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| Text for the above items : |
Delta Golf by Barry Price. No text for this item |
Supermarine S6.B at Calshot, 1931 by Ivan Berryman. A Supermarine S6.B runs up its engine in preparation for the Schneider Trophy race. The aircraft would go on to win the trophy outright. |
Concorde - The Last Flight Home by Robert Tomlin. October 24th 2003, and British Airways Concorde G-BOAG makes its final scheduled flight from New York to London under the command of Chief Concorde pilot and General Manager of Concorde Operations, Captain Mike Bannister. With Manhattan now far below, Mike punches through the clouds to take Speedbird 002, Concorde G-BOAG, together with its complement of celebrity passengers through Mach 2 for the last time. |
Between Wars Classics by Stan Stokes. During the between Wars years two aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Curtiss, were the dominant suppliers of fighter aircraft for the United States armed forces. A series of Curtiss-manufactured hawk fighters was in service from the mid-1920s until just before WW II. The P-6E was delivered beginning in 1932 and was powered by a 675-HP Curtiss V-1570-23 Conqueror engine. This bi-plane fighter was highly maneuverable and capable of almost 200-MPH. It was armed with twin forward-firing 0.3 inch Browning machine-guns. In many respects it represented the pinnacle of American biplane fighter designs. In contrast the Boeing P-26 Peashooter was a very important transitional aircraft in the evolution of the fighter. It embodied the transition from the WW I vintage highly maneuverable biplanes to the sleek, very fast, all-metal, monoplane fighters of WW II. Surprising is the fact that the P-26 was the last fighter to be mass-produced by Boeing, the company founded in 1916 by William Edward Boeing. The Companys first large contract was secured in 1919 for the MB-3A fighter for the USAAC. Boeing utilized a unique welded tube fuselage in place of the original wood structure in the original design. Success with this program lead to additional contracts, and Boeing became a strong competitor to the much larger Curtiss Company for fighter aircraft for both the Air Corps and the Navy. The culmination of Boeings biplane fighters was attained with its Model 83 which became the Navys F4B, and the Air Corps P-12. In 1928 the company began exploring the possibility of a monoplane fighter. The Model 200 Monomail was designed as a high-speed mail plane for Boeing Air Transport (the precursor of todays United Airlines.) The initial military version that evolved from this aircraft was the P-26. The P-26 was 20% faster than Boeings P-12 biplane, but it had a slower rate of climb and a lower service ceiling. Also, the high landing speeds of the prototype resulted in production models of the P-26 being equipped with landing flaps. Boeing engineers retained some very conservative design elements in the Peashooters design such as a fixed landing gear and an open cockpit. Many of these compromises would doom the aircraft to a very short useful life, as the P-26 was quickly made obsolete by the much faster Seversky P-35 and the Curtiss P-36 fighters which appeared in 1936. The USAAC accepted a total of 139 Peashooters in 1933-34. The Navy could not be convinced to order the aircraft. Many P-26s sported the wild USAAC paint schemes which typified the between Wars period. The P-26 would see some combat with the Chinese and Philippine Air Forces. In Stan Stokes painting a P-26 of the 94th Pursuit Squadron Snow Owls lifts off from Selfridge Field while a Curtiss Hawk it would soon be replacing taxis to its parking area. |
Kuwait Express by Robert Tomlin. 00-DNF, one of DHL Europes fleet on loan to the Middle East, comes in to land at Kuwait International Airport, at 08:25 GMT on 20th March 1991, only days after the end of the Gulf War. Operating from Bahrain and flown by Capt. Wasberg and First Officer Pierre De Naeyer, this aircraft has the distinction of being the first civil aircraft into the liberated airport. Hastily painted under the DHL logo can be seen the words Kuwait Express, from which our painting takes its title. Headed by Capt. Manu Tytgat, the detachment of DHF and its sister ship 00-VGH, nicknamed Silver Fox which was still wearing EAT markings, kept the DHL promise and delivered important materials to enable business to resume as soon as possible after the liberation of the Kuwait capital. As DHF comes in to land, it passes the wreckage of the British Airways Boeing 747 which was stranded in Kuwait at the outbreak of hostilities and eventually destroyed by the Iraqis. It will stay there for some weeks, the only useful parts being the engines which will ultimately be reclaimed. There is feverish activity at this time, with USAF Galaxys, together with helicopters and C-130 Hercules from several allied forces, bringing much-needed military supplies and equipment for the rapidly advancing forces. |
