Color Study for THE STAND Now Posted for Viewing

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AVIATION NEWS
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September 25, 2007

COLOR STUDY UNVEILED FOR "THE STAND"
Now Posted for Viewing on Book's Web Site

Dayton, OH - After its unveiling during a ceremony at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base last weekend, the color study for Russell Smith's new artwork on US ace Lt. Frank Luke, Jr. has been posted for public viewing (see THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr., click "The Painting").

"This is not the final painting," Smith pointed out. "Its just a study to see how the colors balance and if any changes may need to be made." Russell gave a fifteen minute talk to an enthusiastic crowd last Friday at the Dawn Patrol Rendezvous air show in Dayton where the color study was shown to the public for the first time.

Smith's final work, which will be produced over the next few months, will grace the cover of Stephen Skinner's landmark book "THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr." The tome hits book stores next summer and represents more than fifteen years of research throughout the US, France and Germany.

"Russell's work will be the most accurate ever done on Luke's last moments," Skinner promised. "Even the most minute detail has been researched, analyzed and examined in every possible way. We even used GPS coordinates to find the exact site of Luke's landing and then took high resolution, panoramic photographs for Russ to use as a reference. Even the weeds in the painting are the right type."

To see a full-screen version of Smith's painting, also entitled "THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr.," visit the book's official web site at THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr., then click "The Painting" on the main menu bar.