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Second to None by Michael Rondot. (AP) - Cranston Military Prints

Second to None by Michael Rondot. (AP)


Second to None by Michael Rondot. (AP)

The unofficial motto of Number 2 Squadron Royal Air Force. It features, in typical Rondot style (and typical British weather!) Two No II (AC) Sqn Tornado GR-1As landing on a rain soaked runway on a typically filthy and wet Friday afternoon just minutes before the bar opens, and their home base at RAF Marham in Norfolk, closes in cross winds and driving rain. (Just in time to get to the mess for a quick one!) The main aircraft illustrated, is ZA400 (T) which was the personal aircraft of Wg Cdr R F Garwood DFC during the Gulf War in which he flew 19 low level night reconnaissance missions over Iraq. Notice the spray shooting off the main and nose wheel undercarriage legs, the distorted reflections of red and green bouncing up from the runway from the Port and Starboard navigation lights, you can almost feel the pressure and the whole weight of the awesome Tornado bearing down on that nose wheel as the aircraft decelerates down from its initial 150kts landing speed to the subtle gentle momentum of taxi. But what makes it for me is the second ship just behind and to the left of Zulu Alpha 400 bringing up the rear, braking hard, landing lights full on in an naive attempt to try to carve out a tunnel of vision for the Pilot in an absolute impossible wall of spray behind the leader. (Try this one, Michael Schumacher?)
Item Code : MR0041APSecond to None by Michael Rondot. (AP) - Editions Available
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Limited edition of 100 artist proofs. Paper size 27 inches x 19 inches (69cm x 48cm)Artist : Michael RondotSOLD
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Some other related items available from this site.

 At the start of the No Fly Zone and in support of Libyan rebel forces, Tornado GR.4s of 9 Sqn were despatched from RAF Marham on 19th and 20th March 2011 for two of the longest operational missions since the Falklands campaign of 1982, each aircraft completing an 8 hour, 3000 mile round trip to destroy Libyan army ground weapons that were being used against civilians to quell the uprising.  All aircraft returned safely on both occasions.

Destination: Libya. Tornado GR.4s of 9 Squadron by Ivan Berryman.
 At the start of the No Fly Zone and in support of Libyan rebel forces, Tornado GR.4s of 9 Sqn were despatched from RAF Marham on 19th and 20th March 2011 for two of the longest operational missions since the Falklands campaign of 1982, each aircraft completing an 8 hour, 3000 mile round trip to destroy Libyan army ground weapons that were being used against civilians to quell the uprising.  All aircraft returned safely on both occasions.

Destination: Libya. Tornado GR.4s of 9 Squadron by Ivan Berryman.
To keep straight in the tankers wingtip vortices you have applied right spoiler and a bootfull of rudder, whilst your death-grip on the stick is inducing a violent porpoiseing motion. Over the radio a calm voice from the tanker clears you in, so with one engine in afterburner and with eyes like saucers you move forward to attempt a controlled mid-air collision. Welcome to the air-to-air refuelling club. Ever wondered what it is like learning to tank? Imagine a fragile basket trailing six feet up and down at the end of a fifty-foot hose as the tanker flexes its wings in turbulence. In your cockpit it feels like the throttles are connected to the engines with knicker elastic. Most military pilots use colourful language to describe their first stabs at air-to-air refuelling with phrases like: it was like a goat taking a running f##k at a rolling doughnut. With practice it gets easier, and phrases like rat up a drain pipe and in like a burglar become the norm, but it is a tricky business, especially at night or in turbulent cloud.

Atlantic Trail by Michael Rondot.
Flying beneath an overcast of grey, threatening cloud, two Tornado GRlAs break formation as the lead aircraft turns and accelerates towards a narrow gap in the cloud covered hills. The aircraft are flying a low-level tactical reconnaissance mission, aiming to locate, identify and film a camouflaged target using their sophisticated on-board video recording sensors.  As night falls and low cloud envelops them, they have the capability, unmatched by any other recce aircraft in the world, to fly their mission in darkness, at very low-level, and still locate and record their target. During the Gulf War, Recce Tornados were tasked to fly deep-penetration low-level missions at night into Iraq and the Kuwait Theatre of Operations, searching out troop concentrations, armour, and mobile SCUD missile launchers. Their missions were dangerous and lonely work, flying alone and without fighter escort, often into the most heavily defended areas of Iraq and Kuwait. None were lost on these missions, but the dangers they faced, and the professionalism displayed by the aircrews from No. II (AC) Sqn, and No. 13 Sqn, were recognised in the Gulf War Honours List by several awards for bravery in the air, including the DSO and DFC. Already regarded as one of the finest strike and attack aircraft in NATO, the Recce Tornado dispenses with conventional cameras altogether, and instead, features infrared linescan and side-looking thermal imagers mounted inside the forward fuselage gun bays. These high-resolution sensors enable Tornado to identify pinpoint targets from tree-top height, by day or by night, even in the most appalling weather conditions.

Shiny II - Tornado Recce by Michael Rondot.
Aircraft Related to This Print
Tornado

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