| The “Pride of the Philippine Sea” has the distinction of being the first commissioned painting I have produced. Mr. Arthur Alan Wolk, who owned the beautifully restored and flyable F9F Panther, came in to the Aviation Arts Gallery in Laguna Beach, California, and purchased my original F-16 painting entitle “Approaching Mach One”. He inquired about commissioning me to do a painting of his restored F9F Panther, number 209, as it would have appeared coming aboard an aircraft carrier during the Korean War. I agreed to do the painting, and once it was completed, it was framed and shipped to Mr. Wolk’s office. The F9F in the painting is number 209 (buno number 127120), from Fighter Squadron Vf-112, which was assigned to Air Wing 11 (CVG-11). The aircraft carrier portrayed in the painting is the USS Philippine Sea (CV-47), which sailed into combat off Korea as the flagship of Task Force 77, on August 5, 1950. She launched as many as 140 sorties a day, with thousands of bombs, rockets, and napalm dropped on strategic targets. As seen in the painting, an F9F Panther has just taken off as part of a second sortie, while F9F 209 is on final approach to the carrier, having led the first sortie against North Korean targets. |
