WWI Aviation books cover art

Romani · 23 June 2009, 04:57 AM

I found these pics in another site, apologies if they are already posted. They are covers from a series of books called Battleground Europe, published by Pen & Sword. Signature of the artist is J. Ashford.

Does anyone know if those books are good? From what I understand the Battleground series is a historical account of the battle, and a traveller's guide for the battlefield tourism. Their ground battles series look ok, but it seems that these two ones are just photos and directions to the place of old airfields. I don't know if they will have anything about air combat

Gregvan · 23 June 2009, 07:12 AM

Hi Romani,

The "Airfields & Airmen" titles, part of the Battleground Europe series, are very good indeed. They are all written by Mike O'Connor and are very well researched. They present a LOT more than just photos and directions to old airfields. The books retell the stories of many air combats and actions, and then show how you can visit the site of an associated airfield or gravesite. There is a great deal to learn about aerial actions of WWI in these books, often containing pilot's first-hand recollections you won't find anywhere else. Also, they always have lots of contemporary (1914-18) photos of airmen and aircraft that are quite rare. Highly recommended!

Jos · 23 June 2009, 01:09 PM

Hello Romani,

Greg is right in every way. I used Mike's books to visit a lot of gravesites around Ypres, Arras and the Somme. They give you a lot of information f.i. about the pilots who are buried there and how to get to their graves. I read about a lot of pilots I had never heard of.
Thanks to his books I was able to post on the Aerodrome forum several photo's I took from headstones and gravesites.

As Greg pointed: Highly recommended.

Jos

dpolglaze · 2 July 2009, 09:11 PM

No pics for a few days, so...

unknown line-type art:

unknown painting-type art:

Dan

Gregvan · 4 July 2009, 05:52 PM

Too many red Triplanes! So here we go. This one is a booklet, I gather, used to collect a bunch of picture tea cards of the world's greatest aircraft:

Here is a French take on the Red Baron - who apparently flew in all kinds of weather:

Gregvan · 4 July 2009, 05:56 PM

I don't think anyone's posted this one before.

Jo Kotula was a master.

Even though the 'P52' painted on the rudder shows this S.E.5a was located at McCook Field, USA for evaluation, it still managed to shoot down an Albatros!

Gregvan · 4 July 2009, 06:03 PM

As I've often said, I have a nostalgic fondness for the old pulp magazine artists - even though they were active long before I was born. They had to work under very tight time constraints, with practically no reference material and for little money, but sometimes produced really great stuff. One of the best was Rudolph Belarski. This one is espcially nice, with the ghostly shades of dead aces saluting the fallen:

This is by another favorite, Frederick Blakeslee:

Gregvan · 4 July 2009, 06:08 PM

If your tastes are for the more bizarre incarnations of Pulp Fiction art, there's Blakeslee's covers for the "G-8 and his Battle Aces" series. I think the title is "Patrol of the Cloud Crusher". Sometimes G-8, Nippy and Bull flew SE5a's instead of Spads:

Kirk R. Lowry · 4 July 2009, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregvan

This one is a booklet, I gather, used to collect a bunch of cards of the greatest aircraft, in Britain:

Bonjour Greg!

Yes that book is for mounting the collection of cards that were issued by Brooke Bond and came with packages of Red Rose Tea ... "only in Canada you say", well, that was the slogan used in the television advertising campaign 'round these parts. On the back cover is written "This picture card series is offered in the interests of education". Great War subjects that appear on cards in the book include; Maurice Farman Biplane, Avro 504, Fokker D.VII, Handley Page 0/400 (as well as line drawings of a Sopwith Camel, a S.E.5a and an airfield scene depicting Vickers F.B5s.

What is most remarkable is that all of the artwork is by the great Roy Cross!

By the way, accuracy aside, I quit like that image of von Richthofen flying in the rain and the portraits of the ghostly aces ... merci Greg.

Salut!
Kirk

Gregvan · 4 July 2009, 08:25 PM

Hi Kirk,

Thanks for that added extra information, Kirk! I've amended my posting.

I'm sure we would all enjoy it if you could post some of that artwork by the great Roy Cross...

Greg