SOUND BARRIER
INGLEADER
MAGAZINE
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DIGITAL ISSUE ONE
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The exciting new historic aviation magazine from Wingleader
DIGITAL ISSUE ONE
HALIFAX BB324
AIRFIX 1/48 BLENHEIM
COVER STORY - NICK TRUDGIAN INTERVIEW PART TWO
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A4 landscape format. 100 Pages, full colour throughout. Articles include; East Coast Intruder Peter Jackson’s 1/32 Dambuster The Flying Cannon Me110C-6 Tea with Lettice
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This limited edition Launch Issue is a one-off printed version which shows how the quarterly compendia will look and feel. With the highest printing standards found in other Red Kite / Wingleader publications, this special Launch edition is bound to become a collector’s item in the future. Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
Finding Defiant N3333 Still Colouring In - Interview with Nick Trudgian Part One Photo Archive - Beaufighter NT950 Archie’s Final Scramble 76 Squadron RAF
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WELCOME TO WINGLEADER MAGAZINE! A BRAND NEW HISTORIC AVIATION PUBLICATION FOR THOSE WHO STILL RUN TO THE WINDOW WHEN SOMETHING FLIES OVER...
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Managing Director: Simon Parry (Co-Founder) Editor and Design Director: Mark Postlethwaite (Co-Founder) Technical Director: Wesley Cornell (Co-Founder)
elcome to the first digital edition of Wingleader Magazine. This first issue marks the culmination of a lot of hard work over the past twelve months where we took a ‘bit of an idea’ and moulded it into something that we hope you will all enjoy.
Contributors to this issue: Chris Sandham-Bailey Nick Trudgian Simon Parry Brian Rivas Alan Price
For those of you who are newcomers to our project, the schedule is this; Every month we will publish a digital magazine like this which will be FREE to download to anybody worldwide. Each digital magazine will be approximately 50 pages and contain three or four feature articles plus editorial etc. After the third digital issue, we will produce a high quality printed Collector’s Edition which will contain all the articles from the previous three digital issues, but without the advertising and editorial. These Collector’s Editions will be for sale either individually or on a subscription basis from our website wingleadermagazine.co.uk. By doing this we hope to give the aviation community the best of both worlds, a genuinely free and readable magazine thanks to its A4 landscape format which can be read on any laptop screen without enlargement; combined with a beautifully printed collectable ‘book’ series that suits those that still prefer their reading material to be printed on paper!
Editorial Submissions: If you have any editorial content (news, comment, articles etc.) that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the next edition of Wingleader Magazine, please email us at editorial@wingleadermagazine.co.uk
Advertising: advertising@wingleadermagazine.co.uk T: +44 (0)845 095 0346 E: hello@wingleadermagazine.co.uk W: www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © Wingleader Magazine Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Wingleader Magazine is published by Wing Leader Ltd (08559824), registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 12 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BP, United Kingdom. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Wingleader Magazine cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Wingleader Magazine nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. The views expressed in Wingleader Magazine are not necessarily the views of Wing Leader Ltd, its editors or its contributors.
ISSUE ONE CONTENTS Page 4 - Patrons Page 5 - The new Airfix Blenheim MkIF Page 19 - Still Colouring In Part Two Page 31 - Photo Archive Halifax BB324 Page 39 - Sound Barrier Fact and Fiction
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Mark Postlethwaite January 2019
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GET INVOLVED
As you can see when you browse through this issue, we aim to cover many genres such as aviation art, modelling, archaeology, personalities, history etc so if you have an interesting story do let us know via the editorial@wingleadermagazine.co.uk address. We will also be instigating a readers’ letters page so please write to us on any subject using the email address above.
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Our FREE digital download offer has already attracted thousands of aviation enthusiasts to the project and will undoubtedly attract thousands more when this issue appears. This project is unique in aviation publishing and will offer advertisers a chance to connect with an entirely new global audience. We have some very attractive introductory deals for advertisers, please email advertising@ wingleadermagazine.co.uk for a media pack. Thanks again to all those who made this first issue possible, we hope you enjoy it!
EDITORIAL
WINGLEADER MAGAZINE
PATRONS
THE STORY SO FAR
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n the summer of 1986, 22 year old aviation artist Mark Postlethwaite was asked to paint a few cover paintings for Aircraft Modelworld magazine based in Surrey. On the staff of Aircraft Modelworld at the time was 28 year old Simon Parry who had recently set up his own publishing company ‘Air Research’ and was looking for cover art for some of his first books. The pair duly worked on several projects together and established a firm friendship forged by their common interest in WWII aviation history. In 1990 Mark and Simon set up Red Kite as a joint venture to publish aviation books with a particular emphasis on a large photo content and high quality reproduction. These books proved to be an immediate success with several titles selling out within a year or so. Throughout the next two decades, both continued with their specific fields of interest, Simon in aviation archaeology and research and Mark by this time as a professional aviation artist. In 2010 Mark and Simon formed Wing Leader Ltd to be an online retailer for all books published under their imprints. They brought Mark’s old friend Wesley Cornell in to design the website and to keep the technology at the cutting edge as online retailing developed. The concept of Wing Leader Ltd was always to include more than just books, as between them Mark and Simon had amassed a huge WWII photo library of over 25,000 images in the form of online library ww2images.com. In 2014 Wesley Cornell launched a new magazine for accountants using the Xero
During the recent Crowd Funding campaign over 350 people pledged anything from £10 to £750 to help us secure the future of Wingleader Magazine. Although we don’t have the space to list them all, we acknowledge each and every one of them for their generosity and belief in our project. Amongst those 350 are our Special Patrons who are listed below. Their extra contributions really made a difference.
software called XU Magazine. Using crowd funding to get it off the ground, the magazine quickly grew to become the market leader due to its innovative approach and cutting edge technology. This success triggered discussions between the three as to whether the same principles could be applied to an aviation magazine. With Wes’s experience in the magazine sector and Mark and Simon’s vast amount of aviation material and contacts, it seemed to be an obvious move and Wingleader Magazine was born. A very successful Crowd Funding campaign was held in November 2018 which raised over 200% of its £12,000 target in just two weeks. The team are now working on articles for Wingleader Magazine in preparation for the launch of Issue One in January 2019. Being unique in its concept and approach, the founders hope that the aviation community welcome and support this new venture which will open up so many stories that may never have seen the light of day in conventional books and magazines.
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Lee Smith Jim Carter Ray Peterson Lawrence Harrison Keith Davies Matthias Kobler
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David Meanwell Pete Belcher Kristjan Albertsson Mark Welch Paul Rushton Guy Sander
John Hopkinson T C Burns Delmar Davis Jan Barnhoorn James Burrell Charles Simmons
THE NEW AIRFIX
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MODELLING
Airfix have just released a 1/48 scale Blenheim MkIf to the delight of the modelling world. Blenheim author and modeller Alan Price got his hands on a pre-production model to see how good it really is.
