Michael Rondot
Blue Fire large product photo
Size: 27 x 20ins approx (700 x 500mm)
Medium: Print
Edition: 500
Framed: No
   
   
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    Buccaneer aircraft in action, launching a co-ordinated attack with Sea Eagle anti-ship sea-skimming missiles, the moment when the leader of the first element (callsign 'Blue'), achieves his firing solution and initiates the ripple launch of his formation's missiles by breaking radio silence with the traditional 208 Squadron radio call of "Blue,-Fire!" Countersigned by Barry Laight the Buccaneer Chief Designer and by Wg Cdr Bill Cope the Commanding Officer of the Buccaneer Gulf War Detachment

Nightmare scenario. Dusk over an empty sea. With lights out and in radio silence, three Buccaneers, each armed with 4 Sea-Eagle missiles, prepare to attack a Surface Action Group still beyond radar range.
150 miles away, three more Buccaneers are approaching the same target in a pincer attack timed to hit the target at exactly the same time.
The first warning that the target will receive of the attack is when all 24 missile radar seekers switch on at close range for the final phase of the attack. Whilst the Buccaneers escape unseen, the defenses will be swamped with their worst nightmare - two volleys of missiles approaching without warning, at wave-top height, at 180 degrees to each other.

Michael Rondot's painting captures the moment when the leader of the first element (callsign 'Blue'), achieves his firing solution and initiates the ripple launch of his formation's missiles by breaking radio silence with the traditional 208 Squadron radio call of "Blue,-Fire!"

Designed for high-speed, deep-penetration attacks at ultra low-level, the Buccaneer has always been immensely popular with its aircrews. The design may be old, but the concept was brilliant, and the Buccaneer still retains a unique combination of range, warload and speed, unmatched by any other aircraft in RAF service. Pressed into service at short notice during The Gulf War, Buccaneers finally proved in the most spectacular manner what many had known for years - that the only suitable replacement aircraft for the Buccaneer is another Buccaneer.

"BLUE,- FIRE!" pays tribute to the 'Banana Bomber', now at the pinnacle of its capabilities in front-line service.
Each print is signed and numbered by the artist, and countersigned by Barry Laight, the Chief Designer of the Buccaneer, and by The Commanding Officer of 208 Squadron, Wing Commander (now Gp Cpt) Bill Cope, who led the Buccaneer Gulf War detachment at Al-Muharraq, Bahrain.