WWI Aviation books cover art

[Thomas Trauner]

Yes, that´s what I mean. I agree, he may have used another plane in this case....
But, as I said already, the Series is great. And living pictures...

Thomas

[Jos]

Hello Thomas,

I agree. The covers are really great.

Here are more covers from Keith Woodcock.








Jos

[Gregvan]

Hello Jos and Thomas,

Actually, in the 'old days' Jansky's Phönix D.I of Flik 60J was believed far and wide to be Linke-Crawford's aircraft - simply because it was seen in the background of the well-known photo of Linke. This was long before the pioneering work of dedicated researchers like my friend the late Dr. Marty O'Connor and others such as Karl Meindl and Peter Schiemer (as well as others) vastly improved our knowledge of Austro-Hungarian unit and personal markings.

Because Jansky's machine appeared in the background of Linke-Crawford's photo, there were actually people who claimed the marking was a 'backwards C' that stood for Crawford - and it must be his plane!! In the old Profile Publication No. 175, "The Phönix Scouts" (published in 1967!) that particular photo was captioned: "Oblt. Frank Linke-Crawford, C.O. of Flik 60J. In the background can be seen the Phönix D.I he was reputed to have been flying when he was shot down on 31st July 1918." Furthermore, the color profile section contained a nice color profile of Jansky's D.I, with the emblem marked on a bright red band, labeled: "Phönix D.I flown by Oblt. Frank Linke-Crawford, C.O. of Flik 60J, July 1918."

Jon Guttman did an article (his very first) for C & C G.B. entitled "The Controversial Markings of Frank Linke-Crawford" in which he discussed this aircraft and cast doubts on its identification. Since then, the real pilot has become identified. Furthermore, according to Marty O'Connor, the marking of Flik 60J was a black band, not red - it was Flik 14J that used red bands.

I am pretty certain that Christopher Chant - the author of Osprey's "Austro-Hungarian Aces" book - and/or Keith Woodcock, were taken in by the old Profile rendering of this aircraft as Linke-Crawford's. The beautiful painting by Woodcock copies the depiction in the old Profile in every way. All of the interior color profiles in the Osprey volume were based closely (almost too closely for comfort) on the profiles in Marty O'Connor's wonderful book - thus the cover Phönix D.I is not depicted in the color profile section, and even the photo caption on page 62 identifies the plane correctly!

Greg

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Bonjour mes amis!

The debate continues in respect of the marking of Flik 60J ... though perhaps a topic for an independent thread. In the recently published K.u.K Luftfahrtruppe Photo Album 1914-18 by Petr Aharon Tesař the case is made to conclude that the bands 'round the fuselage of the Phönix D.Is of Flik 60J were ... red! The argument presented is rather compelling if not absolutely convincing ...

Whatever opinion one believes correct the volume is an excellent collection of photographs and artwork depicting Austro-Hungarian airmen and types ... the back cover does include examples of art so ... to keep a tenuous hold to this particular thread ...



The profile artwork of Albatros D.III (Oeffag) 53.50 and Hansa Brandenburg C.I 369.52 are by Zdeněk Macháček ... there are several more of excellent quality inside the volume!

Salut!
Kirk

[Thomas Trauner]

Thank you Greg !
That was my fear - that the picture was based on old interpretations of this well-known photo.

And I fear that I agree, that this “J” is somehow easily mistaken for Linke-Crawford´s sign, even it is very clear that it should be a “L” or “C”.
But sometimes we don’t see the obvious. It took me also a week or so to realize it…

But I only mentioned this “affair” because it’s the only “flaw” within this excellent series of front covers.

I’m really grateful to authors like you to do all this work to shed more light onto the WWI aeronautics.
Thanks indeed.

Thomas

[Jos]

Thanks Greg,

It is always great to receive extra info from someone who is an expert on WW1-aviation.


Here are several other beautiful Osprey covers. These are from Mark Postlethwaite.











Jos

[Patrick]

Here's some box art from the original Red Baron computer sim. I don't know who the artist is, but I always thought his triplane looked great, properly sinister.

[Russell Smith]

The artist is William Phillips. He's one of the most well known and talented aviation artists alive today, IMO. He also happens to be the "official" Grand Canyon artist of the US National Park Service (or something like that), and if you happen to have seen the airplane stamps that the Post office issued a couple of years ago, he did those too. Heck of a nice guy.

Anyway, despite what a great artist he is, he made some errors in this piece. If you look at the full, uncropped version of this image, there are 2 or 3 more red triplanes in the background.

Russ

EDIT: actually, you can see one in the top right corner. It doesn't look too red here, but I've seen other printed versions of this piece. Trust me, its red.

[Patrick]

You mean all German triplanes aren't red?!

Thanks for ID'ing the artist, Russell. I hadn't noticed that the background plane was another triplane -- even with the errors, it's a nice composition and I really like the way he captured the light and shadow of a dawn patrol (or perhaps it's dusk).

The computer sim itself is a classic too -- I've spent way too many late night hours in it, dogfighting and shooting down Zeppelins.

[Patrick]

This is the box art from the last version of Red Baron, when the 3D graphics engine was added -- William Phillips' plane images composited onto a CG background.