Here’s a fascinating one. On the right, an Alfred Sindall illustration first published in the 1937 ‘Biggles Air Commodore’ by W.E. Johns. (The other Sindall illustrations are posted on the Biggles page here. He was the main illustrator for the Oxford University Press published Biggles stories of the late thirties and early forties.) On the…
Tag: Inter-war
Tintin At Ninety
Today*, the immortal cartoon character Tintin is ninety years old, as it’s ninety years since he first appeared in print. A few years ago, a series of aircraft and cars, each accompanied by a character from the books was released. As well as a number that are iconic and crucial to the plots, a few…
Boulton Paul & Stations North
Today’s poster. A neat typographic effort by the Boulton Paul aircraft company, thirties font in fine form. But that logo. Certainly it’s a combination of a roundel and the name, but it also looks rather like the very identifiable London Underground roundel logo, still in use, and globally recognised today. Intentional similarity? Some gap to…
Venetian Aviator Memorial
Fame transitions. To many Italians, ‘Pierluigi Penzo’ is a Venetian sports stadium, in the same way for tennis fans, ‘Roland Garros’ is a tennis tournament, not a 1900s aviator. But aeronaut Pier Luigi Penzo (born, Venice 5 May 1896, died 29 September 1928) is also remembered by this beautiful memorial in one of Venice’s treasured…
‘Briefing File’ – Aeroplane, Ian & I
After we finished with 100 features of the ‘Aircrew’ spreads in Aeroplane Monthly, Ian Bott (of Ian Bott Illustration) and I, in consultation with Aeroplane editor Ben Dunnell, developed the new ‘Briefing File’ feature where we could explore aspects of aviation technology. This particular issue, March 2018, on the ‘weight of fire’ was only really…
A Sawed-Up Gauntlet Set
A traditional, wooden proper ‘jig-sawed’ jigsaw puzzle, featuring a flight of RAF Gloster Gauntlet fighters. At the RAAF Museum, Cosford, taken by the author in 2008. Does anyone know the artist? The original painting is signed, but unreadable in the photograph, unfortunately. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.
Great G-8
An action packed cover from the American pulp magazine G-8 and his Battle Aces. I honestly doubt the contents can live up to the promise of the picture! James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer. Image found low-res on the internet.
No Jersey Airways
Today’s poster. Two de Havillland DH.86 Express airliners. I think they’re advertising a ‘straight to the beach’ service, and Jersey Airways did operate off the beach at a lower tide. Advertising with bathing beauties is no new thing either. Internet find. James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.
King’s Cup – Three Tones
A nice poster, with only three ink tones, I suspect, blue, black and orange. The block colour on the aircraft also works well, I think, and the choice to leave the propeller on the edge and invisible also facilitates the image’s success. While the aircraft depicted in the poster has a de Havilland tail, the…
A Coming Knockout Punch?
Aviation regularly appeared as a feature in general magazines such as Britain’s Punch (1841 – 1992). Here a made up, toylike British military machine (note the roundels) is piloted by Mr Punch with his dog Toby, over a idyllic British countryside scene, with a field with some very smart pup tents of the army (no…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 