Aviation art

[Smithy]

Rufus, these might be a couple of real long shots but when I was a kid I had two favourite Air Ace covers, one with a Swordfish attacking a Jerry battleship, bullets, explosions, the full monty. The other one was a Battle of Britain scene with a Spit and a Heinkel.

You don't happen to have either of those do you?

My parents threw out what Air Ace, Battle and Commando comics were left stuffed in a cupboard when they moved out of the house 5 years ago.

 

[ethanedwards]

Mr E!

Showcase closed after the landlord's doubled the rent..

Paul'd already relocated twice because of the same thing... that last one was the final straw!

The fate of so many independant shops... :-(

Doubled! I imagine it must have been sky-high in the first place!

 

[Rufus]

Smithy... I think the Swordfish one may be War 777, or War Annual 1981..

The other... umm.. not sure.. That description fits 60% of the covers! ;-)
I'll try'n dig out some more...

Showcase... the shop is now a discount Chinatown Souvenir shop... Hurray for Westminster Council...

 

[Smithy]

Actually Rufus one of them might have been War. I tend to lump Air Ace and War together in my mind's eye.

 

[Windsock]

Rufus, i'll admit it- i'm so envious of your collection. They are sensational artworks. I'd give an Irvin for one of those (hmm second thoughts maybe not) but they are really great- they combine the appreciation of poster art with classic aviation and are so cool they make it ok to be in the same room as those old Commando type publications! Well that's what i'd tell my wife if i ever was lucky enough to buy one.

About 10 years or so we were commissioned to design proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. I prepared a bunch of illustrations to help put the ideas across and to help with the lobbying. This is only a little one and it has some aviation content but this is one I really liked. In a way it is a bit like those old mags.

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

I have a print of Gerald Coulson's "Harvest 1940" which I got about 20 years ago. I remember seeing the orginal oil painting and it made you feel like ducking out of the way. It sold for £2500. Then 6 months later it was for re-sale for £5000 and with a limited signed prints. The print does not do the painting justice but do they ever? I still brought one though.


http://ehangar.com/printgallery/print_image.php?o_id=762

Description
"A Spitfire flys over a recently downed Heinkel He111 during the Battle of Britain, September 1940."



My copy now hang's in my brothers house as I ran out of space. I now prefer Stephen Hawkins oil paintings of the south downs. However, I do get to see it quite often.

Rgds

 

[kampkatz]

The Heinkel crew in this scene were lucky, they got to sit out the rest of the war in relative safety.

 

[PADDY]

...

 

[BellyTank]

Commando Comics.

I'm a '70s boy too- grew up on Commando comics.

The best drawing I've seen in a Commando comic... well, I don't know the name of the artist but he has a very fine technique, very realistic, full of accurate detail and no shading- just pure fine line drawing.

I remember one of his was about an Me-109 pilot, from his point of view.
Another was to do with a Mosquito crew but can't remember anything else.

Who is that artist?


B
T

 

[imported_the_librarian]

There is some great art here! Honestly, I'm not real qualified as far as artists and things like that....mostly I just enjoy looking at it.

In any event, you might consider checking out the Naval Historical Center...they have some really great stuff:

http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/nhcorg6.htm

 

[Razzman]

I don't know if everyong is familiar with this website, or if it has ever been mentioned. I stumbled across it some time ago. Great aviation artwork, a bit pricey though? Definately worth a look.



http://www.assonetart.com/

 

[DutchIndo]

The paintings bring back sweet memories of my Model building days ! I remember drooling over the artwork on those boxes. Funny how simple life was back then no Nintendo or X-boxes just our imagination. I still get excited when I rattle a box of macaroni "Hey guys it sounds like a Model !" .

 

[ethanedwards]

The paintings bring back sweet memories of my Model building days ! I remember drooling over the artwork on those boxes. Funny how simple life was back then no Nintendo or X-boxes just our imagination. I still get excited when I rattle a box of macaroni "Hey guys it sounds like a Model !" .

