The finishing touches are now being dabbed onto a full-scale, 7x14' oil painting of an ICBM missile, which will be delivered to the Hill Air Force Base Museum in Utah in early 1998. The ICBM oil will be the Museum's largest painting.

The Museum already boasts more than 60 military aircraft and missiles in its collection, including a Titan reentry nose cone, a Minuteman, and a first-stage Peacekeeper. Lt. Gen. Marc C. Reynolds, USAF, (Ret), chairman of the Air Force Heritage Foundation of Utah, notes that the majestic new painting will fulfill a vital role by bringing "the museum's missile hardware collection into focus."

Weisgerber, the artist, works in Redondo Beach, CA, and is recognized throughout the aerospace community for his paintings of laser systems, battlefield scenarios, and spacecraft.

The new painting -- crafted, it should be noted, using the same techniques as Michaelangelo and Da Vinci -- is only the latest in a series of honors garlanding the formerly-maligned ICBM. Other shrines to Our Ballistic Buddy include the Titan Missile Museum and the many abandoned ICBM silos throughout the Midwest that are being telemarketed as self-storage facilities, energy-efficient housing, and bed & breakfast possibilities. [11/08/1997]

February 10, 2012