Tiger's Revenge & the pilot's story behind air combat art

Skyraider3D · 12-05-2006, 04:45 PM

Hi all! Here is my latest artwork: "Tiger's Revenge"

Earlier this year I was commissioned to make an artwork for veteran P-51 Mustang pilot Lt. William S. "Tiger" Lyons, who flew with the 357th FS/355th FG during World War 2. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr Lyons over the telephone and pick his brain on his experiences over Germany during 1944/45. He told me about several air battles in which he took part, and I decided to portray the one in which he scored his second victory, on 9 February 1945. Rather than telling you what happened, I have added a cropped sound recording from this interview, in which Mr Lyons vividly describes his air battle with a German Messerschmitt 109! On this day he was flying wingman for Lt. Edward J. Moroney. Click the image below to download or listen to the sound recording.

The "Tiger's Revenge" artwork was presented to Mr Lyons during the 355th Fighter Group reunion by Peter Randall of the Little Friends website, last October in Philadelphia. Here is a photo of Mr Lyons signing the prints. Below a photo of Mr Lyons holding one of the prints:

Mr Lyons signed twenty large canvas prints for me, which are available here:
Tiger's Revenge Limited Edition
The prints are museum-quality giclee canvas prints at approximately A2 size.
If interested, don't wait too long - there are only seven pilot-signed prints left!
For those interested in a more affordable print, normal prints are available here as well:
Tiger's Revenge

For those interested in seeing how "Tiger's Revenge" was made, I have created a video which shows the buildup of the layers, which resulted in the final artwork. A high and low quality Quicktime has been uploaded. Hopefully it will be of interest:

Last but definitely not least, "Tiger's Revenge" is currently exhibited in the Military Aviation Museum in Soesterberg, The Netherlands, amongst more aviation art by Wiek Luijken, John Wallin and myself. For the three of us this is our first exhibition, and needless to say we're very proud of this milestone in our aviation art careers! Many thanks to Wiek and the museum for making this possible.

Gnomey · 12-05-2006, 05:11 PM

Excellent Ronnie!

lesofprimus · 12-05-2006, 05:14 PM

Excellent EXCELLENT work....

timshatz · 12-06-2006, 09:45 AM

Nice.

Erich · 12-06-2006, 10:02 AM

I will also confess, B. Lyons is a wonderful man to work with ...........and talk to

E ~

Matt308 · 12-06-2006, 10:27 AM

The audio made the picture. What a human story. War is hell.

Skyraider3D · 12-06-2006, 03:07 PM

Thanks guys!

Wildcat · 12-06-2006, 04:02 PM

Superb Ronnie!

Soundbreaker Welch? · 12-07-2006, 04:17 AM

I really like the shining metal look on the planes and the suroundings. The Background looks wonderful.

JonJGoldberg · 12-07-2006, 08:53 PM

...Superb...

Thanks!!!

R-2800 · 12-08-2006, 05:18 AM

that looks really good nice job!

Skyraider3D · 12-11-2006, 05:16 PM

Thanks again folks! Glad you like it!

Skyraider3D · 01-01-2007, 11:51 AM

Update: there are only TWO pilot-signed prints left! So hurry if you want one!

Tiger's Revenge Limited Edition

NB. Some of you may have seen "Tiger" Lyons on the TV as he appeared in the History Channel "Battle Stations" program about the P-51 Mustang.

Happy new year!

Chocks away! · 01-08-2007, 12:54 PM

Really beautiful artwork and very interesting story.

Chocks away! · 01-10-2007, 01:04 PM

I can't quite explain what it is , but that picture has a strange, tense atmosphere to it that I find fascinating.
Btw, interesting mirror alteration on the Stang's canopy. (Shouldn't that Me-109 have a spiral on the spinner?)