A typical crashed Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of Britain. Oberleutnant Karl Fischer of 7/JG27 crash-landed his Bf 109 E-1 in Windsor Great Park, on 30 September 30, 1940. He force landed after being alerted by his wingman to his fuel loss due to hits from earlier combat, meaning he would not be able…
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…
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…
CAP & Helmet
Today’s Poster is for America’s Civil Air Patrol or ‘CAP‘. The artist, presumably the ‘Kenney’ from ‘Squadron 511-3’ has chosen the visual cliche of the leather helmeted and goggled aviator’s head, which became a cliche due to its utility as a stand in for ‘aviator’ as we’ve seen before. As the Wiki page linked above…
In Colour! Bombers & Fighters
A pair of books that were passed onto me by my friend Carole Barker, from her father Bernard Thorpe‘s collection. These are based on pre-war information, and were an exciting visual feast, given the paucity of colour printing in the period. On the covers, a pre-war Hawker Hurricane and Vickers Armstrong Wellesley, the Wellesley’s artwork…
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…
Unsteady KLM
Today’s Poster is a strange, muddled and badly dated effort from KLM. Not all period advertising has a long term appeal, and the casual sexism of the poster hasn’t aged well. Moreover it’s not even very clear what they’re trying to advertise? Fly with us because our stewardesses might be harder working? It’s perhaps of…
French Ivan
A strong cover design for a paperback in French – ‘Poursuite dans l’Atlantique’ (‘Atlantic Pursuit’) by Ivan Southall by éditions Gérard & C°, 1960. The original book is a rarely seen fictional work by Australian Short Sunderland pilot veteran and later author, translated soon after publication into French. English language details here. Somewhat surprising, to…
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.
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 