Black Jet
'Black Jet' by Michael Rondot is one of the most dramatic limited edition aviation art prints ever published. The artist portrays a sinister black Lockheed F-117A Stealth fighter landing at dawn with its distinctive black braking parachute streamed. This superb print, the seventh edition in Michael's 'Gulf War' series, is countersigned by TWENTYFOUR operational F-117A pilots from the 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, serving in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, symbolising a remarkable breakthrough in aceess to the once super-secret Black Jet and its aircrews.
Designed and built in the early 1980s at the Lockheed 'Skunk Works' under conditions of intense secrecy, the 117A Stealth fighter was not revealed to the public until 1990, after it had been in service for over 7 years. A year later during Operation Desert Storm, laser-guided precision bombing images from the cockpits of Black Jets over downtown Baghdad were on every television screen and newspaper front page around the Worid.
Night after night, the theory of an aircraft designed to evade radar detection was tested by brave pilots in combat over densely packed Iraqi radar-directed air defences. The results, together with the aircraft and its pilots, are now legend.
Each copy of 'Black Jet' is issued complete with historical notes, details of all the signatories, and a signed and numbered certificate of authentication to guarantee that once the edition is sold out, none can ever be reprinted. A truly significant print for collectors of aviation art.
Limited Edition
- 500 numbered copies, signed by the Artist and 24! co-signatories
- 50 Artist's proofs, signed by the Artist and 24! co-signatories