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hen the editor and I were working on the Blenheim book, we were conscious of the new Airfix kit of the aircraft being release in the same year, possibly around the same time as the book. This would be an important release for Airfix, one of their big new kit releases this year, and for modellers too as prior to this the there had only been one other large scale Blenheim, a short run release by Classic Airframes. While this kit is not bad, being a short run kit it requires a certain level of modelling skill to build and get the most out of it. I built one of these kits back in 2015 and it’s not bad at all, if rather a lot of work! Many readers of this article have probably built Airfix kits in their youth – or maybe are still building them today, like me. The name Airfix is synonymous with plastic model kits but the Airfix of today is not the same as it was in the past. Whilst the company has always produced good kits, today the company is one of the leading lights in the modelling world, producing high technology, accurate and detailed kits which are a pleasure to build. I’ve been building prototype kits from Airfix as a model reviewer for several years now so I’ve seen how they have come on and I was really Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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MODELLING
The complexity of the interior can be seen here. The pilot’s seat and controls fit to the bomb bay and spars which form the centre section of the model. Here is the completed cockpit interior after painting. Photo etch seat belts from Eduard add a touch more detail.
looking forward to this Blenheim. Looking at the 3-D renderings on their website it looked to be highly detailed and also very accurate in shape. I can tell you now that it did not disappoint. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a pre-production kit from Airfix (and a big ‘thanks’ must go out to Martin Ridge at Airfix for this) which had production standard parts, decals and instructions. This means that what you see here will be the same as the kit that can be bought in the shops. The Blenheim is a fairly large aircraft, being some 42 feet long and 56 feet in wingspan, which means in 1:48 scale it’s almost a foot long and over a foot across the wings making quite large as a model. As a kit, this results in 6 runners of plastic parts plus one clear runner containing all the transparencies. While this initial release is for the Mk.1F, the kit appears to contain all the parts required to make a Mk.1 including the standard cockpit windows (no armour glass), open bomb bay option and a full load of bombs. Light Stores Carriers and suitable bombs are also included. In terms of colour schemes we get decals for two of the aircraft featured in the book profiles, YX-N, K7159 the night fighter and day fighter YP-Q. Airfix’s marking guide is fairly accurate but note that the serials are wrongly placed on the starboard side of K7159 and YP-Q is shown with an all black underside.
Due to the complexity of these kits it’s a good idea to follow the instructions carefully as it’s quite possible to ‘build yourself into a corner’ and find you cant fit something as it needed to be done at an earlier stage, so my assembly sequence followed the kit instructions for the most part.
serves as a base onto which the cockpit is built. After assembling all the parts required, they all had to be painted. I won’t go into the many stages of painting required but over the cockpit green base layer I applied several layers of effects to help bring out the detail and make the parts look more threedimensional. Once all the parts had been painted, they were assembled into one side of the fuselage. The radio equipment was also
Construction of the kit begins with the fuselage interior, in this case the bomb bay
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painted and detailed then glued into place. The fuselage was then closed up. The next job was to clean up the seams where the fuselage had been glued together. Filler goes over the seams which are then sanded back – this ensures the filler is sanded away rather than the plastic, which would of course affect the shape of the model. After attaching the front upper section of the
MODELLING Above: The completed cockpit was assembled into the port side of the fuselage. Note how the interior of the fuselage is painted in the same manner as the cockpit. Below: As was expected, the fuselage halves fitted with little issue. The red areas on the fuselage are filler which will be sanded back later.
Top: The undercarriage is superbly detailed, and the delicate parts build into a surprisingly sturdy assembly. Inset: The complex cockpit glazing fits well but great care is required to avoid getting glue on it during assembly!
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fuselage the nose glazing was attached. While these parts fitted well, care was required to ensure they lined up correctly. Work now moved on to the wings and here we have more amazing detail. The undercarriage has to be assembled and fixed in place before the upper and lower wing sections can be glued together. Airfix have moulded the entire undercarriage, not just the bit that sticks out of the engine nacelle. As a result there is a rather complex assembly to build including front and rear spars, oil tank and all the undercarriage assembly itself. Of course, all of the parts need to be painted and weathered as they are built so this adds to the time taken. With the wings assembled I now had the major parts of the airframe complete, i.e. the wings and fuselage. The tail surfaces and control surfaces were all assembled and cleaned up then I replaced the trim tab actuators on the rudder and elevators with brass tube, this is a simple job but makes a huge improvement to the look of these parts.
MODELLING
Left: The gun turret is another superbly detailed item and quite tricky to assemble and paint. Airfix even supply a jig to help assemble the parts. Right: With all the main parts together and cleaned up, the model was prepared for painting. The undercarriage and cockpit have been masked and the canopy glazing sprayed cockpit green so this colour is visible on the inside of the cockpit. Below: The panel lines were preshaded with black, this helps to shade the paint making it look aged.
The major parts were now all brought together and in one evening I had the entire Blenheim airframe assembled. Everything fitted beautifully and only minimal clean up of the wing joins was required. My attention turned to the engines next. These are yet another complex assembly and very well done, the exhaust collector ring even has the stubs which connect to the engine cylinder heads. As with the undercarriage, the parts need to be painted prior to assembly so I painted as much as I could then started assembly. The fully assembled engines were then set aside until the time came to paint the cowlings later on. The model was now almost ready to paint so first it was first primed with Mr. Hobby’s Mr. Surfacer, this is rather like a car body high build primer, but for models. Painting models today is not a case of brushing on a few camouflage colours and applying the decals. Painting can, and often does, take almost as long as constructing the kit. Pre-shading and Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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MODELLING
Left: The first stage in painting the camouflage was for the starboard wing to be painted white. The effect of preshading can be seen on the white. Careful masking was required to mask the white. The black was then airbrushed on and the masking removed revealing the completed underside. The entire underside was then masked while the upper surfaces were painted.
Left: The engines are a complex assembly and rather tricky to paint with all the different metallic colours required. Here the exhausts have been painted and the engines themselves have been painted
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post-shading techniques were used on this model (that is where darker or lighter colours are applied before/after the camouflage to alter the shade of the paint) to create the finished effect. I usually start painting with the underside of the model so for the Blenheim, that meant painting the white wing & fuselage first. Once this had dried, the white wing & fuselage was masked and the rest of the underside was painted black. The entire underside was then masked and the upper surface camouflage was applied, spraying the brown first then the green. The camouflage pattern was created freehand with the airbrush, using the book photos as a guide plus the known form of the camouflage. My pattern differs slightly to Chris’s profile artwork in the book – this is my interpretation of the photos but it does show how difficult deciphering these photos can be. To create the over painted upper wing roundels, I masked the original size of the roundel and darkened the area by airbrushing on some very thin black. Xtradecals provided the markings, I used their new Blenheim set X48187 though I used roundels from another Xtradecals set as the upper wing roundels were the wrong size.
MODELLING
Right: To represent the over painted areas around the roundels, the area was masked and airbrushed with thin black paint. Far right: The upper surfaces were painted by applying the brown first then the green, all freehand with the airbrush. The engines were test fitted to determine where the camouflage needed to be sprayed, the exhaust collector rings have also been sprayed at this point. Below right: The decals were applied paying careful attention to the photographs to ensure the placement was accurate.
