I’m currently working on an aircraft that is more impressive than it looks : the Bristol Brigand. Designed as a replacement for the Beaufighter, some 174 were built as anti-shipping, ground attack or dive bomber aircraft and served from 1946 to 1955. Despite its size and maximum take-off weight of 39,000 lbs, it could reach…Continue reading Work in Progress – Bristol Brigand
It was with great sadness that I learned that Roy Grinnell passed away yesterday. Roy was an extraordinary aviation artist, but also much more than that. He was also very interested in American history and created many paintings related to Native Americans, the Civil War and other chapters of the United States’ history, as well…Continue reading In memory of Roy Grinnell
I recently had the privilege and pleasure to work on the various decorations sported by the Gee Bee QED (or R-6H) during the course of its largely unsuccessful racing career. Here is a timeline of these decorations, showing their evolution :
I haven’t been posting much recently as I’ve been very busy with work. The latest work in progress is the Socata TB-30 Epsilon, a French light military trainer that first flew on 22 December 1979 and entered service in the French air force in 1983. It also served with the Portuguese, Togolese and Senegalese air…Continue reading Work in progress : TB-30 Epsilon
After watching some Imperial War Museum footage showing the Free French pilots of No 340 Squadron, I noticed a mistake in one of my earlier profiles, and decided to correct it. This is the original profile, depicting Spitfire Mk Vb BM324, which was flown by Wg Cdr Bernard Dupérier at the time of Operation Rutter…Continue reading Spitfire stripes – a few words on Operation Rutter and the Dieppe landings
For over a decade, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dimitris Vassilopoulos of Greeks in Foreign Cockpits, a Greek “amateur” historian whose research into the lives and careers of Greek airmen, and airmen of Greek origins, in foreign air arms has yielded more than professional results. Dimitris has been able to uncover stories, photos…Continue reading “Hell’s Belle” – and a new partnership
The Irish Historic Flight operates three DHC-1 Chipmunks, including “169”, a Chipmunk T.10 which originally served in the Royal Air Force as WD305 until 1962. More information on 169, and the other aircraft operated by the Irish Historic Flight can be found on their website.
I’ve been working on the classic Chipmunk – a personal favourite that has proven trickier to do than I thought ! The template is about 95% done, but there are still some details to be added. Stay tuned for more !
Seventy-five years ago to this day, on 4 July 1944, Lt William Crawford Moseley was reported missing in action over the Bonin Islands.
I’m currently working on a new template: the Grumman F6F Hellcat, one of the greatest fighters of World War II. The first profiles will be of the F6F-3 and the F6F-3P variants, followed by the F6F-5.