Yes, not the humped quadruped, but a Camel from Sopwith. Or in this case, from the sub contracted manufacturer Ruston. The ‘Scarf & Goggles’ blog says: “The completion of Ruston’s 1000th Camel was felt to warrant some celebration, with the result that this aircraft, serial number B7380, was delivered on 25 January 1918 wearing an…
Category: Art
Comestible Concorde
Here’s a Concorde cake. Because why not? I don’t have any further information – obviously in France rather than the UK, and featuring the Air France scheme. Only other detail is the visor seems to be the pre-production version. Does anyone know more? [Sauce (ahem) on Facebook ‘Avions moches, bizarres, ratés, projets abandonnés et aviation…
Ravilious’ Ark
Today a look at the art of official war artist Eric Ravilious. Having been researching his fascinating artist, I’ve found it very hard to know what to focus on, so here I’ve limited the post to one aspect of his war work, his watercolours of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. First is…
Goats in Clouds
Today’s image; one of the classics – both for the joke, and for the always great effort by the inimitable Gary Larson of The Far Side. ‘Rock stuffed clouds’ are one of aviation’s least good things, and goats are just a cherry on the top of an indigestible desert of a metaphor over extended. As…
Magazine Fuel
Today, two covers from the Air BP trade journal, thanks to my artist colleague Ian Bott, who said in 2016: “Picked these up at Duxford yesterday: beautifully-designed, inventive and effortlessly-cool BP in-house trade magazines from, I assume, the 1960s. Those must have been the days for a graphic designer.” As well as the straight ‘art’…
Skeletal Metal Dragon
Here’s a neat memorial. Photographed against a lovely sky, it’s evidently a skeletal metal sculpture of a de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide. In fact it’s representing the visually identical de Havilland DH.89B Dominie, the Royal Air Force’s radio trainer, or radio ‘flying classroom’, and made for and erected at the former RAF Madley airfield, Herefordshire,…
A Rose by TAA Name
Today’s Poster is sometimes given as “…the most famous publicity ‘pic’ ever produced by TAA or any other airline in Australia”. This page on the ‘Fly the Friendly Way’ poster at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) and written by Curator Anne-Marie Van de Ven, in 2011 gives a good rundown on the…
Green-Blue Night
Today’s art is an oil painting that would pass perfectly well as a piece of fine art in a chiaroscuro style. Actually it’s a piece for a magazine published in 1924 by the one-eyed artist Stockton Mulford – a biography of him here. Despite the beautiful colour, it was printed in monochrome, as shown here….
Sunset Walrus
HMS Sheffield’s Supermarine Walrus amphibian alighting in Hong Kong harbour, 1938, notes the caption in Roy Huxley’s painting for the boxtop of the Matchbox 1/72 kit. A beautifully evocative, accurate image. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer. Internet find.
Hardy Coton Vimy
Today we have a pair of artworks on the Vickers Vimy, an aircraft type designed for the Great War, but made a name as a record setter worldwide. The first image is by the late, great aviation artist Wilf Hardy, a particular favourite painter of myself and my Aeroplane Monthly colleague Ian Bott. A 450mm…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 