Weathering was applied to the model using oil paints to create fuel stains and dirt. The engraved detail on the surfaces was brought out by applying a wash to the model then wiping off the excess. The engines, wheels, undercarriage doors and open flaps were then attached and the model was given its final finish with a coat of matt varnish being airbrushed over it. The props were glued into place and an aerial lead attached using fine elastic line. Finally the canopy masking was removed, the gun turret fitted in place and the model was complete. This new Airfix Blenheim is a great kit, it has excellent detail and everything fits well. While this is not a beginner’s kit, for those of you who have some experience of plastic modelling, this is a kit that can be built up into a simply superb Blenheim. I’m hoping to build a few more of the aircraft in the book so I for one will be picking up one or two kits when it hits the shops. Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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MODELLING
THE FINAL RESULT What about the results of this build - the finished model? Whenever I have just finished a model I tend only to see what went wrong - the mistakes and faults in what's there. Its always interesting to go back a few weeks later and look again - invariably those little niggles have been forgotten! In this case the end result was very satisfying, there were a
few issues with the paintwork I wasn't happy with but overall, the model came together very well. The huge amount of detail on the kit really repays all the time and effort that went into constructing and painting it. The cockpit in particular looks superb and really draws the viewer in when looking at the model. I think it gives a very good impression of what this aircraft probably looked like in 1939 and I believe this is the first time this aircraft has been portrayed correctly in model form for
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a magazine or book. The aircraft has previously been shown with red/white/blue/yellow roundels which we now know to be incorrect and this is also how decals have been produced to replicate this aircraft in model form. Finally, for those of you wondering about the airfield backgrounds in some of the photos, these are prints from the Noy's Miniatures range.
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MODELLING
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MODELLING
THE SUBJECT AIRCRAFT
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MODELLING
profile by
Chris Sa
ndham-B
ailey
This is Blenheim MkIF L1426 from 25 Squadron, photographed before September 1939 (when the squadron’s codes changed from RX to ZK) in some unusual markings. The aircraft is standard in terms of upper surface camouflage, being Dark Green over Dark Earth to the ‘A’ scheme. The black and white underside has been painted in an unusual manner, in this case the starboard wing underside is white and the white continues onto the fuselage, terminating at the centreline. The rest of the fuselage and port wing are black. Note that the underside of the starboard engine cowling is also black, this feature is seen on a number of aircraft of this period. The aircraft has the toned down style of national markings that came about during the 1938 and 1939 Defence Exercises. Fuselage roundels are blue and red as are the upper wing roundels. The wing roundels have been repainted to a smaller size, leaving a somewhat lighter area of camouflage around the new roundel. This may be an effect of the reflectivity of the paint making the new paint appear lighter however it is likely that the paint is a slightly lighter shade than the surrounding paint. Careful examination of the photograph suggests there may be a similar though less noticeable effect around the fuselage roundel. Fuselage code letters are grey and the aircraft serial number, painted in the usual place on the fuselage, is black. The Squadron badge on the fin appears to be in a light grey or white. It is interesting to note that this aircraft has appeared as L1428 in some profiles and has been shown with yellow/blue/ white/red upper wing roundels. While it undoubtedly wore these roundels on the upper wing it is unlikely they appeared in this style with the red/blue fuselage roundels. Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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MODELLING
THE BLACK AND WHITE UNDERSIDES SCHEME
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Initially all Blenheim MkIs were painted black underneath as they were all part of the bomber force, but in December 1938 four squadrons were equipped with Blenheim MkIFs which had been converted to fighters with the addition of a gun pack under the fuselage. These aircraft had the starboard wing underside painted white. The black and white underside was common to all RAF fighters at the time and was intended to aid identification of friendly forces from the ground. This was all part of Dowding’s air defence plan where the Observer Corps would identify enemy or friendly aircraft from the ground and report their positions to the Fighter Command Operations Rooms. After various experiments, it was found that this high contrast finish was the only scheme that worked well above 10,000ft. The orders were slightly vague in that they stated that ‘the lower surface of the starboard mainplane and half the undersurface of the fuselage was to be painted white, the corresponding port side to be painted black’. These orders didn’t specifically refer to the entire fuselage or indeed the tailplane so variations inevitably appeared as these markings were applied at squadron level. With the Blenheim MkIFs, the majority of ground crews painted the entire starboard undersurfaces white although many avoided painting the starboard engine cowling. Many also left the starboard aileron black as a precaution against unbalancing this sensitive part of the control surfaces. On the subject aircraft of this article, the groundcrew appear to have taken the orders more literally and just painted the starboard wing and the area inboard of the wing on the fuselage. This finish remained in service until 6th June 1940 when Signal X915 was issued which called for all day fighters to be re-painted with Sky as the underside colour.
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MODELLING
Right: This line up of 604 Squadron Blenheims shows variation in the application of the white undersides on the nose. Below: Believed to be a 600 Squadron Blenheim MkIF, this photo clearly shows how the white undersides have been quite roughly applied. The application of paint around the cockpit glazing would certainly lose some points in a modelling contest! Note again with this aircraft how the starboard engine cowling has been left black underneath.
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MODELLING
For more information and some superb archive photos of this classic aircraft take a look at the Modeller’s Photo Archive publication on the Blenheim MkI and MkIF published by Red Kite and available from
wingleader.co.uk Above: Another 600 Squadron Blenheim, this time with the pre-war codes of MV, with only the starboard wing painted white. Fuselage, tailplane and starboard aileron have all been left as black. Below: Ever since the only currently flying Blenheim took to the air in its 23 Squadron early war scheme, historians have argued as to whether it too should be finished in the white/black scheme. This rare and recently discovered photo would suggest that the squadron did indeed apply the white paint to the starboard wing although again the forward engine cowling has been left black.
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DUXFORD EAGLES 2001
Nick Trudgian
‘Still colouring in’ Part Two Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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AVIATION ART
A much younger Nick with legendary German Ace Günther Rall who is sadly no longer with us, unlike Nick’s coat which is clearly still going strong!
Editor Mark Postlethwaite joined fellow professional aviation artist Nick Trudgian on an Oxford park bench to feed the ducks and reflect upon their 30 years of avoiding having to do a proper job. In this second part of the interview Nick reveals some of his trade secrets including how to transform a chimp in a frock into Emma Watson with a simple visit to Specsavers...
MP So here we are, in part two of our general ramble through life as an aviation artist. We ended part one just after you left the Military Gallery and became freelance once again. Do you still publish prints? NT Yes, we do. Just not as many. Since 2006 I have been working with a German publisher who had the foresight, an incredible 25 to 30 years ago, to collect many sheets of top quality art printing paper and then he asked many of the remaining Knight’s Crossawarded veterans to sign them. He also asked top army and submarine veterans too and he travelled far and wide to amass what is surely a unique collection of signed paper. All kept in bank vault conditions with security and climate-control, the sheets were waiting for an artist to become available, and I was! Another stroke of luck. I do one of these big German paintings per year and now the collection has Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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covered many aspects of Luftwaffe activity as well as U-Boats and tanks. It’s a privilege to have my artwork printed on such precious sheets of paper. For mostly non-German subjects I have co-produced many prints with British-based Vector Fine Art and in more recent years I have been painting US aviation subjects for Valor Studios. I used to get fed up with the long drive to go to Bath to sign prints for the Military Gallery, now I have to go to Denver! But they are really nice people and I usually get to see some American trains while I am there so I come home happy. There have been occasions where because of my deadlines on other projects I was in America for just 24 hours. Customs officials looked baffled when I told them how long I was staying, but at least I don’t get jet-lag doing that. My artwork nowadays is almost entirely commissions and much of it drawing. It’s
AVIATION ART
Right: Nick’s pencil remarques are regarded by many as the best in the business. The line work, contrast and control of perspective is exceptional, especially in such a confined space as a print border. This selection of recently remarqued prints also shows Nick’s flexibility when it comes to subject matter, the Dunkirk scene at the bottom would make a great painting in itself!
interesting to reflect how for 19 years in the Military Gallery I didn’t do any commissions at all. We designed paintings purely for print and if the originals found a buyer that was a bonus and I’d have iced buns for tea! Those days have gone. What we are left with is a hard core of collectors, genuine enthusiasts for art and aircraft. Most of them tend to buy fewer prints but, instead, they commission drawings and perhaps even an oil painting or two ( more iced buns ). That suits me because the logistics of print-selling are very demanding on space and time.
