Planejunkie.com announces a New Aviation Art Print by Peter Chilelli
Washingtoner/10147266

PUYALLUP, Wash. - Washingtoner -- With many different variations to choose from is yet another Peter Chilelli Aviation Art Print, One For The Gunner.

That day in 1972, the crew of the B-52D, tail number 55-083, took off from Utapao Royal Thai Naval Airfield. As part of Operation Linebacker II, which took place from December 18 to December 29, 1972, their aim was to strike the North Vietnamese railroad yards at Thai Nguyen.

Diamond Lil's team, however, confronted opposing air power, unlike modern-day bombing sorties. The B-52, callsign Ruby 3, and its crew were pursued by a North Vietnamese MiG-21. The MiG's approach was observed by the Buff's tail gunner, Airman 1st Class Albert Moore.

He stated six days later in his statement of claim for enemy aircraft destroyed, "I detected a target in my radar scope 8:30 o'clock, low at 8 miles." "I instantly informed the crew, and the bogie began rapidly closing." At 6:30 p.m., it steadied at 4,000 yards. I requested evasive action from the pilot and chaff and flares from the EWO (electronic warfare officer).

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"I told the team I was firing when the target got to 2,000 yards." At roughly 1,200 yards, 6:30 low, I fired at the bandit until it grew three times in intensity before suddenly disappearing from my radar sight. I fired 800 bullets in three bursts."

In his report, another gunner, Tech. Sgt. Clarence Chute, confirmed the kill.

Sergeant Chute, a gunner in Ruby 2, wrote, "I got visual and saw the bandit on fire and tumbling away." "At 6:30 p.m., several sections of the airplane detonated, and the fireball vanished in the undercast."

Airman Moore's death is one of only two documented B-52D kills during the Vietnam War, and the last confirmed kill by a tail gunner utilizing machine guns in combat.

For more information on this item, One For The Gunner - planejunkie (https://planejunkie.com/one-for-the-gunner/) or other Aviation Art, Books, Gifts, Collectibles, Apparel, and Décor, visit https://planejunkie.com/.