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"The F-16 is the new generation fighter-bomber. It's totally computerized like a spaceship. It's clean and aerodynamic . . . and does it perform! Compared to the earlier F-4, which it replaces, it has twice the acceleration, can turn in roughly half the radius and has two to three times the range. This F-16 is assigned to the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 388th Tactical Wing, Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
The action takes place on a training mission over the Nellis Range north of Las Vegas. I chose the afterburner view of the plane for several reasons: first, because it emphasizes the fantastic 25,000-pound thrust engine. The viewer can see all of the control inputs - elevators, rudder, 'flaperons' and leading edge flaps. It also shows off the unit markings, armaments and the 360-degree view the pilot has from his bubble canopy. This F-16 is rolling opposite his opponents' line of flight. The pilot will outmaneuver the two 'aggressor' F-5's below by staying inside their turn . . . and emerge the victor in this 'Sunrise Encounter.'"
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An artist’s career can rest on the simplest of things. For Keith Ferris, it was
an allergic condition which kept him from becoming a pilot for the Air Force.
But he didn’t let that stop him from making his love of aviation his life.
Instead, he channeled his energy and enthusiasm into becoming an aviation
lecturer, historian, model-builder, inventor and artist known for his
scrupulous accuracy of aircraft and events. It also didn’t keep him from flying
all over the world in almost every type of jet aircraft possble.
His knowledge of the industry and passion for sharing the thrill of flight was
all in the family. He was the son of an Air Force officer and grew up on
military bases in the U.S. and England. He majored in aeronautical engineering
at Texas A&M University and enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. Since then he has
painted for almost every major defense contractor in America and completed a
variety of commissions for the U.S. Government, both practical and creative.
He holds the patents for five air combat camouflage paint schemes and painted
two twenty-five by seventy-five-foot murals for the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He has been elected a life
member of the Society of Illustrators and the Order of Daedalians, the national
fraternity of military pilots. He is Honorary Air Force Art Chairman, past
executive vice president of the Society of Illustrators and founder as well as
past president of the American Society of Aviation Artists.
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