Wileys Wild Ride by Stan Stokes. The Lockheed Vega was the aircraft of choice for many of the record-setting pilots of the 1920s and 1930s. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation was organized in December of 1926. Its first plant was a delapidated building in Hollywood, California. Lockheeds two primary designers were Jack Northrop, who would later found his own company, and Gerry Vultee, who would also become a famous aircraft manufacturer on his own. The Vega was the first commercial product from the new company. Despite its streamlined appearance, the Vega utilized WW I era technology. A plywood fuselage was shaped in large concrete molds, and the wing was designed incorporating techniques pioneered by Anthony Fokker. Initially powered with a 220-HP Wright radial engine, the aircraft was designed to carry up to five people at the speed of 135-MPH. Publisher Geroge Hearst purchased the first Vega for $12,000, and entered the aircraft in an Oakland to Hawaii race. This aircraft never reached Hawaii. Despite this setback interest in the aircraft increased. George Wilkins purchased a Vega and used it to fly the polar route Point Barrow to Norway. He also utilized two Vegas for an expedition to Antarctica. Other aviators lined-up to get their hands on a Lockheed. Art Goebel and Harry Tucker set a transcontinental speed record in the Vega of less than 19 hours, becoming the first to make this trip in less than 24 hours. With the favorable publicity generated by these record setting flights, Lockheed was willing to make modifications to its aircraft to serve particular needs of the customer. Air racer Roscoe Turner flew a Gilmore sponsored Vega which had been modified into a parasol wing configuration, with an enclosed cockpit moved aft on the fuselage. One of the more famous Vegas was that owned by an oilman named F.C. Hall. The aircraft was named the Winnie Mae after Halls daughter. The man selected by Hall to pilot his Vega was Wiley Post. Post was a former Oklahoma oil field worker who lost an eye in an accident. He used the money he received for his injury to take flying lessons. In 1930 Hall sponsored Post in the National Air Races which he won. The following year Post and his navigator Harold Gatty circumnavigated the globe in 8 days - smashing the previous record held by the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin. In 1933 he accomplished a solo-circumnavigation of the globe in seven days. In 1934 and 1935 Wiley set a number of altitude records. He attained a speed of 340-MPH aided by the jet stream during a transcontinental attempt in 1935, which unfortunately ended with a crash landing and the destruction of the Winnie Mae. Later in 1935 Wiley Post was killed with his friend and well-known comedian Will Rogers in the crash of a floatplane in Alaska. Both Wiley and the Winnie Mae, however, merit an honored place in American aviation history. |
1934 American Classics by Stan Stokes. Stan Stokes, in his painting, 1934 American Classics, beautifully portrays a Hollywood movie star and her pet dog embarking on a chartered Ford Trimotor from the Grand Central Air Terminal (owned and operated by Curtis-Wright) in California. Probably bound for a weekend visit to San Simeon, the palatial retreat of the publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst, the trip to San Luis Obispo will take only ninety minutes. The early afternoon rains have left puddles on the tarmac, but fair skies have returned to the San Gabriel mountains, and the trip should be a smooth one. During the Great Depression the Packard Company introduced some of its most stunning and high performance automobiles. The 1934 Packard LeBaron Speedster, pictured in the painting, was one such machine. Costing nearly $8,000 the Packard LeBaron Speedster was about two to three times the price of a nice three bedroom house. Only the very wealthy could afford such luxuries during the Depression. Note that the Speedsters fenders are reminiscent of the wheel covers on racing planes during the era of the Thompson Trophy Air Races. The Speedster was powered by a 160 HP V-12 engine which displaced 445 cubic inches. Around this time it is believed that among the Hollywood notables that owned Packard Speedsters were both Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks. The Ford Trimotor was introduced in 1926 and between 1926 and 1933 Ford produced approximately 200 of these capable aircraft. Ford Trimotors remained in service long after they were made technically obsolete by more modern aircraft, and it is reputed that one aircraft built in 1928 was still in regular service as late as 1970. Admiral Byrd utilized a 4-AT version of the Trimotor for his 1929 Antarctic expedition. The Ford Trimotor played an important role in introducing commercial aviation to the general public during the years of the Great Depression. The basic model carried eleven passengers and a crew of two, had a cruising speed of 107 MPH, an operational ceiling of 16,500 feet, and a range of 570 miles. Due to its corrugated metal exterior skin the Trimotor was affectionately known as the Tin Goose. The Tin Goose had a wingspan of nearly 78 feet, and was fifty feet in length. In 1930 Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) began the first coast-to-coast commercial service utilizing Ford Trimotors. The trip took only thirty-six hours, if the weather was cooperative. |