MP Talking of drawings, your remarques are in my opinion (and many others’) the best in the business. Is pencil work something you’ve always enjoyed, and how do you create the remarkable clarity in your drawings? Do you have any hints and tips for artists like me who generally struggle to even keep their pencils sharp?! NT That is really kind of you Mark. I have always loved pencil drawing and never tire of it. How do I keep pencils sharp? Well, not with pencil sharpeners, I find they shatter the ‘lead’. Instead I use a scalpel and then put a
really sharp point on the pencil by rubbing it against emery paper. I do that every couple of minutes. The once cream-coloured carpet under my desk is now dark grey. I love drawing because it’s so elemental … just graphite on paper. Without colour to help tell the story, lighting, contrast and composition are everything. I am very fond of black and white photography and old movies for the same reason. I adore oil painting with its boundless possibilities to realistically recreate bygone scenes and moods in full colour and yet drawing is the exact opposite, beautiful because of its simplicity. One of my many tin pot theories is that a colour painting should still work well if
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you drained all the colour out of it, relying solely on shades of grey. After all, light and shade describe form much more than colour does. Where my best drawings have inspired paintings I can apply the colour with confidence, knowing that the underlying structure of the scene is strong. People said my drawings suddenly got better about ten years ago. That’s when I started wearing glasses. Ruth told me to get my eyes checked after she saw me painting a semi-nude woman, (nose-art I hasten to add), on a P-38 Lightning. She said the woman looked like a chimp in a frock from Planet of the Apes. I thought she looked a lot like a girl I used to go out with in Cornwall. Anyway, as
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usual, Ruth was right and the glasses proved a godsend. The ‘chimp’ was repainted to look more like Emma Watson and I did’t get eyestrain anymore. In my first days with the old Military Gallery in the late 1980s, I heard them talking about ‘remarks’. I didn’t have a clue. ‘Remarques’, they told me, were original drawings added to the tint borders of a select few prints. They tended to be just slightly differing versions of the same aircraft; merely a quick sketch. They had to be brief because I was paid less than 10% of the retail price of the print to do them. Nowadays, when I only sell remarques direct to collectors, I have the opportunity to do them as proper little artworks in their
AVIATION ART
Left: Nick’s art now is mostly commissions with much of it in the form of pencil drawings such as this one depicting the famous encounter between Franz Stiegler and the crew of B-17 ‘Ye Olde Pub’.
appears, (not a very efficient way of painting I must admit!), whereas you use oils so you must have a clear idea of what you’re doing before you start?
own right, drawn entirely to the wishes of the collector. Some of the old remarques from my early years come back to me to be upgraded and collectors are increasingly buying those on the secondary market and asking me to add further remarques to them. Multiple remarques on one print used to be rare but doubles are now common and recently I added seven to one print. It makes rolling the print up for shipping a nerve-wracking business. In paintings I like to see brush strokes and, similarly, in drawings I build up hundreds of
parallel lines rather than ‘shading’ flat greys in the more usual way. I work like a surgeon with only the space for the drawing exposed and everything else carefully covered up. Good paper is as important as my lovely German Staedtler pencils and fortunately the paper that we use for the colour prints suits my style perfectly, making remarques a pleasure. The clay-coated surface is perfect for my technique and it also allows me to use scalpel blades to gently scratch highlights into the surface of the drawings, a bit like scraper board. Sometimes I don’t get a choice of paper.
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I once had to draw on a sheet signed my Richthofen and the surface was like breakfast cereal. Other paper can be like shiny bathroom tiles, almost useless. It’s extra stressful if the paper belongs to a collector and worth a fortune. I keep my coffee well away from the table on those days.
MP And back to the paintings, can you talk us through how you’d approach a typical painting? As I paint in acrylic, I tend to just throw paint onto the canvas and keep overpainting it until something reasonable 22
NT I call it ‘slapping the paint on’ rather than ‘throwing it’ but I’ll have to try your method, it might be faster. I paint in what most people think is a back-to-front way. I do the planes first and then paint the backgrounds around them. Mad, you might say, and you’re probably right but I am too old to change now. With an aviation picture I usually start with the national insignia..RAF roundel, German cross etc. Then I work out from that. That is not at all the classical way of painting where, like you Mark, an artist usually starts by roughing in the background and then gradually pulls everything into sharper focus with successive layers of paint. I paint in a very deliberate way because of my experience as a commercial artist painting in gouache. That thick, water-based paint is ideal for tight deadlines because it dries so quickly. There wasn’t time to build up layers of paint, instead, usually one layer was applied and it had to be right first go. I once started a commercial illustration at 5 a.m. after working all the way through the night on other projects. The painting was finished by 8 a.m.
AVIATION ART
SPITFIRE COUNTRY 2001 “It’s good to have some secondary interest in a picture and what better than a Messerschmitt, lying bent in the corner of an English field? The Spitfires could have been from any squadron but at the last minute they became Basil Stapleton’s 603 Squadron so that the painting could be used as the cover on his biography by David Ross. No doubt because it contained all the imagery we associate with that
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Battle this was one of my best selling prints. As a result of this print the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight asked me for advice as to who they should paint their MkII in Basil’s colours. Of course, I referred them to the real expert, David, who had helped me in the first place!”
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MOSQUITOS AT DUSK
AVIATION ART
Left: Mosquitos of No.464 Squadron RAAF disturb the timeless tranquility of an English coastal village as they head out towards the Continent on another low-level mission.
MP When I start a painting I usually load eleven different colours on my pallette, which usually means I’m ready for a tea before I even apply any of it to canvas! What does your pallette look like?
picked up by motorbike courier and the image was ‘on press’ in a London print works before lunch. We were paid for speed as much as quality. I couldn’t cope with that stress now. Interestingly, that illustration, which was for a General Motors advertisement, paid twice as much for just three hours’ work as I’d earn for the 5 weeks it took back then for one of my 3ft wide oil paintings of planes or trains! Despite the relatively poor earnings from oil painting it was still my dream and I pursued it alongside the commercial work.
MP Didn’t you once tell me about some of the difficult people you painted trains for?
NT Oh yes, there was one man who commissioned me to paint a big oil painting for £650 that took me six weeks, but when it was finished he told me he wanted to have it for nothing! He liked it and wanted to make prints from it, but he wouldn’t pay me even a penny because, instead, I would have ‘good publicity’. He told me it was a life-lesson and I should thank him... I sold the painting to someone else. Then there was another man who told me he really didn’t like the painting I had done for him and wasn’t willing to pay for it. He didn’t even want me to modify it, which pleased me because it was, honestly, the most successful picture I had painted up to that time.
