Acrylic on panel. 14 x 11 inches
I painted “Hit My Smoke” on commission for the “Tiger FACs” of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, and I was honored to present it to them at their reunion in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April 2014. The photo at right shows the founder of the Tiger FAC group, Colonel Sam Hollenbeck, USAF (Retired), at the reunion with the painting. He was 91 at the time. Sadly, Colonel Hollenbeck passed away about two months later.
I am further honored to have had the original painting accepted by the United States Air Force Art Collection in the Fall of 2014. You can see its listing here.
The Tiger FACs flew F-4E Phantom II aircraft out of Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base during the Vietnam war. “FAC” means Fast Forward Air Controller, and their mascot was the tiger. They flew extremely dangerous low-level missions, spotting targets and marking them for bombers.
The painting depicts a Tiger FAC F-4 diving on a group of enemy trucks hastily parked in a clearing. The F-4 pilot has fired a single phosphorus rocket which will create a big cloud of white smoke wherever it hits. The pilot calls to the bombers “Hit my smoke” if he has marked the target dead-on. Otherwise he will call the shot in terms like “Hit 50 yards northwest of my smoke.” In the background, an F-105 Thunderchief dives on a previously marked target. In the far distant left, well above the horizon, a second F-105 circles, waiting to be called in for a strike. The steep limestone mountains or “karsts” are typical of northeastern Laos where this scene is set.
This painting compresses time and space to a degree, as the F-105 and F-4 would not have made simultaneous passes in such close proximity. And one could argue that the distant F-105 is not nearly distant enough. But our goal was to illustrate the events of a whole mission, so some artistic license was taken to tell the story.
I studied landscape photos of Laos and Thailand I found online and based the landscape on them. I used plastic models of the aircraft, and a real F-4 and F-105 at my local air museum, as source information for getting the airplanes just right. I am indebted to Colonel David Vogl, USAF (Retired) for the huge amount of information he provided for the painting, from concept to the finest details. Perhaps the greatest praise I have ever received for a painting came when a roomful of long-retired F-4 drivers declared that the landscape and the aircraft all looked “exactly right.”
For more information on the Tiger FACs visit http://www.tigerfac.us/.