Today’s a very early example of aircraft nose art, and something rarely seen in normal anthologies of the genre. A fine painting on the very nose of the nacelle of a Aviation Militaire Belge (Belgische militaire luchtvaart or Belgian Air Arm) Farman F-41. Poster Zdeněk Skolil confirms it’s pilot 1st Sergeant Viscomte Maximilien Vilain XIII…
Category: Ephemera
Toys of Yesteryear
Today a photo of a British toy shop window – A caption gives it as ‘Henley, UK, 1960, by Stuart James’. It’s an interesting mix that social historians could, I’m sure, make a lot of. Aircraft aren’t particularly prominent, but they’re there. Right in the middle, is model box of a de Havilland DH 106…
Biff! Pow!
Today a cover from a classic American pulp magazine ‘Airboy Comics’. There’s something refreshingly straightforward in their garish colours, slightly random approach to real aircraft, the clear necessity of having some strange (and special) aircraft for the hero, and then, best of all, the special ‘having a fight on the wing of the airplane in…
Be Afraid
Today a relatively modern example of the perennial propaganda leaflet encouraging enemy combatants to run away. From the US aimed at Iraq soldiers during the Gulf War of 1991. How effective such propaganda is cannot be shown, as they only really have a role and effect as part of a wider campaign, like much more…
Tractor Parts
‘Tractor build’ isn’t a great advert for aircraft, but the other way? A CAC Wirraway presented anonymously on a brochure for tractor spark plugs. ‘Aircraft Quality’ may be the advert, but certified for aircraft use usually meant prices exponentially greater than for land transport. It’s a ‘Publicity Brochure – H.V. McKay Massey Harris, Spark Plugs,…
Non-British Bulldogs
An advertisement from The Aeroplane, 1932, by Bristol Aircraft. (Notice the logotype, discussed earlier here, bottom centre.) A neat design, the monochrome printing leads to an unanswered query – which nine countries? Some of the flags are identifiable – several are confused as they are all arranged vertically, not horizontally – and only readable with…
Be Paid to gaze skywards!
A newspaper advert for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, using the aviation cliche of ‘gazing skywards’. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer. Via Dave Homewood.
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…
Sussex’s Sonia Imprint
Today a strange story. Firstly a bizarre imprint ‘artwork’ created in a violent accident. Then a design process by my friend and colleague, professional artist Ronne Olsthoorn, to explain the imprint. On 26 July 1945, the British cruiser HMS Sussex was attacked by two Japanese bomber aircraft acting as kamikaze suicide weapons. One bounced off…
Min Scout
Today’s we have a brochure cover that would’ve seemed modern, contemporary when new, but is clearly a product of its time too, with the fonts – the late seventies. It reflects the start of a revolution in aviation, the ultralight. Over to Fiona Shanahan who suggested the story: “Then it was known as a…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 