Bill Phillips' "Thunder in the Canyon" is one of the most beautiful aviation paintings ever created - and its place in aviation art is already assured. The massive eight-foot-long original has been donated by the purchaser to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.. The painting's power results from Phillips' dramatic combination of his two favorite subjects - flight and the American landscape.

The flight aspect of the painting is embodied in powerful F-16's flown by the Air Force's Thunderbirds in delta formation. As for the landscape, the unmistakable Grand Canyon lies beneath the flyers, its colors brilliantly illuminated by a late afternoon sun. Kanab Plateau and towering thunderheads can be seen in the distance. Never has flight been more beautiful.