Watermarked by the modern Flight Global, this artwork dates to the 1936 ‘Flight’ magazine. Featuring sketches of details from the 1936 Society of British Aircraft Manufacturer’s products at the S.B.A.C. show of that year. These kind of pen and ink sketches, as well as being engaging illustrations, also are an effective way of the art…
Tag: Inter-war
London’s Aerial Derby
Today’s Poster. A very cluttered illustration today, showing the brief post-Great War revival of the Aerial Derby that had been incredibly popular and successful pre-war, when aviation was exiting and major newspapers, here the Daily Mail, would it worth sponsoring. The ‘A Fleeting Peace’ website and the Wikipedia page here give excellent detail to the…
Spitfire Racers – Pastiche
Today’s Poster. Almost believable, this poster is in fact a pastiche period design, in part intended to showcase Decade Type Foundry’s Reckless typeface. The process is explained in this tutorial here. It’s fascinating to see the effort gone to for ageing, or for an accurate period map of London – while on the other hand…
Miss Icarus
Today’s Cover. An Art-Deco style cover of US magazine ‘The Alexander Aircrafter’ from November 1928, artist signed ‘Olsen’. The figurine, initially seeming to be a spirit or goddess, has wings held on by straps, implying a more human origin – in theory. I doubt the intent is she was to follow the original Icarus’ fate….
Big Kid Ride
Today’s art is very different. A fairground ride spotted at the Tivoli fair in Copenhagen, Denmark, which featured a range of neat biplanes. But not just any old biplanes… A great deal of effort had been taken to give them real schemes; here as Curtiss P-6 Hawk of the 17th Pursuit Squadron of the US…
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…
Airspeed Air-Rail Service
Here’s an unusual one thanks to the extensive archives of the Smithsonian Collection. Listed in their catalogue as ‘Beginning of Air Rail Service’, the poster features a crossed aircraft and locomotive, though it’s interesting that the aircraft is much more clearly depicted with more detail. It’s an Airspeed Envoy, the type that preceded the Airspeed…
Best of British
Holding records was a matter of pride in the inter war period, while today the human element and the understanding of how hard that extra reach is to do has gone. To hold four records at once was a greater achievement, even with the resources of one of the world’s leading industrial nations deployed. Here…
Streamline Spitfire & Hurricane
Another from my main blog, Vintage Aero Writer. This one from 2011, looking back to the late thirties when the fastest things around were the RAF’s new fighters. Well, in the pictures, anyway! It’s notable that the (in reality) bulkier and less refined design Hurricane is made to look positively arrow-like by the artist’s use…
Potez Aero Service
Today’s poster. An elegant Potez 56 family member (probably a Potez 560) very similar looking from this angle to the Airspeed Envoy, both first flying in 1934, though the designs were in other aspects and angles, quite different. I like the dynamic aircraft painted look over a screen-printed static feeling skyscape, landscape and sea. And…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 