Spoiling the Party by Stan Stokes.

Claire Chennaults American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) continues to capture the imagination and interest of aviation history buffs more than fifty years after they flew combat missions for the Chinese Air Force. Composed of about ninety pilots and another 200 ground support personnel, the Tigers arrived in China in mid-1941. Flying Curtiss P-40s that had been rerouted from Britain to China, the Tigers flew from December of 1941 until mid-1942. Engaging a numerically superior Japanese force over a very wide front, the AVG was officially credited with downing 299 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat, and an additional 240 aircraft destroyed during ground attack missions. The Flying Tigers slowed the Japanese conquest in China, and caused Japan to focus more resources on this theater of operations than they had planned. Stan Stokes painting depicts a three-plane raid of a Japanese airstrip near Tak, Thailand. Early in the morning of January 3, 1942, three 2 d Pursuit Squadron (Panda Bear) P-40s based at Mingaladon piloted by Tex Hill, Jim Howard, and Scarsdale Jack Newkirk attacked the airfield while the Japanese pilots appeared to celebrating the completion of their dawn attack at an RAF airfield at Moulmein. Circling around the field to get the sun at their backs the P-40s swooped low over the field at 250-MPH. A number of Japanese Army Air Force Nates were on the ground and were taken by surprise. Some ceremony was taking place and there were grandstands with spectators. The guests got quite an air show that morning! The Flying Tiger pilots were focused on the vulnerable targets on the ground, that they didn't initially realize that other Japanese aircraft were in the air, and had not yet landed. The late Jim Howard (who won the only Medal of Honor awarded to an Eighth Air Force fighter pilot later in the War) was focused on the vulnerable aircraft on the ground, and failed to notice a Nate on his tail. Tex Hill broke off a strafing attack to come to Howards aid, and downed the Japanese aircraft. Newark would also claim an aerial victory during the fracas. Near the end of the attack Jim Howards engine died, and he circled for a belly landing on the strip he had just mauled. Seconds before putting his Tomahawk on the ground, the Allison sputtered to life, and the pilot slipped away. When the three Panda Bear pilots returned to Minaladon, they celebrated their victory and relived their attack in words. Jim Howard was reluctant to admit that Tex Hill had shot a Japanese aircraft off of his tail. To solve the argument they went out to the flight line. There were eleven bullet holes in the tail end of Howards aircraft. An inspection also revealed no less than thirty-three bullet holes in the wings of Hills aircraft.

Only two prints of this edition remain.

Signed by Colonel Tex Hill (deceased), Colonel Ed Rector (deceased),
Flight Leader Robert B Keeton (deceased),
Flight Leader Robert F Layher (deceased),
Flight Leader Chrles D Mott (deceased)
and
Flight Leader Peter Wright (deceased).

Signed limited edition of 500 prints.

Size 22 inches x 18 inches (56cm x 46cm)