absolut, etc.).
Featured as the "Combat Gallery" centerspread art in
USAF Weapons Review magazine, Winter 2005 issue.
Pressing West at FRISCO, by Wade Meyers
19.5 x 34. Oil on Linen mounted on panel
Completed 2005
Collection of Lt. Col. Randy "Hacker" Haskin
Two F-15E Strike Eagles of the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron "Rocketeers" turn west over the FRISCO reporting point during an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat mission on 8 April 2003. The lead jet, callsign Shogun 53, was named Shangri-La II in honor of Capt. Don Gentile and his famous P-51B Mustang. The second Eagle, Back for More - Mad Duck IV, was named after a WWII F4U Corsair maintained by the grandfather of the F-15E's nose artist.
Interestingly, the date is significant because on 8 April 1944 Capt. Gentile got his last three kills while flying the original Shangri-La. Gentile earned the Distinguished Service Cross (now Air Force Cross) on that mission, and I depicted part of the action in my painting, One-Man Air Force.
FRISCO was an OIF reporting point. The procedure to fly up the Arabian Gulf, thru Kuwait, and into Iraq was called the "Ocean Parkway". There were assigned altitudes for inbound and outbound aircraft to fly, as well as named reporting points that, when passed, had to be reported on the radio to the controlling agency (Red Crown, Absolut, etc.).
Featured as the "Combat Gallery" centerspread art in
USAF Weapons Review magazine, Winter 2005 issue.