by Joel R. Simpson

Artwork Description

DAY AFTER - MORNING PATROL

0.0 x 0.0

On 8 December 1941, the entire West Coast of the United States, from San Diego, California to the seaports of Washington State laid wide open for an invasion force of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Desperate, the US military pressed every boat, ship, and airplane into service to keep a watchful vigil for any sign that the enemy was within US waters. Here, we see a US Navy Consolidated PBY-5A (Patrol Bomber) Catalina amphibious aircraft, in pre-war colors, setting out on a morning patrol over the Port Vicente Lighthouse Catalina Islands off the coast of California. Designed and manufactured in the late 1930s, the PBY Catalina became the US Navy’s work horse. Used extensively for hunting and attacking enemy submarines, tracking enemy naval vessels, to rescuing downed American and Allied aircrews to sailors set a drift in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. By the late 1950s and early 60s, the PBY’s life was extended as a Coast Guard Search and Rescue aircraft and as a Water Bomber by the US Forest Service. As I mentioned in my Bio, painting bodies of water and cloudscapes have always been a great challenge for me. I am still learning...

Artwork Details

Medium: Painting Acrylic

Genre: Figurative