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So, instead, I exhibited the painting at a railway art show where a lovely couple asked to buy it. Out of a misguided sense of professionalism I let the first man know what I intended to do and then, lo and behold, he blew his top and insisted he have the painting after all. The happy outcome was that the nice couple commissioned me each year to paint a different railway scene … anything I wanted! They actually weren’t railway enthusiasts at all, they just liked art and artists. There’s the life-lesson. To all who dream of becoming an artist, it can be a bumpy road, but be true to yourself and so long as you stick at it, the good times will come. You just need a thick skin sometimes.
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Well, again I am very weird. My landscape and sky backgrounds are painted with just three colours … lemon yellow, rose pink and blue, with white paint to make colours paler. No matter whether I am painting a hot desert or freezing winter, moonlight or sunsets, those three colours allow me to mix up any tone and hue I wish. Being ‘cool’ colours they automatically create naturally distant hues and with such a limited palette it’s impossible to mix a colour that’s out of place. I haven’t owned a tube of green or purple for 30 years, it’s much more interesting to mix them up. The exception to my rule is when I paint the main subject of the painting, usually the nearest aeroplane. Then I do use brighter, warmer colours … flame red, bright orange and yellow and very dark brown, and they create a wonderful 3D effect. The main subject seems to leap out of the scene because of its livelier warmth and contrast.
DEFENDERS OF BASTOGNE 2013
AVIATION ART
”Hurriedly sent by General Eisenhower to defend the town ‘at all costs’ the 101st Airborne Division put up a valiant defence despite being greatly outnumbered. This is one of the prints I have done for Valor Studios in Denver. My good friend Andy Keenan built all the models for me and they probably took just as long as
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the painting took to paint, but I really enjoyed this one. It’s always a great pleasure to meet the veterans and for this print I did a signing in Philadelphia with Edward “Babe” Heffron, one of the 101st’s famous “Band of Brothers”. Sadly, he died just a short time afterwards.”
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AVIATION ART
Left: WINTER PATROL 1993 “Being an early one, the prints were graced with some fabulous German signatures and today are hard to find. In research for this painting I discovered that the Caucasus Mountains are even higher than the Alps so here we have Dieter Hrabak’s JG52 looking for trouble among the high peaks in late 1942.”
MP The Aviation Art market has changed beyond all recognition now with WWII veterans no longer available to sign prints, how do you see the business nowadays?
MP How does being an independent aviation artist in 2019 compare with being part of the world conquering Military Gallery business back in the 1990s? NT The thing that baffled me when I first worked full time in aviation art was the desire by the Military Gallery to keep us artists away from the people who bought the art. It’s true that we attended occasional air shows, even gallery tours of the US and Canada, but not very often. There seemed to be a belief that an artist should be in an ivory tower, surrounded by mystery. Even those people that bought original oil paintings were, it seemed, kept at
a distance. I can sort of see why the publishers did it. Perhaps I’m mangling that old saying, “It’s better that people think you might be an idiot than open your mouth and prove it”. Maybe publishers thought it best that collectors thought we were something special rather than meeting us and finding out how normal we were. I bent the ‘house rules’ by replying in person to those people who were kind enough to write in with compliments, and criticisms. The very first collector I replied to was Nick Maue who subsequently became a close friend and has helped me with research on every single project, right up to today. I shudder to think how many errors I would
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have made had I not bothered to reply to his letter all those years ago. Today, with the market smaller and collectors more particular about what they want, it’s essential that artists have direct contact with them, and also the dealers and gallery owners kind enough to stock our artwork and prints. Let’s face it, nobody actually needs art in the same was as they need clothes or food, but by having artists who are accessible it creates a world-wide community of like-minded aviation art enthusiasts, furthering what is still for many people a rewarding hobby and a welcome distraction from everyday life.
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NT Of all aviation artists it’s very appropriate that I am having this chat with you Mark. We have known each other for so long, have much in common and yet our experiences of the industry have almost been polar opposites. You have, through a lot of hard work, independently built a fabulous reputation on very solid ground that nobody can shake. I on the other hand, put my career in the hands of a big publisher, gambling that with their energetic promotion I would make enough of a name for myself before the wind changed. Having taken different paths we find ourselves today in similar circumstances with a print market that is no longer the driving force of our industry. The publishers I now work with have an enlightened attitude to artists. That mutual respect and a dash of humility from me are essential because these days the quality of a print matters much more than the name of the artist who painted it. The relatively few but very well known artists of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s enjoyed a degree of notoriety that we are unlikely to
AVIATION ART
TANGMERE HURRICANES 1994 ”For those who like all forms of vintage transport there’s an MG sports car, bus and train in this one. It was later used for a jigsaw puzzle and all those details proved popular. This is supposed to be rural Sussex although the station is actually based on one in east Devon with architecture, paint colours and
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train modified to be accurate. The station name boards have been painted black to prevent spies knowing where they were. Could they be that dim? The Hurricanes are from No.601, the ‘Millionaires’ Squadron.”
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AVIATION ART
Left: ALPINE THUNDER 2002. Having retreated into the Austrian mountains and now flying from their base at Salzburg, Me262s of Adolf Galland’s JV44 scorch over an alpine lake in April 1945. The nearest aircraft is the unique Me262 flown by Oberstleutnant Heinz Bar, armed with a 30mm cannon in the nose. A P47 Thunderbolt shot down on this sortie brought Bar’s final total to 16, making him the most successful of the Luftwaffe jet pilots. “The strange thing about this painting was that I really didn’t like it at all while I was doing it. Oil paintings sometimes control me as much as I control them and this one led me down its own peculiar path. Now, looking back, it’s one of my favourites.”
be utterly breathtaking in its ability to create superb imagery.
MP How do you think we old timers fit into this new market place with young artists and new techniques like digital art coming on stream? Is it a threat to traditional painting.
see again. As with the music industry back in the 1960s, just a small handful of publishers dominated the market and chose who got promoted and who didn’t. In the painting world there were many artists with very great ability who didn’t accept, or weren’t accepted by, what now seems an archaic regime. I remind myself how lucky I was to be taken on as the ‘second artist’ by the all-powerful Military Gallery in the latter part of that phenomenon. I received nearly 20 years of promotion, following in the wake of Robert
NT If I were starting from scratch today I would do aviation art part-time, at least at first. I would find a way of earning a living with a pension scheme, ( sore point ), and then paint just what I wanted to paint in my own time. The best art usually comes that way. Then I’d get a website and make digital prints. Perhaps for some, digital painting would be more exciting than working with actual paint. The only down side with that is that collectors still love having actual artwork on their wall. But there’s no denying that digital painting can
Taylor, another very lucky person. We were part of a ‘print making machine’ and I believe we were both content to concentrate on the art while other people handled the logistics and our publicity. Despite that wonderful legup, here in 2019 I cannot rest on my laurels. I have to be as much on top of my game as I ever was.
MP And do you have any advice for ‘up and coming’ artists ( I remember we were called that 30 years ago… now we’re more down and out! )
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NT The biggest threat to representational painters like us was the invention of photography in the early 19th century and yet here we are getting on for 200 years later and people still want pencil and paint, or prints of those things, on their walls. I am a bit worried because my ‘party piece’ is dramatic and transient lighting. That’s tricky to do in paint, literally taking a lifetime to try to master it, but now there is software that can render images of virtually any lighting conditions you wish. Soon, it’ll be at the press of a button. But, you still need the traditional skills of the artist in order to create the whole composition, to capture a moment in time and give the viewer more than just the sum of its parts.