I know what you mean! - I still remember the day when I discovered Francois Verlinden and airbrushes...... a lot of these models come ready assembled and painted now, where's the fun gone?

 

[Spitfire]

Comming home

I know it's romantic - but I just can't help it.
I love this picture of the ol' workhorse comming in to land.
A nice tribute to the Hurricane.

 

[DutchIndo]

I read a book years ago about the Hurricane "Tale of a Guinea Pig" by Geoffrey Page. I guess it had a propensity to catch fire when hit like the Zero. It was basically a "Club" where some of the pilots were going through plastic surgery. It talked about the importance of gauntlets and leather flying gear.

 

[ethanedwards]

I read a book years ago about the Hurricane "Tale of a Guinea Pig" by Geoffrey Page. I guess it had a propensity to catch fire when hit like the Zero. It was basically a "Club" where some of the pilots were going through plastic surgery. It talked about the importance of gauntlets and leather flying gear.

I stand to be corrected, but I think it was the 28 gallon petrol tank infront of
the cockpit (and behind the engine) that caused worst of the fires - the 100 octane petrol mixed with the slipstream would get into the cockpit very quickly - one account I remember refers to this having the effect of 'blowtorches'. The severe burns victims were treated by the New Zealander Sir Archibald McIndoe, at his 'Guinea Pig Club' in Sussex. Richard Hillary's is probably the best known account of these very brave men?

 

[Smithy]

I stand to be corrected, but I think it was the 28 gallon petrol tank infront of
the cockpit (and behind the engine) that caused worst of the fires - the 100 octane petrol mixed with the slipstream would get into the cockpit very quickly - one account I remember refers to this having the effect of 'blowtorches'. The severe burns victims were treated by the New Zealander Sir Archibald McIndoe, at his 'Guinea Pig Club' in Sussex. Richard Hillary's is probably the best known account of these very brave men?

Perfectly said Ethan. Battle of Britain Hurricanes were no more likely to burn than Spitfires. As Ethan has pointed out, both carried a reserve tank between the pilot and the engine (in the Spit there was an upper and lower) and when these caught the windflow caused the fire to increase in heat to furnace levels within seconds and to consume the cockpit section.

There's been two rather good books over the last few years on McIndoe, Emily Mayhew's "The Reconstruction of Warriors" and Edward Bishop's "McIndoe's Army". Both are splendid but very moving.

Ethan is right, Hillary's account is without doubt the most famous of memoirs penned by a Guinea Pig.


EDIT: Nice painting Spitfire, is that a Keith Woodcock? If so, he did one very similar of a BoB era Spit coming into land. It was also used on the cover of "Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Warm Beer".

And Ethan it was only the Hurri that had the 28 gallon tank, a Spit had 48 gallons in the upper and 37 in the lower.

 

[ethanedwards]

Hurricanes

Thanks Tim, pukka gen!
I always rated this Michael Turner painting of scrambling Hurricanes - in fact
anything by Michael Turner is usually well worth a look. I don't think anybody's mentioned Frank Wootton yet, his earlier work is astonishing.

 

[Rufus]

Great illo Ethan! I'm just back from the NY Comic Convention, very jetlagged...

I'd forgotten about Francois Verlinden... I used to love his Dioramas in the yearly Tamiya catalogues!

 

[Smithy]

Wonderful painting Ethan. I am a great fan of Turner's work, he is incredible at capturing dynamic movement in his works. Some of his earlier works suffer a few errors in aircraft markings and specifics but that was also due to there not being the same amount of research available at the time. Not WWII but have a look at his depiction of the final fight between Voss and 56 Sqn, incredible stuff (the markings are wrong but the drama and speed of the encounter is perfect).

His motoring works are very good as well.

EDIT: here's a detail from that Voss scrap painting. Unfortunately it's not the whole thing but you get the idea...