Chasing the Daylight

Chasing the Daylight
by
William S. Phillips

Pilots without instruments can drop low to follow the “iron compass” for directional guidance when storm clouds block visibility. These two U.S. Navy trainees can’t resist the adrenaline rush of pitting their winged racers against the speeding steam engine.
“My interest in the Daylight was sparked as a young boy,” says artist William S. Phillips, “when my parents took me down to the Sepulveda Boulevard crossing in Los Angeles to watch the train, arriving from San Francisco, roar by. It was a magnificent sight, with a full head of steam up and the late afternoon sun glinting off its sparkling surface.
“I enjoy trains and ride them every chance I get and on one such trip, I watched as a small speck in the sky turned out to be an N2S-2 Stearman—a biplane produced for the Naval Air Training Command. I promised myself I would capture the scene on canvas one day.”