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New VISTA paint scheme gets artist’s approval
by Kenji Thuloweit ing Mike come out and sign VISTA was the final
Edwards AFB, Calif. touch to a year-and-a-half effort to give VISTA a
new paint scheme.”
Renowned aviation artist Mike Machat offi- In past interviews, Machat said he’s honored
cially endorsed his latest work for the U.S. Air to have produced nearly 30 Edwards-related art- commemorative painting for the U.S. Air Force
Force Test Pilot School March 7, when he applied works since 1978, including the “Golden Age of
his signature to the school’s NF-16D VISTA in-
flight simulator.
The VISTA is sporting a new paint scheme de-
signed by Machat. The one-of-a-kind aircraft is
a staple of the school. VISTA is an acronym that
stands for Variable stability In-flight Simulator
Test Aircraft. The modified F-16 can be config-
ured to fly like almost any aircraft type.
“Over a year ago when VISTA was heading to
the depot for structural life-extension work, we
realized that VISTA would get stripped and would
need to be re-painted,” said David Vanhoy, USAF
TPS technical director. “Evil Bill Gray, our chief
test pilot, and I started thinking about how we
wanted VISTA to look. We came up with a set
of requirements and started soliciting ideas for
a new paint scheme. Being more engineers than
artists, I thought it would be valuable to bring in
an expert in the field of art, flight test and aircraft
paint schemes.”
Vanhoy said “naturally” he reached out to the
long-time friend of TPS, Machat.
“He came out for a visit and while sitting at the
table in Col. (Matthew) Higer’s office, who was
the TPS commandant at that time, we fine-tuned
the concepts and turned Mike loose to develop a
paint scheme,” said Vanhoy. “Col. Higer said it
would be truly amazing if Mike would be willing
to come out and sign VISTA as his latest piece
of art. If Mike was willing to do this, it would
confirm that the paint shop got it right. So hav-
Respect and Kindness You deseRve
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Flight Test” mural at the Air Force Flight Test Mu- paintings to the U.S. Air Force Documentary
seum and the 50th Anniversary painting of the Art Program and currently has eight paintings on
Bell X-1’s first supersonic flight. display in the Pentagon. He’s also produced two
Machat also completed the 70th Anniversary paintings for NASA and has four paintings in the
permanent collection of the Smithsonian National
Test Pilot School. He’s contributed dozens of Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Renowned aviation
artist Mike Machat
officially endorsed
his latest work for
the U.S. Air Force
Test Pilot School
March 7 when he
applied his signature
to the school’s NF-
16D VISTA in-flight
simulator.
Air Force photograph by Joe Jones
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