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Aviation Art Prints  Aviation Artists  Michael Rondot |
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| Michael Rondot |
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Michael Rondot is well known in the military aviation world for his distinctive style of aircraft paintings and prints which have made him one of todays most widely collected aviation artists. During his 25 year career as a pilot in the Royal Air Force he flew over 5000 hours in combat jets, including Jaguar fighter bombers during the Gulf War, bringing a unique authority to his paintings that sets them in a class of their own. His portrayals of classic combat aircraft are much sought-after by both aviators and enthusiasts alike for their realism and powerful atmospheric settings. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Coup de Grace by Michael Rondot. 30th January 1991. Day 14 of Operation Desert Storm, and ships of the Iraqi navy make a desperate dash for the northern waters of the Persian Gulf and sanctuary in Iranian waters. Only a few of them will make it through the gauntlet of Allied air-power lying in wait to attack any surface contacts.Already on fire amidships after being attacked by US Navy aircraft, this Polnocny C class landing ship has fallen prey to a pair of rocket and cannon-armed Jaguars only a few miles from the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq. The Jaguars, led by Wing Commander Bill Pixton AFC, make a low pass to confirm the identity of the ship and turn away to position for their attack that will leave the Polnocny sinking, ablaze from end to end. Coup de Grace portrays the incident as it unfolds, capturing the moment when the Jaguar flight leader looks back over his shoulder at the burning ship and prepares to attack. The Jaguars will unleash four pods of CRV-7 rockets onto their target and then re-attack with 30mm cannon before returning to base at the end of a harrowing 3-hour mission. Heavily armed, and using Victor tankers to in-flight refuel, RAF Jaguars often flew combat air patrols over the northern Persian Gulf from their base at Al-Muharraq, Bahrain, during the first weeks of Operation Desert Storm. Their task was to seek and destroy Iraqi army and naval targets, or to locate and to suppress enemy AAA during rescue missions for downed Allied airmen. The results were invariably the same: the targets were hit, and the Jaguars, despite coming under fire, returned safely home. |
Boeing E-3A Sentry by Michael Rondot. A wintery morning take-off portrayal of a Boeing E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft. |
Jaguar Sunset by Michael Rondot. The Jaguar served with the Royal Air Force from 1974 to 2007 as a strike / attack and reconnaissance fighter bomber, equipping eight squadrons in Germany and the UK during the Cold War, and in the Balkans conflict. Now at the end of its RAF career, it will be remembered as a rugged and reliable aircraft, capable of finding and putting bombs on a target in bad weather with unprecedented accuracy. The painting portrays a favourite haunt of Jaguar pilots: the west coast of Scotland near Torridon looking towards the Isle of Skye and Kyle of Lochalsh, an area where military pilots enjoy some of the most challenging flying in the world. |
Wessex Over South Armagh by Michael Rondot. For 33 years, the Wessex has been at the centre of RAF operations in Northern Ireland. As a reliable workhorse the Wessex has no equal, but after 31 March 2002 the Mighty Wessex will be retired from front-line operations. No.72 Squadron received its first Wessex in 1964 at RAF Odiham and deployed to Northern Ireland on 15 August 1969 when Air Marshal Sir Tim Jermer (then a junior pilot) landed the first Wessex at the start of the current Troubles. Since then, the Wessex has been employed on all major security operations as well as day-to-day troop carrying and re-supply tasks. It enjoys a unique reputation as a tough and reliable foundry-built aircraft and will be sorely missed by the aircrew who regard it as an indestructible evergreen. To commemorate the retirement of the Mighty Wessex, Michael Rondot has painted a striking image of a pair of gun-armed Wessex over the scene of an incident in the border area of South Armagh Bandit Country. |
Jaguars Over Bosnia by Michael Rondot Royal Air Force Jaguar strike aircraft in action over Bosnia on close air support and reconnaissance operations. Each print bears the colour Royal Crests of Royal Air Force Coltishall and No. 6, 41 and 54 Jaguar Squadrons. |
Gauntlet by Michael Rondot. No other jet fighter quite captures the imagination in the same way as the Harrier. To witness it in action for the first time is an experience few can easily come to terms with. A fighter flying at 500 knots and very low is fairly commonplace; but when that same aircraft suddenly decelerates to a standstill and starts flying backwards, hovering like a helicopter before landing vertically on a tiny patch of ground, it takes on a different perspective. Only the Harrier can do this, and in its updated redesigned form, it is continuing to prove its worth as the worlds finest V/STOL close air support fighter. Although capable of VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) performance, the Harrier usually operates in the STOVL mode (Short Take Off and Vertical Landing) allowing it to haul a hefty warload from confined spaces without the need for conventional hard runways. The Harrier is a proven combat aircraft with distinguished service in the Falklands Campaign and the Gulf War. Harrier IIs from the United States Marine Corps flew hundreds of close air support and interdiction missions during Operation Desert Storm from forward airstrips close to the Saudi/Kuwait border which could not be used by other, conventional attack aircraft. Gauntlet portrays a bomb-laden Harrier from the RAF Strike Attack Operational Evaluation Unit in STO-motion, transitioning to forward flight from a short take off run at about 100 knots as the aircraft rapidly accelerates to cruising speed. It is carrying two AIM 9L Sidewinder missiles, ADEN 25mm cannon pods and seven Hunting BL755 cluster bombs - double the warload of the earlier Harrier variants. |
Vampire Sunset by Michael Rondot. The popular and versatile Vampire served with front line RAF fighter squadrons until 1955 and continued in use as a trainer until 1966. This edition portrays Vampire FB9s over their Lincolnshire base at sunset pulling up into a formation loop. |