AVIATION ART
BREACHING THE DAM 1996 ”As far as I am aware I was the first artist to paint the Mohne Dam’s attack from the perspective of a German. In research for this painting, a gunner, who was up on one of the dam’s towers that night, said how the moon was so bright that if the Lancasters hadn’t been shooting at him he wouldn’t have
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known where to shoot back. A year after I painted this I visited the actual spot. Having spent so long painting the scene I had the strongest sense of deja vu I have ever experienced. The road surface and the capping stones of the parapet have all been changed since the night of the raid.”
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AVIATION ART
Left: PEIPER’S LAST ADVANCE 2012 “The Battle of the Bulge, one of my favourite themes, and this time from the German point of view with ‘King Tigers’ and ‘Panthers’ of Joachim Peiper’s armoured spearhead, deep in the snowblanketed and difficult terrain of the Ardennes at Christmas 1944. Of course, it came to a grinding halt as the fuel and ammunition ran out but it showed that the Germans would not give up easily. I like painting snow and went to town on this one. My studio is freezing in winter and too hot in summer so I contrive to paint snow scenes in August and tropical scenes in winter…it’s a lot cheaper than having air-conditioning or heaters!”
Also, and it may just be me being weird again, even with some of the best CGI special effects in movies I feel a little hollow and unconvinced. Take the 1960s children’s TV show ‘Thunderbirds’ with its puppets and flying machines dangling on strings. We were obliged to complete the picture in our minds, ignoring the strings and the firework pyrotechnics and yet somehow the end result was more real. But, having said all of that, it is wonderful to be able to create exciting imagery on a computer and it’ll only get more exciting. Whatever approach an artist takes the
NT Yes, the ducks have done well today. They clearly like iced buns too.
future will also require business and selfpromotional skills. They don’t come easy to many artists, myself included. But it’s an exciting time when the internet, social media and digital printing mean that artists can run a publishing business from home.
Ambitions? I’d like to paint more of the rarer aircraft types. I am hoping to do a Henschel 129 this coming year and some more WWI subjects. Generally though, my ambition is to get better at painting and drawing rather than worse. There is a tendency among some creative people to live off past glories, to expect people to buy their stuff even though it’s no longer what it once was. How often do we go to concerts and wish the band would
MP Well, having fed every duck in the immediate vicinity, it’s probably time we headed back to our respective pensionless homes to work until we die. On that cheery note, do you have any unfulfilled ambitions in aviation art?
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play the hits from their glory days instead of the stuff off their new album? Ruth and I have an agreement that if I get like that she should whack me on the head with a shovel. Worryingly, she spends a lot more time in the tool shed than she used to. I have never tired of the exhilarating feeling of starting a new painting and there are still so many aviation subjects to paint. And I want to paint other things too. I really like tanks and ships and there are quite a few trains I’d like to paint. It’s endless. And, without that pension, what choice have I got? To end with a cliche, my best picture is the one in my head, usually the next picture, which somehow never quite turns out as well as I’d wish. And that’s what keeps me going. Plus, ‘colouring in’ is still great fun. It’s not like having a proper job is it, so, on a nice day like this, we get to meet up and feed the ducks. Now what about that beer you mentioned…
To contact Nick please visit his website www.nicolastrudgian.com
Photo Archive: Halifax BB324 Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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PHOTO ARCHIVE
In late spring 1943, Handley Page Halifax BB324 ZA-X of 10 Squadron took part in an air to air photo session whilst on a routine air-test. The subsequent photos appeared in dozens of post-war publications but rarely in the pin-sharp detail seen here. The photographer clearly had a very steady hand!
T
he development of the Handley Page Halifax bomber from prototype to MkVII is a long and complicated story, a constant process of refinement that transformed an underpowered, draggy and quite dangerous aircraft into a bomber that was eventually better than the Lancaster in many ways. BB324 is an example taken from the early part of that process when the RAF found that the constant adding of equipment and armament (in the MkII) had reduced the aircraft’s performance to dangerous levels. The temporary solution was the B II Series I (Special) where squadrons removed both the mid-upper turret and the nose turret as well as a few other ‘lumps and bumps’. BB324 is one of these unit modified MkIIs and over the next few pages we’ll point out the transformations required to make it a B II Series I (Special).
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A
B
This lightened view of the undersides of BB324 shows the usual skin rippling to good effect. If you compare it with the inset photo of W1245, a standard B II, you can see some of the differences that were applied to the Series I (Special) including the removal of the fuel jettison pipes under the wings (A), the streamlining of the nose by removing the nose turret and observation blister (B) and the removal of the mid-upper turret (C).
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PHOTO ARCHIVE
C
PHOTO ARCHIVE
This view nicely captures the sleeker lines of the B II Series I (Special). Note how the mid-upper has been removed at squadron level and patched over. There are still plenty of ‘lumps and bumps’ which would be removed in later versions such as the four fuel tank breather pipes on top of the wings, the fixed landing light, the fixed tail-wheel, the aerial mast and of course the nose which would eventually be redesigned into a smooth perspex dome with provision for a machine gun to be mounted in it. (Inset shows a MkV with the redesigned nose and missing aerial and fuel tank vents.)
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D
PHOTO ARCHIVE
This close-up of the photo on the previous page shows some glorious detail including; A: The whip aerial for the GEE navigation system. B: The ‘towel rail’ aerial for the Lorenz blind landing system. C: The ‘Wings for Victory’ nose art showing a bulldog wearing a sailor’s hat. D: The fuel tank breather pipes. E 70/30 chalked on all engine cowlings, possibly a reference to coolant mixture. F: The trailing aerial fairlead.
D
C D
E
B
F
A
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PHOTO ARCHIVE
In terms of colours and markings, BB324 was finished in the standard RAF bomber scheme of dark green and dark earth uppersurfaces, with night undersurfaces. Codes and the serial number at this stage of the war were dull red.
This view against the light shows the wing mounted fuel tank breather pipes to good effect. The other ‘lumps’ attached to the ailerons are mass balances. These devices help move the centre of gravity of the aileron to the point where it hinges with the wing. This balances the aileron and helps avoid uncontrolled flutter when the wing flexes.
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PHOTO ARCHIVE
Of course, the Halifax only really came into its own wth the installation of more powerful Bristol Hercules radial engines with the MkIII pictured left. The streamlining carried out with the Mk II variants and the redesign and enlargement of the tail fins (to solve a deadly aerodynamic problem), all contributed to make the later marks of Halifax equal and even superior to the Lancaster in many ways.
PHOTO ARCHIVE Above: Being lightly loaded for an air test, BB324’s pilot has a bit of fun by shutting down both starboard engines and feathering the propellers. ‘Feathering’ means turning the blades sideways into the airflow so that the slipstream doesn’t turn them. A final view of BB324 as she breaks away from the camera aircraft with all four engines running again. The Halifax’s slim but deep fuselage is very apparent in this view. This spacious fuselage resulted in a much higher percentage of Halifax crews making successful parachute escapes from their aircraft when compared to Lancaster crews.
