Original oil painting of Boeing Stratofreighter VC-97D VIP Transport at Heathrow For Sale

Oil painting of Boeing Stratofreighter at Heathrow signed ‘Douglas Ettridge’.

Introducing this fine, oil-on-canvas-board painting of a Boeing Stratofreighter on the ground at London Airport. Titled ‘The Generals Aircraft’, with signature ‘Douglas Ettridge’,

This particular aeroplane was converted into VC-97D VIP transport specification and carried the registration 49-2594. It was part of a block of 50 service test YC-97As that were redesignated ‘C-97As’ on delivery. Three of these aircraft, 49-2593, 49-2594 and 49-2595 were completed in about September 1950 and assigned to the 3902nd Air Base Wing at Strategic Air Command HQ at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, USA.

They were converted in Texas by Temco to become airborne command posts (precursors to the ‘Looking Glass’ mission) and redsignated as VC-97D. The "V" standing for "VIP" so typically these aircraft carried a high-ranking officer, possibly a general as the painting title suggests.

VC-97D’s operated from bases in Europe, North Africa, Greenland, Alaska and the Far East. By the 1960s, they were phased out of the VIP role and replaced by C-135 jets for Looking Glass and other airborne command post operations.

Douglas Ettridge (1929 to 2009) was a leading English aviation artist who spent much of his life in the United States. His work is understood to have been featured in The Museum of Flight in Seattle, at the Royal Air Force Museum in London, and was collected by the likes of Frank Sinatra, John Travolta and American aviator Clay Lacy.

Presented in a newly commissioned bespoke frame comprising Larson Juhl moulding with linen slip. An anchored wire provides for hanging and wall protector pads complete this wonderful piece. Framed size is 35cm (height) by 41cm (width)

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