Today’s poster features a generic thirties airliner promoting the airline KLM by notable poster designer Munetsugu Satomi, dated 1933. This version shows the main routes around the border, a design Satomi used in other posters and seen elsewhere in the period. (It also relies on the poster being displayed complete, of course.) Details and some…
Tag: Japan
Japanese Wing
Today’s Poster is a very strong graphic image from Japan. As yet untranslated [but see below], the text is a mystery to me, but the message of Japanese imperial dominance of the air is clear. An echo of the background, chosen for the match, in the Japanese ‘Hinomaru’ or rising sun wing marking. The central…
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…
Sussex’s Sonia Imprint
Today a strange story. Firstly a bizarre imprint ‘artwork’ created in a violent accident. Then a design process by my friend and colleague, professional artist Ronne Olsthoorn, to explain the imprint. On 26 July 1945, the British cruiser HMS Sussex was attacked by two Japanese bomber aircraft acting as kamikaze suicide weapons. One bounced off…
Dare to Rare
Today we dive right into the pulp. Sticking strictly to the ‘Dare-Devil Aces’ magazine of the inter to World War Two period, we still have more than enough awesome to play with. Starting with the Japanese ATTACK on New York, being defended by the US Navy (fair enough) but also a handsome assist by the…
HurriBow
Today’s Poster follows on from yesterday’s, also featuring a symbolic nearly Hawker Hurricane. This poster is even more unusual, and somewhat enigmatic. It’s printed in Britain (‘Nott’m’ – Nottingham in fact) and is clear enough in its aim, as the catalogue notes state it reads ‘On to Japan!’, written in Arabic. Going beyond the obvious…
Rising Wind
Today a still from Hano Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises film. Loosely based on the biography of the designer of the Mitsubishi ‘Zero’ fighter, it’s an aeronautical design fest, even if very free with real history and some design. Other aspects are bang on, and some, such as the Caproni dream relationship feature often forgotten aircraft…
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…
Doolittle Departed
Today’s Poster is in acknowledgement of the death of the the last of the airmen who flew with (then) Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle on the ‘Doolittle Raid’ on Tokyo, Japan, in 1942. The poster, a very simple design featuring a photo of James Doolittle and a simple exhortative text is most interesting in what it…
Bond, Nellie & Bond
Today’s Bond Poster. There’s nothing quite as cool Sean Connery flying the aircraft with his toes, just being very cool while everything explodes around him! From the film ‘You Only Live Twice’, this poster is the artwork by the exemplary action poster painter Frank McCarthy. You can own your own version at £2,250 – here,…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 