Greetings from the AVG

L/E of 500
S/N by the Artist - Roy Grinnell & AVG Ace, R.T. Smith
Image Size: 25" x 16"
Paper Size: 30" x 21"
Edition Status: Sold out at Publisher, One secondary market print available

Plane Type: Ki-31 "Oscar" and P-40B Warhawk

December 25, 1941, the battle between the AVG P-40B's and Japanese fighters and bombers. "On my last pass at the bombers, one of my wing guns was hit and fired all its ammo. Then I saw him - an Oscar coming straight at me head-on. We opened fire at about 400 yards. I could see the winking flashes from the muzzles of his guns. At our closing rate at about 600 mph, we only had a few seconds. I held my gun sight pipper directly on his prop hub and blasted away with all five guns. He took no evasive action and for a terrifying moment, I thought we were sure to collide. Then miraculously he passed below me, our prop tips missing by bare inches. Immediately I felt the turbulent wake of his prop wash and whipped into as tight a turn as I could with out blacking out, certain he'd be on my tail. I was lucky, off in the distance, he was rolling lazily into a shallow dive, going down like a flaming Roman candle." Flying Tiger pilot R.T. Smith scored two bombers on December 23, 1941. On the 25th, he scored two bombers and one fighter,

PLANE JUNKIE - Greetings From the AVG by Roy Grinnell (Secondary Market Print)