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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures United States K Keeton, Robert

Flight Leader Robert B Keeton

Robert 'Buster' Keeton was born in 1915 in Manzanola, Colorado. Following college graduation, he entered Naval flight training at Pensacola and received his wings and commission in 1938. As a member of VP-12, he was assigned to a patrol/bomber station at North Island, CA. Bus resigned his naval commission in mid-1941 to join the AVG. Assigned to the Panda Bears squadron, he scored his first of 3.5 confirmed and 4 probable victories on February 3, 1942. Bus flew a number of significant AVG combat missions, including the March 24 raid on the airfield at Chiang Mal, Thailand, in which squadron leader Jack Newkirk was killed. 'I was flying on Frank Lawlors wing,' he remembers. 'We shot up a lot of trains, train stations and warehouses. I saw Newkirk go in as I was making a climbing turn after strafing a row of warehouses.' After the AVG, he joined the Naval Reserve and flew as a contract carrier, delivering war supplies in C-54s across the North Atlantic. Once the war had ended, he flew for several commercial carriers before beginning a career with Pan American Airlines until 1975. He retired at age 60, having accumulated 27,320 hours at the controls of a wide variety of aircraft during his 40 years of flying. Robert Keeton passed away on 25th January 2011.

Flight Leader Robert B Keeton - Signed Aviation Art

Spoiling the Party by Stan Stokes. One edition. The edition features 6 additional signature(s). £260.00

Shark Sighting by John D Shaw. 2 editions. One edition features 15 additional signatures. £120.00 - £400.00

Summer of 42 by John D Shaw. This single edition is sold out. The edition features 16 additional signatures.

Text for the above items :

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.

Shark Sighting by John D Shaw. Before the pilots of the legendary American Volunteer Group could take to the skies against the enemy, the all-important task of Bore Sighting the .30 caliber wing guns of their P-40s had to take place! The ingenious armourers of the AVG were often forced to improvise, but as the Tigers incredible combat record can attest, these great Americans got the job done!

Summer of 42 by John D Shaw. In this superb tribute to one of the most famous fighter units of WWII the serenity of the beautiful Li River is broken as P40 Tomahawks of the AVG Flying Tigers, bearing their famous shark-mouth motif, return to base at Kweilin.