Today’s Poster. It’s a classic example of what’s known as an ‘exploded diagram’ where all the parts are arrayed at a small distance as though caught in a frozen moment of explosion. Ironic here, as the aircraft in question is a bomber, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. This is from the Smithonian’s collection, entitled ‘You help…
Tag: Cutaway
Hell Dogs Over England
In the current (September 2019) issue of Aeroplane Monthly, here, artist Ian Bott and I have out latest ‘Briefing File’ feature on the defences against the V-1 bomb in 1944. While researching the history, it became evident that the comfort of hindsight has stripped away the fact that at the time, no-one really knew what…
Return of the Imperial
Here’s a pair and a quintet, with a lesson for those doing this job – check every copy found, in books and online. Several of the well known, even famous posters we’ve seen here exist in variant forms – sometimes with different text, sometimes with different backgrounds – or more, as we shall see. It’s…
Inside the Eagle
Inspired by a discussion on Twitter, here’s a selection of aircraft cutaway artwork, mainly from the British children’s magazine ‘Eagle’ most famous for the cartoon strip ‘Dan Dare’. [It was the era of the straight leading edge Avro Vulcan B1, and the carrier HMS Eagle.] Dare aside, the other highlight for most in the magazine…
Boston Ditch
We’re all familiar with the aircraft safety card, with their carefully crafted version of what may happen – and what you should do – in a ditching where the aircraft has to land on water. Today’s poster is an earlier incarnation, from a military aircraft that was far more likely for the crew to need…
Fine Frobisher
Today’s Poster is one of a series of Imperial Airways posters of the late thirties featuring their notable fleet of aircraft types, presented in cutaway form, a previous example shown on the blog, the Shorts C.30 flying boat being seen here. This time its the remarkably elegant de Havilland DH 91 Albatross four engine airliner,…
Posters of Interesting Times
Today’s Posters are a set of Chinese aviation instructional posters, an to western eyes, a very different mix of style, content and approach to anything we’ve seen here before. This one below of ‘Active Air Defences’, with the Smithsonian’s source detail here. Is it meant as a ‘how to behave?’, or ‘how you are being…
Through the Prop
Something different again, thanks to my friend and colleague Chad Matthew Hill of Django Studios. Books with see-through pages, or pages that overlay onto the next are usually regarded as kids’ stuff, but here we can see a very adult use in explaining the complex mechanism of the Hamilton Standard ‘Hydromatic’ feathering propeller*. Here’s a…
Where’s Your Seat?
Today’s Poster. Putting the reader or viewer ‘in’ the story or picture is a primary tool of marketing. Putting the reader in the literal hot seat is a logical, powerful take here. The aircraft is the Handley Page Halifax of the RAF’s Bomber Command, rather than the more often used Avro Lancaster. James Kightly, Vintage…
Empire Boat Cutaway
Our last post of January, and a special one. It’s a copy of an original of a well known image from the very brief era of the Imperial Airways and Qantas Short C Class flying boats. This original example was available from Christies, the auctioneers in 2012, sold for £2,500! There’s several things about this…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 