The Phantom Farewell...

A sketch of an F-4 Phantom jet

This is a static display of a Vietnam era fighter jet I drew here locally. It reminded me of the closing of George AFB in Victorville, CA where F-15's were replacing the venerable twin engined beast. It was strangely a sad affair the Air Force Art Program sent me to to document with not only the end of F-4's, but the closing of the entire base. As I stood in line with other Air Force personnel waiting to be served a celebratory lunch, I remember seeing a large helicopter in the distance hauling away the skeletal remains of a very familiar shape as it took to air under another craft's power. And as it disappeared off into the distance, I wondered how many small businesses that once relied on the base for it's livelihood would also soon disappear.

Like it or not, everything changes for better or worse except the static displays I sketch and ruminate about!

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III

A Sketch From My "No-Geaux" Plane Ride...

Sketchie Thought on my plane ride home...

Once again, I am finding sketches I haven't seen in a while as I discard old stuff from my new studio space. This is a real basic idea taken from my "Getting My Ship Together" graduation illustration at Art Center. It was crammed into a folder ( a real live manila folder, not the folders we all have crammed into our computers! ) from my visit at Langley, AFB in Virginia.  It was in the side pocket of my Air Force visitors packet which was deep inside one of the draws of my flat file. The missing sketch, which I drew in flight, was gonna be used to accompany a blog post about my trip and the two attempts to get airborne in an F-15D.  I created this caricature of the pilot who was gonna take me up for an hour or two flying around the Virginia coastline, but the plane malfunctioned, not once but twice on two separate days. His code name was SCUBA, but not because he liked to dive. All of his cohorts were sworn to secrecy, so we artists, never did get the complete scoop on SCUBA!

I plan to tell the whole story and show a followup sketch in my GraphicGumbo3 blog. It's pretty interesting. I'd love to actually take this to a finished, color illustration to present to SCUBA, but right now that might me asking too much of my time!

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III