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THE FACT AND FICTION BEHIND THE VERY BRITISH APPROACH TO MACH 1 Don’t miss the next edition - subscribe for FREE at www.wingleadermagazine.co.uk
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PHOTO ARCHIVE
SOUND BARRIER
PHOTO POST-WAR ARCHIVE
On 6th September 1948 John Derry became the first British pilot to break the sound barrier, an event subsequently made into a classic British film directed by David Lean. Here we separate the facts from the fiction from this landmark in British aviation.
Sound Barrier - Fact For de Havilland test pilot John Derry there was nothing special about Monday 6 September 1948. The plan was for him to make dives in DH108 VW120 to take pressure plotting photographs with trim flaps up and down at various Mach numbers. It was the sort of job he had been doing since February, but before his main task Derry intended to get further film records at Mach 0.96 to match up with those from a similar flight he had made on 26 August to learn more about the nosedown pitching and how best to control it. The weather was ideal - cloudless and warm. His first sortie of the day was a 10-minute check flight in the Ghost-powered Vampire (TG278) followed by a trip to Farnborough in another Vampire (VV219), which he would be demonstrating at the SBAC display the next day, the first time the show was held at the Hampshire airfield. Left: John Derry flew Typhoons with 182 Squadron at the end of the war and joined De Havilland as a test pilot in 1942. His composure under great pressure is evidenced by his account of his barely controlled supersonic record flight. He lost his life on 6 September 1952 when his DH110 broke up in the air at the Farnborough Air Show.
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the aircraft into a 30° dive to reach higher Mach numbers. As the speed built up, the familiar noseheaviness started at Mach 0.91, easing off at 0.93 when a wallowing motion set in, followed by an up and down pitching at 0.94 that was hard to handle, but similar to experiences on earlier flights. Nothing unusual or worrying at this stage. At 0.95 came the sudden curious steadying, at which point Derry opened up the Goblin to 10,750rpm - but, oddly, the extra thrust did not result in higher Mach readings
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and there was a strong feeling of very high drag, which meant a gradual push forward on the stick to stop the Mach number falling. This gave a small but sudden nose-down pitch and the aircraft felt unstable. Then came a rapid succession of dramatic events, which Derry was able to recall in exact detail in spite of heightened tension as he and the 108 dived into completely uncharted territory. With a little more elevon movement to steepen the dive, VW120 went into an
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Below: VW120 in the form that it broke the sound barrier. All three DH108s were continuously modified and shared components such as undercarriage legs with other de Havilland aircraft such as the Vampire.
POST-WAR
Meanwhile VW120 was waiting for him, having been left with the favoured forward CG at 0.177. At 10am, wearing a pressure waistcoat and oxygen mask as on the previous high Mach number dive, he took off from Hatfield and was soon high over the WindsorFarnborough area in a beautifully clear sky. On levelling off at 45,000ft, he could see the ground clearly. Opening the throttle he reached Mach 0.85 in level flight, but then the usual problem of escalating jet pipe temperatures took over and he had to put
POST-WAR
immediate violent and unstable nose-down pitch, pulling -2g, although recovery at this point was easy. It did not stay that way. Another careful push forward on the stick sent the aircraft into a much fiercer and very fast nose-down pitch that was completely unstable and, in just over one second, the 108 tipped over the vertical and into the first stages of a bunt, with a very uncomfortable force of -3g. As he rode the equivalent of an aerial bucking bronco that was at the very edge of control in a screaming dive, Derry still had his mind on taking film shots of the instruments at critical points and pulled back on the stick in the hope of getting a shot before full recovery from the dive. As he came back through the vertical, the Mach number rose to 0.97 and continued rising while the dive was between 60 and 80°. Then all control was lost. Derry pulled back desperately on the control column with both hands. It was useless. The machine plummeted in a vertical dive and at this point he saw the Machmeter needle go past the magic ‘1’ and knew he was flying faster than sound - but he couldn’t pull out. He slammed the throttle shut, expecting the aircraft to slow down. It made no difference; the Machmeter stayed resolutely on the stops at 1.04. Still he was pulling back with all his strength on the stick, gritting his teeth, bracing his feet against the rudder pedals. Nothing. Height was being lost at an alarming rate. The
Left: de Havilland test pilot and first Briton through the ‘sound barrier’ John Derry looks out from the small window of the strengthened canopy at the camera of legendary photographer Charles Brown.
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The drama seemed to be over - but just as VW120 was level a savage undamped oscillation set in, pummelling an already shaken Derry even further. He immediately returned the trim flaps to neutral and everything calmed down. The aircraft was flying straight and level at 23,500ft. Derry then climbed to 29,000ft and cruised back to Hatfield, in his mind going through the extraordinary gyrations of the long dive, which itself had taken only about one minute, and wondering whether the Machmeter was accurate when it touched unity. Once it was checked and corrections for error were made, he would know whether he was indeed the first British pilot to go supersonic. One very positive characteristic he noticed
throughout the dive was that there was no buffeting, which was in sharp and pleasant contrast to conventional designs at transonic speeds. At Mach numbers between 0.98 and 1.0 the machine was extremely stable, in spite of large amounts of negative g. And even when beyond control in a vertical dive, it was still ‘rock steady.’ Three-quarters of an hour after take-off he touched down at Hatfield and taxied back towards the hangar, leaving the little aircraft in the hands of the waiting ground crew. He said nothing to them about the dive, as it would have been such an anti-climax if the Machmeter turned out to be in error. He wanted the result to be official before saying anything to anyone.
The Machmeter was examined by instrument test engineer K.G.Rendle and the corrected reading was Mach 1.02: Derry had done it - Britain had become the second nation officially to join the supersonic club. Extract from ‘A Very British Sound Barrier’ by Brian Rivas.
ndham-Bailey
profile by Chris Sa
An unusual guise for VW120 are the colours worn for the SBAC Challenge Trophy Race at Elmdon Airport, Birmingham, on August Bank Holiday 1949. At this stage in its career VW120 sports the triangular red ejection seat warning under the cockpit, and the fin flash is now red, white and blue instead of just red and blue.
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POST-WAR
ground was less than a minute away. It was a desperate situation. ‘Little time was wasted when once it was realised that the elevons were immovable,’ he wrote afterwards. There was only one thing left to try; the trim flaps. It was these that saved the day. Applying full up-flap, the aircraft gradually began to pull out, with very little g, but also losing very little speed. At Mach 0.98 the pull-out increased and the elevons began to have some effect. Derry knew that the trim flaps might become too effective in the denser air at lower altitude and would suddenly bite, which could stress the airframe beyond its structural limits as the pull-out became too violent, so he trimmed back to about four degrees.
