Into the Sunlit Splendor: The Aviation Art of William S. Phillips

In a Willian S. Phillips painting—a tight formation of F-4 Phantoms screaming over Crater Lake, Oregon; the Blue Angels soaring near the California coast; a violent confrontation between a German Bf-109 and a RAF Spitfire above Sussex’s Beachy Head; a line of Bell Hueys passing through a monsoon-soaked valley in Vietnam—a viewer can almost feel the pressure on his body from the groundblurring speed of the plane, his mouth go dry in the desert air, or the chill on his neck when it’s so cold it hurts to breathe. Phillips is also a superb landscape and “skyscape” painter who places his subjects in geographic and historical context.

A wealth of aviation and military history by Ann and Charlie Cooper accompanies the paintings, as do Phillips’s own archival photographs.

Apollo XII astronaut, commander of Skylab II and artist—was born in 1932 in Wheeler, Texas. In 1950 he was selected for an NROTC scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1955, he was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. Holder of eleven world records in space and astronautics, as well as numerous national and international honors, Alan Bean has had a most distinguished peacetime career. His awards include two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal and the Robert J. Collier Trophy. As part of the Apollo XII crew, he became the fourth of only twelve men ever to walk on the Moon. As the spacecraft commander of Skylab Mission II, he set a world record: 24,400,000 miles traveled during the 59-day flight. He has also launched himself successfully into a new career as an artist.
When he wasn’t flying, Bean always enjoyed painting as a hobby. Attending night classes at St. Mary’s College in Maryland in 1962, Alan experimented with landscapes. During training and between missions as a test pilot and astronaut, he continued private art lessons. On space voyages, his artist’s eye and talent enabled him to document impressions of the Moon and space to be preserved later on canvas. His art reflects the attention to detail of the aeronautical engineer, the respect for the unknown of the astronaut and the unabashed appreciation of a skilled painter. The space program has seen unprecedented achievements and Bean realized that most of those who participated actively in this adventure would be gone in forty years. He knew that if any credible artistic impressions were to remain for future generations, he must paint them now. “My decision to resign from NASA in 1981 was based on the fact that I am fortunate enough to have seen sights no other artist ever has,” Bean said, “and I hope to communicate these experiences through art.”
Bean’s book Apollo: An Eyewitness Account which chronicles his first-person experience as an Apollo astronaut in words and paintings was received with critical and popular acclaim upon its publication in 1998.

Ann Lewis Cooper has written nine books and hundreds of articles on aviation and aviation art. A pilot and flight instructor, she was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.

CHARLES S. COOPER, a retired major general and commander of the New York State Air National Guard, is a Master Navigator and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

William S. Phillips had the honor of having a one-man show at the National Air and Space Museum and was a U.S. Navy combat artist. Appointed by the U.S. Park Service to be its first artist-in-residence in the Grand Canyon, he has created the paintings for two U.S. Postal Service aviation history stamp series.