Cover Art -- Campbell and his Nieuport 28

[Roundel]

Through ABE Books (AbeBooks Official Site - New & Used Books, New & Used Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books), I was able to fill out my set of The American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States (1963). Volume 13, "World War I and the Twenties," has this beautiful painting on the cover:



The text states that it shows Lt. Douglas Campbell tangling with a German Rumpler. The picture is credited to the U.S. Air Force, but nothing about the artist or the title.

There are plenty of copies of this book listed at ABE Books, the source of the above image, which looks even better in real life.

[jastaflieger]

The artist is Merv Corning, the print comes from an outstanding series of pieces he did for the Leach Corp. , primarily in the late 1960's i believe.
THis one depicts the fifth victory for Douglas Campbell, the storyline is that Campbell "tussled" with the Rumpler and the German observer stood up as depicted after he had used up all his ammunition. Campbell hesitated to attack the then nearly defensless German: but decided he needed to since the plane, after all, could then return with its information and photos. I am typing this from memory, as my print is back home.
THe original may well be at the US Air Force Art Collection, which is very , very good. You can google Leach Corp., go to their website and find out about Merv Corning( who passed away several years ago) and his series of illustrations on WWI avaition.

jim

[karrart]

Originally Posted by jastaflieger

The artist is Merv Corning, the print comes from an outstanding series of pieces he did for the Leach Corp. , primarily in the late 1960's i believe.
THis one depicts the fifth victory for Douglas Campbell, the storyline is that Campbell "tussled" with the Rumpler and the German observer stood up as depicted after he had used up all his ammunition. Campbell hesitated to attack the then nearly defensless German: but decided he needed to since the plane, after all, could then return with its information and photos. I am typing this from memory, as my print is back home.
THe original may well be at the US Air Force Art Collection, which is very , very good. You can google Leach Corp., go to their website and find out about Merv Corning( who passed away several years ago) and his series of illustrations on WWI avaition.

jim

The latest edition of the California edition of the AAA ( car insurance )magazine has an article about Corning. Born 1926, died 2006. This magazine, despite being a publication by a car insurance company, has a decades-long-reputation for good writing and good art and graphics. Corning did 16 covers for them from 1965 through 1968. It mentions he started the Leach series in 1959 and over the next 11 years turned out 43 WW I aviation pictures for them. The article shows one of his airplanes-a British Nieuport 17. The rest of the pieces shown other types of his work- for AAA it was mostly landscapes around California. He was good- his light was great. His California pictures really do conjure up California.
Robert Karr
just lil ol' me at:
The Fine Art of Aviation/Robert Karr, Grant-Free Artist

[Gregvan]

The great Merv Corning was the first to paint a lot of seminal WWI aviation scenes which have been repeatedly copied by (or at least served as inspiration for)other artists over the years

[dpolglaze]

Greg,

That's the only volume of the series I actually have. Bought it for the cover art.

Dan

[Roundel]

Thanks gang for the information about Merv Corning! Prior your postings, I knew nothing of or about him, even I'd seen his dramatic recreation of the loss of airship Shenandoah. What a discovery!

Here's the on-line gallery of his paintings for the Leach Corporation:

Esterline Technologies > Profile > Heritage of the Air > The Collection

[fsbof]

That is a great painting. I first saw it when my mom bought that volume of the series at the grocery store, which you could do one volume at a time every other week or so, "99 cents for the first volume, $1.49 for each of the rest". Also, inside there is a nicely rendered 2-page illustration showing profiles of the more well known WWI aircraft. Now that you've resurrected this painting, I'll have to go retrieve that volume from my mom's house !