This is the original, complete lithograph package received in 1990 upon graduation from the USAF Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). It does NOT include a signature from Buzz Aldrin, nor do any of the original lithographs. I recommend you read the attached ACSC Certificate of Authenticity issued with this package and draw your own conclusions about other's for sale.
1990 GATHERING OF EAGLES (NOT framed nor matted - framed and matted picture is not the 1990 edition and is for shown as a sample, finished product only)
Each print is signed
in pencil by the following aviators: Maurice R. Smith, C. Alfred "Chief"
Anderson, Robert L. Scott, Jr., Joseph J. "Joe" Foss, W. Dennis David,
Paul W. Tibbets, Kurt Kuhlmey, Donald S. Lopez, Roland P. "Bee" Beamont,
Dora Dougherty Strother, Hajo Herrmann, Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, F.
Desmond Hughes, Eugene B. "Ben" LeBailly, Fritz Losigkeit, James B.
Stockdale, Paul C. Webb, Note: I was there and Buzz Aldrin, though invited to this event, declined
to sign this lithograph. Wolfgang "Bombo" Schenck, Robert L.
Stewart, Artist: Charles Munday (also signed, plate 2 of 3)
Edition: 1,200 - this is #462 out of 1,200. Three panels make up the
complete print. The center panel are the aircraft and is 19" x 27"; the 2
side panels are 7" x 27" and include the signatures of the aviators. The
typical size of a finished matted and framed print is: 32” x 40” - this listing does NOT include matting or framing. Featuring artwork by Charles Munday, this lithograph has
images of 20 aviation pioneers and aces and the aircraft they flew.
The
U.S. Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) at Maxwell Air
Force Base in Alabama commissioned Munday to create the artwork to honor
the 1989 class. The Gathering of Eagles program focuses on the study of
aviation history
and
the contributions of aviation pioneers. Among the aviators who signed
the print is (C. Alfred) Chief Anderson (died 1996), regarded by many as
the “father of black aviation.” He was the Chief Flight Instructor and
mentor of the famed "Tuskegee Airmen" of World War II. The flights he
provided for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice President Henry
Wallace were instrumental in creating the “Tuskegee Experiment,” the
first military training for African-American pilots. Among the other
pioneers of aviation represented are Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module pilot on
Apollo 11 for the first manned lunar landing in history and the second
person to set foot on the Moon; Dora D. Strother, member of the Women's
Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and one of two women selected to fly the
B-29 Superfortress after several men refused to fly it because it was
"dangerous"; she also was one of the first women in the U.S. to fly a
helicopter; and Maurice R. Smith, first aviation cadet in the
lighter-than-air section of the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal
Corps in World War I and owner of NFL 1920s Kansas City Cowboys. Three
fighter aces are among the signers, Don Lopez (d. 2008), U.S. Army and
U.S. Air Force fighter and test pilot and, until his death, the deputy
director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and Joe Foss
(d. 2003), the leading fighter ace of the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII,
a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the 20th governor of South Dakota
and the first commissioner of the American Football League; three
British aces, Dennis David (d. 2000) and Desmond Hughes (d. 1992) and
Paul Webb, and two Germany WWII aces, Fritz Losigkeit (d. 1994) and
Bombo Schenk (d. 2010). Others who signed the print, # 471 of 1,200, are
Jim Stockdale (d. 2005), one of the most highly decorated officers in
the history of the U.S. Navy; Paul W. Tibbets (d. 2007), commander and
pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic
bomb on Hiroshima; Bob Stewart, crew member of Challenger and Atlantis
flights and the first Army officer awarded the Army Astronaut Badge;
Robert L. Scott, Jr. (d. 2006), U.S. Air Force brigadier general best
known for his autobiography God is My Co-Pilot, which focuses on the
Flying Tigers in World War II; Chuck Yeager, U.S. Air Force test pilot,
retired major general and the first pilot to fly faster than sound; Bee
Beamont (d. 2001), British WWII fighter pilot; Kurt Kuhlmey, German
Stuka pilot; Hajo Herrmann, Luftwaffe bomber pilot, and (Eugene) Ben
LeBailly (d. 1992), WWII and Korean War pilot who reached the rank of
lieutenant general with the U.S. Air Force.
I am the original recipient and owner.
This listing includes: all three lithograph panels with signatures (does not include any matting or framing), front and back 1990 instructions on matting and framing, Certificate of Authenticity (signed by ACSC's David C. McFarland detailing the controversial lack of a signature from Buzz Aldrin), 1990 Gathering of Eagles aviators 25 page biography book with a signed (reproduced) cover letter from President George Bush, frame-able poem - EYRIE by Harry W. Brown.
Free shipping.