The Sandy One Print

• Additional Details
• Authenticity: 1000 signed/numbered by Mike Machat and Richard S. Drury
• Dimensions: 18 x 24 x 1 inches

The war in Southeast Asia was a frustrating experience for Americans at home and for the men who fought there. The enemy in the southern part of Vietnam was everywhere and at the same time...nowhere. When the Viet Cong, and the North Vietnamese regulars chose to mount conventional operations, airpower proved its value as in Korea and World War II. In the northern part or the country and in Laos and Cambodia, the enemy made full use of sanctuary areas and used our own “rules of engagement” to their advantage. Airpower was shackled most of the war both in the north and in the south.

There was one mission which by its nature was satisfying…it was search and rescue, or SAR for short. The heroes of the SAR mission were the pilots of the Skyraiders, the Forward Air Controllers (FACs) and the crews of the “Jolly Greens.”

This lithograph is a superb representation of an actual mission flown by Captain Richard S. Drury, a member of the USAF’s 1st Special Operations Squadron. Flown on February 7, 1970, it resulted in the rescue of two downed A-6 crewmen from the USS Ranger, who faced a bleak future after being downed on the Ho Chi Minh trail, deep in Laos. For them, the angel of mercy took the form of an aged workhorse from another era...under the call sign “Sandy One.”