Recently I mentioned KLG’s major effort in publicity in the inter-war period. Here’s an example on the cover of The Aeroplane magazine recording Jim Mollison’s success on 18 August 1932 when he was the first pilot to fly an East-to-West solo trans-Atlantic flight – from Portmarnock in Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada. Many thanks…
Triangle Tribulations
Today’s Poster from the Facebook Vault of the Atomic Space Age, here. It’s a great claim by Convair, but in the end it wasn’t a great result. The exciting F2Y Sea Dart (a very unusual marine jet aircraft that hydroplaned on skis) proved an abortive concept though they managed to fly prototypes (XF2Y-1) which survive…
Denouncing to the Point
Today’s Poster. A reproduction, found in a charity shop, of a North Vietnamese anti-American propaganda poster. From Dr Peter Hobbins on Twitter: “Another airpower image for you, @JDKightly – a Vietnamese reproduction poster found in an op shop… Feel free to RT!” Very simplistic artwork, almost more like a design brief to western eyes, although…
Fashion Plate Star
Today’s magazine cover. Found while looking for the Coca Cola advertisements of a couple of days ago, this provides quite a contrast to the dynamic ‘Rosie the Riveter’ posters discussed earlier. Lunch break aspirations? By ‘Valentine’ from Colliers magazine, August 1942. Found online here. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.
Ghost on the Label
Another neat item courtesy Gregory Alegi in Italy, an air freight parcel label. Gregory writes: “Air freight label of ALI [Avio Linee Italiane] Flotte Riunite, hence post 1949, used to ship a model train from Rome to Milan. It was a Christmas gift for a well-to-do twelve year-old, who eventually went on to become a…
Print VC-Tenderness
A fine selection of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) promotional material for today’s post. Shared by Shea Oakley on the Facebook BOAC Jet Junior Club (link) Shea’s personal collection displayed shows how well an airline could promote a competitive advantage with a premium type, here the Vickers VC 10 and Super VC 10 airliners –…
Coked-Up Aircrew
Coca-Cola’s ubiquity is taken for granted today, and that ubiquity stretched back well into the Twentieth Century. Widely known and drunk pre-World War Two across America, it was that war and the American service personnel who drank it worldwide that were the first major wave of the drink’s globalisation. I don’t have a date for…
Cheerful Plane Postie
Today’s Poster, from Britain’s General Post Office (GPO). ‘Send Your Overseas Parcels By Air Mail’. So much going on with this artwork, but the basic design, by Harry Stevens, works very well with the postman figurine shaped like an aeroplane. Simple, Memorable. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer. Image source: Here, details: original poster PRD 797…
Anti-Clunk Javelin
Today’s Poster. Courtesy Phil Vabre, this one features the Gloster Javelin, the British all weather jet powered interceptor, from the magazine Aeronautics in April 1958. Signed ‘Tilley – Weaver’ on the left, artistically it’s a very unusual design, something as static as a barrier guard painted so realistically isn’t a normal item to juxtapose against…
Sparky Card
Something rather different today, our first ‘paper aeroplane’ on the blog. Here’s the cover, of the 1930s KLG Sparkplugs promotional toy, which features the Supermarine Schneider trophy racer at top right and Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird land speed record car below – justifying the claim: ‘The fastest plug in the world’. Below is the folded-out…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 