| Michael Rondot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coup de Grace |  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
Michael Rondot flew on some of these missions. His first hand experiences add a unique authenticity to his paintings, bringing to life the drama of war witnessed from the air. Each print is signed and numbered, and countersigned by the two pilots who took part in the attack. Wing Commander Bill Pixton AFC, the Commanding Officer of the RAF Gulf Jaguar Detachment, and his wingman, Flight Lieutenant Pete Tholen add their signatures to enhance the value of this strictly limited single edition.