Lightning Legend by Michael Rondot. 226 OCU / 145 Sqn RAF Coltishall EE Lightning T5 XS420 226 OCU / 145 Sqn RAF Coltishall, taking off in full reheat for a max performance rotation and climb. No other jet fighter has been sorely missed since the Lightning retired from RAF service and the Counter Aviation Authority (CAA) set about keeping surviving examples grounded. However, not all fighters die, and some Lightnings did not fade away either. They lived on because there were people willing to spend time and fortunes lavishing TLC on them until 1999, against all odds and officialdom, Lightnings are back in the sky. The return of the Lightning is celebrated in Michael Rondots brilliant portrayal of a Lightning T5 in the markings of 226 OCU/145 Squadron taking off in full re-heat for a maximum rotation climbout. This outrageous, extravagant display of scorching performance is just one of the heady delights of the gloriously overpowered Lightning. It is an aircraft of which legends are made. Stories abound this special aircraft and the pilots who flew it but none were more deserving of legendary status than the test pilots who first flew the Lighting. |
Panavia Tornado GR1 by Michael Rondot. A 14 Squadron Tornado GR1 based at RAF Bruggen Germany carrying a full JP233 war fit roars into the sky as a Jaguar overshoots to the right of the runway to go around to land. Of all the television and press images of the Gulf War, few were as dramatic as the pictures of the first waves of aircraft taking off to attack Iraqi airfields under cover of darkness. Yet when this print of a Tornado taking off carrying a full warload of JP 233 airfield denial weapons was published, such a scenario was unthinkable. The events of 1991 are foretold in this powerful portrayal of a Tornado taking off in a blast of steam from a rain drenched runway, with a Jaguar strike/attack aircraft breaking into the circuit in the background. |
Magpies Over Baghdad by Michael Rondot (AP) During February 2003, fourteen RAAF F/A-18 Hornets flew to Al Udeid airbase in Qatar for air operations over Iraq as part of Operation Falconer. This was the first overseas deployment of Australian fighter aircraft for combat operations since July 1953 when RAAF Meteor F8s flew their last ground attack missions of the Korean War. The Australians were airborne from the start of the airstrikes on 20th March and continued in the thick of the action of the air campaign until the end of combat operations on 27th April, by which time they had flown 350 combat missions and dropped 122 laser guided bombs. Their missions ranged from air defence to interdiction and close air support and included operations with Australian SAS and Commando forces, as well as numerous missions flown in support of US Marines involved in fierce street fighting around Baghdad and Tikrit. The Hornets returned to Australia in May after one of the most successful combat deployments in the history of the RAAF. |
Phantom Farewell by Michael Rondot. Old fighters never die and they dont fade away either. They live on in the hearts and minds of aircrews, groundcrews and enthusiasts alike. The F-4 Phantom may have reached the end of its front-line service with the RAF but the legend will live on for the big, powerful, beautifully ugly fighter. Revered by its aircrew for both its performance and firepower, the Phantom may be the last fighter-pilots fighter to have seen service with the RAF. Whether flying low-level combat air patrols over Germany, defending the Falkland Islands, or just simply chewing up the Tornado F3s and spitting out the remains over the North Sea, the Phantom has seen it all and done it all. |
Typhoon Legacy by Michael Rondot. (AP) Battle of Britain Spitfire Mk 1a, P7350 from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, flies in tight formation with the first production Eurofighter single seater F2. |
Whirlwind by Michael Rondot. In a typical scene that many will remember from the 1950s and 60s, a Royal Navy Westland Whirlwind flies a low patrol along the shoreline. The Whirlwind is depicted over Eccles on Sea, Norfolk. It is a typical peaceful summers day and the crew have time to sit and wave at the holidaymakers below. |
Mirage III First and Last by Michael Rondot. In this classic study of 2 v 2 air combat, two Mirage II fighters of the Royal Australian Air Force turn at the merge to engage a pair of evading A4 skyhawks over the Pacific. The painting features the first and last Australian built Mirages in the colours of nos. 75 and 77 squadrons. |
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?) |
Operation TELIC by Michael Rondot. (AP) During 2003 RAF Tornado GR4s from RAF Marham and Lossiemouth Wings deployed to the Gulf region as part of Operation TELIC (the UK codename for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM) As the deadline for war in Iraq approached, the detachments al Ali al Salem AB, Kuwait, and Al Udeld AB, Qatar, prepared for action 12 years after the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. This time however, the RAF was much better prepared, with new weapons systems and tactics developed after long years of operational combat experience on Operation SOUTHERN WATCH over Iraq and in the skies over the Balkans. Operation TELIC was a high tech war for the Tornado GR4 uing long range reconnaissance systems and medium altitude attacks. It was exclusively a precison guided weapons conflct in which the ornad GR4 Force, its aircrews, groundcrews and support teams performed with distiction. This striking new painting by artist Michael Rondot depicts a pair of Tornado GR4s on station over the Baghdad killbox. The aircraft are powerfully set against the ominous background of central Baghdad sprawling beneath the dark smoke of oil fires deliberately lit in an effort to mask the city from airborne targeting pods. Many RAF aircraft received colourful nose art during th conflict and these Tornados were no exception; ZA542 DM and ZA560 BC became Danger Mouse and Brave Coq, and both carried tribtes to favourite Scottish Whiskies alongside their mission markings. With their paint finish battered and weather beaten by the scars of battle, the aircraft are portrayed in the typical interdiction/Close Air Support fit, armed with Paveway II GPS/laser guided bombs, TIALD pod and RBL-755 cluster bomb to represent all Tornado GR4 Op TELIC operations |
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