POST-WAR
THE DH 108 The DH108 was a purely experimental project conceived to evaluate properties of tailless aircraft, which in 1944 were considered to be the future of advanced aircraft design. Flight characteristics and knowledge were initially to be incorporated into the proposed tailless DH106 ‘Comet’ airliner – but fortunately those plans were dropped in favour of a conventional tail layout. The DH108 program continued to provide data on swept and tailless aircraft at all speeds. Just three examples were built, this is what happened to them:
TIMELINE 15 May 1946 – TG283’s maiden flight at Woodbridge. 23 August 1946 – TG306’s maiden flight at Woodbridge. 27 September 1946 – TG306 broke up in the air over the Thames Estuary at Mach 0.9, killing Geoffrey de Havilland. 24 July 1947 – VW120’s maiden flight. 14 October 1947 – ‘Chuck’ Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the USA with the Bell X-1. 12 April 1948 – VW120 broke the 100 km closed circuit record with 605.23 mph. 6 September 1948 – VW120 broke the sound barrier in a dive. 15 February 1950 – VW120 crashed at Brickhill, Buckinghamshire, killing RAF test pilot Squadron Leader Muller-Rowland. 1 May 1950 – TG283 crashed at Hartley-Wintney, Hampshire, killing RAF test pilot Squadron Leader George Genders.
Geoffrey de Havilland brings TG/283 alongside the camera plane. First of the three DH108s, TG/283 was never intended for highspeed flight as its purpose was to explore the properties of swept wings at slow speed. The devices at the wing-tips contain anti-spin parachutes that could be deployed if the aircraft was unable to recover normally.
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Based on a Vampire nose and cockpit, this aircraft was limited to just 280 mph and was used to test low speed handling characteristics with a wing-sweep of 43°.
Above: Seconds before she takes to the air, TG/283 gathers speed with Geoffrey De Havilland at the controls.
Above: TG/283 made a brief return to Woodbridge on 19 July 1946 after the fitting of full-span leading edge slots. These devices remained on it for the rest of its days.
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The DH108 made its maiden flight on 15 May 1946 from Woodbridge, Suffolk, after the aircraft had been transported from Hatfield by road. Below: Watched by senior de Havilland staff and directors, TG/283 is fuelled for its maiden flight. The anti-spin ‘chute on the wing is clear and the early canopy.
POST-WAR
TG283
POST-WAR
As test and development aircraft the DH108s were being continuously modified. Here TG/283’s wing is covered in long wool tufts and shorter ones are fixed to the elevons and trim flaps. Their purpose is to allow photographs to be taken of the air-flow and show how the fences and slats affect it. The wing has been sprayed black to make the tufts more visible.
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POST-WAR TG/283, the first and longest-lived of the DH108s, crashed on 1st May 1950 during a flight from Farnborough. The purpose of the flight was to further explore its stalling properties, but it turned over into an inverted spin. The pilot, Eric ‘Jumbo’ Genders (above), operated the anti-spin parachutes, but only one deployed and it crashed at Hartley Wintney, a few miles from Farnborough.
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POST-WAR
TG306 Designed as the high-speed version, this had a 45° wing-sweep, leading edge slats and a more streamlined nose. The cockpit canopy was made smaller, had a stronger metalframed canopy and the pilot’s seat was lowered in the fuselage.
Background photo: TG306 was the second DH108 and its purpose was to explore the boundaries of highspeed flight approaching the sound barrier. Geoffrey gives de Havilland personnel a moment to remember with this fast and low flypast over the Hatfield in TG306. Right: Tuesday afternoon, 24 September 1946, TG306 is cleared for flying with its new gloss grey finish. Geoffrey de Havilland prepares for a high Mach number test.
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POST-WAR Above: Geoffrey de Havilland (Jnr), one of the most iconic pilots in British aviation history and the son of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, founder of the aircraft company that bore their name.
At Hatfield TG306 has been ‘cleaned up’ ready for high speed tests in preparation for an attack on the world air speed record. The anti-spin parachute nacelles have been removed from the wingtips, the cockpit framing has been strengthened and the aircraft sprayed light gloss grey. TG306 made just 19 flights between 23rd August and 27th September 1946 and all the flights were made by Geoffrey de Havilland. The nation was shocked to hear that the legendary pilot had been killed when TG306 broke up over the Thames Estuary. The largest single part found was its Goblin engine.
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POST-WAR
VW120 Took the ideas incorporated into TG306 a stage further and was even more streamlined. With a newer more powerful version of the Goblin engine it was predicted that VW120 should exceed the speed of sound and lessons learned from the accident to TG306 should prevent it breaking up.
Below: ‘Air Racing’ was very popular in the post-war years. On 1st August 1949 the SBAC Challenge Trophy Race took place at Elmdon Airport, Birmingham. John Derry should have easily won, but an undercarriage door failed to close and the drag slowed VW120 so it finished behind the Hawker P1040 and a Vampire, flown by John Cunningham. A few days later, on 18 August 1949, John Derry demonstrated the aircraft to the young air-minded King Bhumibol of Thailand (inset).
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Below: De Havilland test pilot John Cunningham prepares for the maiden flight in the third DH108 VW120. Like the short lived TG306 this was prepared for highspeed flight. Cunningham took over the DH108 test programme, part of which to explore the very conditions that caused the death of Geoffrey de Havilland.
VW120 was eventually handed over to the RAE Farnborough, where testing continued with RAF pilots. On 15 February 1950 VW120 crashed at Brickhill, Buckinghamshire, killing Squadron Leader Stuart Muller-Rowland. The aircraft broke up in the air and wreckage was spread over four-and-a-half miles and the cause was never established beyond doubt.
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Sound Barrier - The Fiction The film ‘The Sound Barrier’ – directed by David Lean, with screenplay written by Terence Rattigan, was released on 25th July 1952. Although released nearly four years after John Derry first broke the ‘Sound Barrier’ in the UK, the film is very much a fictional account of the story. Nigel Patrick stars as Tony Garthwaite, test pilot for the Ridgefield Aircraft Company. The aircraft flown by ‘Tony Garthwaite’ named ‘Prometheus’ is VV119 the Supermarine 535 - prototype of the
Swift. In pushing towards the ‘Sound Barrier’ Garthwaite gets into an uncontrollable dive and crashes. Fellow test pilot ‘Philip Peel’ played by John Austin continues the testing and also gets into dive and cannot pull-out. He then remembers a similar incident when flying a Spitfire and decides to push the stick forwards, whereupon it is revealed that an aircraft’s controls are reversed at the speed of sound and all is well !
X-1 had broken the sound barrier in October 1947, the film was taken by cinema-goers as a factual account. There are some elements in the film that are based on fact and David Lean did interview some of the aircraft designers of the time. Geoffrey de Havilland’s crash is mentioned, as are the vibrations and oscillations that were encountered above Mach 0.8. Aircraft getting into uncontrollable dives is also true, a phenomenon called ‘Mach Tuck’ where airflow over the wings no longer produces the same lift above Mach 0.8.
In the UK in particular, where few members of the public knew that Yeager and the Bell
What is complete fiction is the miraculous ‘reversing of the controls’ at Mach 1. This was also accepted as ‘fact’ by many of the British public, but was simply a ‘tool’ used by David Lean to exemplify British ‘pluck’ and avoid a lot of highbrow aerodynamic gobbledygook!
For the full dramatic story of British aviation’s journey through the sound barrier read Brian Rivas’s excellent book ‘A Very British Sound Barrier’ published by Red Kite and available from;
‘Star’ of The Sound Barrier film, the Supermarine 535 VV119, which was called the Ridgefield Aircraft Company’s ‘Prometheus’. VV119 was a one-off experimental development aircraft progressing from the design of Attacker towards the Swift.
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LOOK OUT FOR ISSUE TWO
AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FREE FROM 10TH FEBRUARY 2019 The Amiens Raid 75th Anniversary - What really happened that day.
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