A very accurate sterling silver model of a Saro Skeeter helicopter. Yet another area, that of military mess trophies, that could be an entire blog featuring nothing else. One of the mess silverware items owned by 4 Regiment, Army Air Corps, UK, it was shared by silverware valuer Silverlady on Twitter. A Skeeter would be…
Month: June 2019
Silk Wear – I
An illustration by Bruce Bomberger for a story by Laurence Critchell today, entitled “Three Days to Live” from the Saturday Evening Post of 1956. Bomberger took the attached text “Spilling the parachute onto the ground, he cut himself a silk headdress, like an arab’s”, and drew out the parachute to a highlight of the illustration,…
Eastchurch Aviation Shrine
Creating representations of aircraft in stone is very difficult to do effectively, something about the lightness of early aviation and the sharp edges of most aircraft often does not translate well to stone. The Memorial to ‘The Home of Aviation’, at Eastchurch, Kent, UK, is a fascinating effort. Image: Eastchurch aviation memorial. Copyright Historic England…
St Rota & Dragon
One of the numerous boy’s magazines from the inter war era, featuring a Cierva C-30 or Avro Rota autogiro. Specifically The Modern Boy No. 387 Vol. 15 19th January 1935. The registration, G-ACMB was in reality allocated to a DH.60X Moth. Even more surprising is the other subject, a inflated monster, something like a Nessie,…
Concorde Swirls
A record sleeve today, a first for the blog, probably not the last. Certainly not the first or the last featuring the unique shape of Concorde however. The record sleeve, image supplied by Dr Peter Hobbins, has a magnificent 1970 style aesthetic. The image features a test model of the Aérospatiale / BAC Concorde supersonic…
Abstract. Abstract?
Artwork from Charles Howard, ‘Abstraction in Flight’, 1942 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art, thanks to Associate Professor Tracy Ireland. Tracy’s used this to promote the forthcoming Heritage of the Air conference in Canberra (details) and a fine mention it is too. It’s a neat artwork, and to anyone familiar with aircraft structures…
Wright at Templehof
Today’s Poster features Orville Wright, of the pioneer aviators the Wright brothers making demonstration flights in Germany in 1909. The story behind these flights is told here. The poster is by Hans Rudi Erdt (1883-1918) and entitled ‘WRIGHTS Flugvorführungen‘, or ‘Wrights Flying Demonstrations’. Tempelhof was to become one of Berlin’s main airports, closing only recently…
Albatross? Door. Desk?
Today we have another unusual item. It’s an office table the kind usually advertised as a ‘talking point’ though to be fair to the actual business (First Dibbs) who put it up for sale, they don’t say that. They know those who want one will REALLY want one. Everyone else is probably puzzled. That’s because…
Papers, please!
Something extra to normal service here. In November I will be attending the Heritage of the Air conference in Canberra at University House, ANU, where I will be convening a session on Operating Historic Aircraft. Website here, call for papers details here. And the headline. Papers are solicited ASAP, (7th June) so please, if you’re…
Airmail Pad
Sometimes it seems every other post is going to feature a poster, so I’m always on the lookout for other things. Here’s a great one-off on the blog, thanks to my friend and colleague Maurice Austin. An airmail pad, or ‘writing tablet’. The aircraft is fitted with unusually effective landing lights! Over to Maurice: “It’s…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 