Flying Luxury Liner by Stan Stokes. The Curtiss Condor was the civilian transport version of the B-2 bomber. It was developed in the late 1920s with the principal design staff consisting of G. Page, T. Wright, S. Vaughn, and R. Beisel. The design utilized the same metal tube and aluminum spars as in the B-2. The Condor was wider with a six foot wide fuselage, and as there was no need for gunner cockpits, the aft engine nacelles were faired in and the space utilized for mail and cargo. A significant design factor was the incorporation of 3 inches of Dry Zero soundproofing in the cabin, which made the Condor considerably quieter inside than the other passenger craft of the era. The interior of the Condor was quite spacious and luxurious with a full six feet eight inches of head room in the cabin. The Condor was arranged to carry 18 passengers with six seats arranged in three cabins. Reclining seats were utilized in the two forward cabins with the rear cabin equipped with lounge seats. Passengers had large windows for sight-seeing, and passenger lighting and air vents were utilized. The Condor also had a heated cabin, not common on most aircraft of that era, which was driven by two small boilers attached to the engine exhaust manifolds. A lavatory with hot and cold running water was also standard. The Condor first flew in July of 1929. Early production models were difficult to fly and the Curtiss Company undertook modifications to improve the flying characteristics of the aircraft. With the Great Depression underway it was not easy getting orders for this aircraft, and Eastern Air Transport ended up as the proud owner of six Condors. The Curtiss Company opted to kill the Condor program at this point and focus on a totally new aircraft, the T-32 Condor II. The Condors went on to serve Eastern well. The aircraft was reasonably reliable and was well liked by passengers. Glenn H. Curtiss made his final flight in May of 1930 in a Condor from Albany to New York, which was to commemorate his historic flight of twenty years earlier. Two months later, Curtiss, one of the early pioneers of American aviation would die at age fifty-two. In Stan Stokes painting, entitled Flying Luxury Liner, an Eastern Air Transport Condor approaches Hoover Field in Washington, D.C. in November of 1931. The T-32 Condor IIs debut was impacted by the introduction of the Douglas DC-1 in 1934. This all metal, low wing monoplane would become the DC-2 in its first production variant. The days of the passenger biplane, for al practical purposes, were over. |
Concorde - The Final Touchdown by Stephen Brown No text for this item |
Emirates Airbus A380 by Ivan Berryman. One of Emirates' fleet of Airbus A380s, which flies from Dubai to15 worldwide destinations including London, Manchester, Paris, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Hong Kong, Jeddah, and Beijing. The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus. The A380 is the largest passenger airliner in the world, and made its maiden flight on 27th April 2005 from Toulouse, France. |
A Moment of Triumph by Gerald Coulson. On the afternoon of Sunday, 13th September 1931, Flt. Lt J N Bootham, RAF, in a Southampton-built S6B seaplane, tore through the skies over the Solent to average 340.08mph round a 217-mile course. This fly-over was sufficient for Great Britain to gain the Schneider Trophy outright since it meant that the event had been won on three consecutive occasions. That it nearly didn't happen is part of the history of British Aviation, only timely sponsorship saving the whole Supermarine programme. So ended an era in aviation history which, with hindsight, proved so important for the free world as it was from this remarkably-advanced design of airframe and engine that R J Mitchells most famous aircraft of all time, the Spitfire, was developed. Without the advances brought on by the development of the Supermarine racing seaplanes, it is doubtful that the technology required for the Spitfire would have been so readily available. The Merlin and Griffon engines from Rolls Royce were also part of this programme. These were to be the mainstay of the British Aircraft Industry during World War II and become a legend in their own right. A replica of the aircraft which went on to set world air speed records can be seen in the Southampton Hall of Aviation, together with the legendary Spitfire. The Schneider Trophy was won outright by Great Britain on September 13th 1931. Flight Lieutenant J N Boothman flying S6B S1595, completed the seven laps at an average speed of 340.08mph. Fg Off Leonard Snaith and Flt Lt Freddy Long were the first and second reserve pilots of the 1931 GB Schneider Trophy team, behind J N Boothman. |
Top Dressing in New Zealand (1) by Ivan Berryman. Landing and taking off from the hillsides, rather than established airfields, this was extremely dangerous work which involved the pilot following the terrain and contours of the land that was being dressed in order to ensure an even distribution of the chemical. Australian-born Jim McMahon, served during World War II on B.25 Mitchell bombers before pioneering crop dusting and topdressing in New Zealand with ex-military De Havilland Tiger Moths which he converted himself for the purpose. He went on to form a company called Crop Culture, which specialised in aerial spraying equipment, both in New Zealand and in the UK, before becoming a partner in the newly-formed Britten-Norman aircraft company which produced the Islander and Trislander utility transport aircraft in England. |
easyJet Airbus A319 by Ivan Berryman. easyJet is one of the largest operators of the Airbus A319 with some 142 of the type on its strength. G-EZAM is depicted beginning its final approach. |
Concorde Farewell by Michael Rondot. Concorde made supersonic history, bringing Mach 2 international travel in luxury surroundings at the edge of space to millions of air travellers. It is instantly recognisable, but Concorde is far more than just a sleek and pretty aircraft. Its sheer size, combined with the glorious power and noise of its Olympus engines endow Concorde with a unique charisma. There is no other aircraft capable of stopping people in their tracks and making them look to the sky in awe like Concorde taking off in full reheat. |
