From a Facebook post come these two photographs of delightful period book illustrations from the Rupert Bear series, Rupert being a much-loved children’s book character in the UK, still going strong from these early adventures starting in the 1920s.

Annie Hughes writes: “With thanks to a correspondent following the Ch5 Programme ‘British Airways- 100 Years in the Sky’ we have discovered that Mary Tourtel [The originator of the Rupert stories] and her husband flew on the first Cricklewood to Le Bourget flight in the Handley Page 0-400 in 1919 and we have the 50 year old model of that aircraft with the Hounslow Heath collection. Afterwards aircraft featured in many of Rupert’s adventures including this book. I suspect we have many more stories to unearth about those days!”

The giant aeroplane inside the book is an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (in reality operated by Imperial Airways) a later type than the pioneering Handley Page O/400 mentioned as the flight.  The cover seems a made up machine.

Then both would have been remarkable adventures to children, and adults in the period.

James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.

Post here, via Stephen Slater.