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…
Tag: Australia
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…
Boys for a Man’s Job
Today’s Poster is a classic theme, recruitment. It’s unusual mainly in conflating the juvenile (school age) Air Training Corps (now the Australian Air Force Cadets, AAFC) experience with training for an air force trade with the Royal Australian Air Force. (RAAF). Formed in 1941, as the war started to tell on Australia’s peacetime resources, “The…
ANA DC Flyer
A lovely piece of airline ephemera today. An Australian National Airways (ANA) Douglas DC-3 fold-out paper promotional item, offered by the Josef Lebovic Gallery here as part of a set. It consist of a perspective painting of a DC-3 airliner in blue, with a red overprint featuring the Royal Mail cipher and the ANA tail…
Thake’s Shapes
Eric Thake (see a brief earlier post here) was an Australian official war artist working with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in the latter part of the Pacific War. Unlike many other war artists, he chose to make a significant proportion of his formal, main output as depictions of aircraft wreckage. Almost uniquely, Thake…
Bay Window
Today’s artwork is an evidently quick drawing from his sketchbook by Australian official war artist Eric Thake aboard a Consolidated Catalina, depicting a crewman on lookout in the portside gun blister. I was looking for other Thake artworks*, but this one jumped out at me as an exceptional work as a sketch. In a National…
RAAF Roundel – Red Gone
In recognition of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) History & Heritage Symposium this week, let’s take a look at two aspects of the RAAF roundel. Originally the RAAF’s roundel design was based on the British Royal Air Force’s, itself a derivative of the French air arm’s roundel, featuring red white and blue. The red…
Top Pun?
A billboard today, with a reference to a rather-well-known aviation film. Taking a steampunk aesthetic (top hats in steampunk, not so much in aviation) for the ‘we’re cool’ that massive companies use in response to the boutique smaller makers. I’m not sure what the pipes under the wings are meant to be, but the first…
Stork on a Plate
When the Douglas DC-2 of KLM, PH-AJU, named ‘Uiver’, (Stork) came second in the 1934 England – Australia air race, the Dutch, understandably, went wild over the achievement. It was, by any measure an extraordinary achievement, as I detail here on the ABC website. The result of the Netherlands-wide enthusiasm was a extensive array of…
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 