Queen of the Skies by Philip West. Concorde looking her most majestic as she heads off into the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. With the afterburners having just been switched on, Concorde will quickly gain speed and height until finally reaching a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet, where, on clear day, passengers could see the curvature of the earth. |
Speedbird by Simon Atack. Unquestionably the most beautiful commercial aircraft ever to enter service, during 27 years of flying passengers supersonically, Concorde earned a unique place in aviation history. To watch this remarkable aircraft thunder down the runway at Londons Heathrow airport, with afterburners belching flame in a crescendo of deafening sound, but for her distinctive airline livery one could be excused for thinking a mighty warbird was scrambling. Yet aboard, a hundred passengers, relaxing in sumptuous comfort, are looking forward to arrival in New York effectively before they left - such was the speed of this remarkable airliner as she travelled westward faster than the sun. |
Sky Giant by Robert Taylor. In the mid 1930s, at a time when Pan American had led the way with two generations of four0engined flying boats. the United States Navy sought a much larger, heavier flying boat for over-water reconnaissance bomber service. Consolidated Aircrafts PB2Y Coronado was the result, this massive all-metal flying boat first taking to the air in 1937. Several models and extensive modifications followed, and in 1943-44 a number of the latest types were converted for the Naval Air Transport Service for the carriage of cargo and passengers. This wartime fleet, based at San Franciscos Treasure Island and at Pan Americans North Beach facility, now part of New Yorks La Guardia Airport, performed vital transport services across the Atlantic and throughout the Pacific. Flown by contracted Pan Am crews, the Sky Giant saw its share of action. On one notable occasion Captain Bill Moss and his crew landed in heavy seas to rescue 48 survivors from a torpedoed merchantman, lifting off in a 15ft swell to fly the oil-soaked seamen 300 miles to safety. |
Amy Johnson by Ivan Berryman. No text for this item |
Flagship Over Manhattan by Robert Watts. An American Airlines DC-3, one of the 29 in service by 1936 with right hand doors, outbound from La Guardia Airport. |
Handley Page H.P. 42 G-AAXC Heracles of Imperial Airways at Croydon by Keith Woodcock. No text for this item |
Tahiti Clippers by Stan Stokes. Juan Trippe left Yale University in 1917 to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Trippe became a Naval Aviator on June 17, 1918. With the War nearing its end Trippe returned to Yale where he founded the Yale Flying Club. Writing in the May 1919 edition of The Yale Graphic, Juan speculated that the new Navy NC flying boats being introduced might be the first to successfully cross the Atlantic, and that eventually commercial flights across the Atlantic would be, a perfectly sane commercial proposition. Several years later Trippe was in control of Pan American Airways. Pan Am had a contract to fly mail to Havana utilizing Fokker triplanes. Trippe believed that flying boats possessed advantages in serving South America where rivers, harbors, or lagoons could make suitable airfields in locations where no adequate facilities existed. In 1927 Pan Am acquired its first flying boat, the twin-engine Sikorsky S-36. Five such aircraft were utilized to expand service to additional South American cities. A few years later Pan Am acquired the large four-engine Sikorsky S-40, which was piloted on its maiden flight from Miami to Panama by Charles Lindbergh. The S-40 was not capable of providing transoceanic service, but a later variant, the S-42, was. An S-42 was utilized to survey the San Francisco to Manila route, but the first commercial service was provided utilizing a Martin M-130, a significantly improved aircraft. The biggest and most luxurious of the Pan Am flying boats was the Boeing 314. This huge aircraft was 28 feet high, 106 feet long, and had a wingspan of 152 feet. Six of these aircraft were delivered to Pan Am in 1939, and they were utilized to provide the first transatlantic commercial service. Two of Pan Ams flying boats, or Clippers as they were more popularly referred to, are depicted in a beautiful south seas setting by aviation artist Stan Stokes. In the foreground taxing to the floating dock is the Dixie Clipper, a Boeing 314. The Dixie Clipper inaugurated the first regular transatlantic passenger service in June of 1939, and was utilized by President Roosevelt to attend the Casablanca Conference in 1943. In the background, having just lifted off, is the China Clipper, a Martin M-130. This is the aircraft which departed San Francisco for Manila in 1935, and became the first commercial passenger aircraft to cross the Pacific. In 1968 when Juan Trippe stepped down, Pan American Airways had developed an 80,000 mile international route structure which served 85 countries. Juan Trippe was a driving force behind the development of international air travel, and his marvelous flying boats played a major role in making the mans ambitions a reality. These Clippers were truly some of the classics of Americas great aviation heritage. |
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