A record sleeve today, a first for the blog, probably not the last. Certainly not the first or the last featuring the unique shape of Concorde however. The record sleeve, image supplied by Dr Peter Hobbins, has a magnificent 1970 style aesthetic. The image features a test model of the Aérospatiale / BAC Concorde supersonic…
Tag: Technology
Rolls Roundel to Sweep
Today’s Poster. A really strong monochrome graphic design from 1937 for a Rolls Royce engine, where the aircraft is led around the roundel. Interestingly, the Rolls Royce Merlin isn’t named, here, and the aircraft type – hard to identify – is, conversely named as the Fairey Battle. By the time actual combat was joined, in…
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…
Triangle Tribulations
Today’s Poster from the Facebook Vault of the Atomic Space Age, here. It’s a great claim by Convair, but in the end it wasn’t a great result. The exciting F2Y Sea Dart (a very unusual marine jet aircraft that hydroplaned on skis) proved an abortive concept though they managed to fly prototypes (XF2Y-1) which survive…
Which Concorde?
The final shape for the Concorde’s wing was an ogee delta, and when viewed closely is a complex arrangement, including a downturned leading edge lip, as well as the reflexed leading edge line seen in plan view. But it wasn’t the only option, as seen here, in this row of model shapes considered by the…
Modern ‘Colour’
Here’s a few pages from a book from 1931*, when roundels were RED white and blue, thanks to the hand tinting colour process used. We take full colour printing for granted these days, but it wasn’t that long ago it was a big deal to have any colour at all – this book has only…
Sleek Caudron & Renault
When forced to support an aircraft maker, your car manufacturer has every justification in advertising their car in association – including using the pilot of both, here Raymond Delmotte. The Caudron C.461 is seen here with the Renault cabriolet, and both shows the fashions of extreme streamlining are as much fashion as they are pure…
Messerschmitt Hands
Today a photograph, very much in the tradition of atmospheric art photos of the thirties. This is of the leading edge slat on a Messerschmitt Bf 109, or ‘‘Zwei Hände eines Arbeiters beim Arbeiten am Flügel eines Flugzeugs Messerschmitt Me 109.’ From 1940, the photographer is only listed as ‘Höss’, but the Bundesarchive search under…
Futurism Unfulfilled
Which airport would be worth highlighting in terms of design and art? This artwork today is a painting of a Continental Airlines Douglas DC-9 in front of the iconic ‘Theme Building’ at Los Angeles International (LAX) airport in California. The sixties aesthetic of the building is today countered by the true awfulness of LAX airport,…
Spotty Roundels
Today’s Poster. I really like this one, partly because it features roundels as an active part of the design – roundels come up again and again in military aviation art. The text (and jokes) are a bit laboured, but the illustration works well even without the text. Apparently the design’s by Victor Hicks (1893-1946) and…
A Year of Aviation Illustration & Art 