Its been a long time since I posted anything here at the WIX. Looks like my buddy Wade has made a few friends over here, so I thought that perhaps I should drop back in and reintroduce myself.
For those of you who don't me, I, like Wade, am an aviation artist. My subjects of choice come from the Great War era - 1914-1918. I know most of you folks are probably more interested in big metal birds with P&W radials or perhaps purring Merlins, but for those of you who also appreciate the Great War birds as much as I do, I'll share a current WIP....
Two Birds With One Stone
Here's the skinny, straight from the combat log:
Squadron: No. 20
Date: 6/9/18
Time: 8:30 to 9 am
Type: Bristol Fighter E'2181
Locality: Cambrai - St. Quentin
Pilot: Capt. H.P. Lale
Observer: 2/Lt H.L. Edwards
Height: 18,000 to 14,000 feet
Remarks: About 40 Fokker Biplanes
Narrative:
"... the remaining E.A. had, in the meantime, made off. Capt. Lale had collected his formation and, flying South, saw formations of DH4's, Dolphins and SE5's going towards St. Quentin, about 2,000 feet below. Following them over, the Bristol Fighter formation arrived just as about 30 to 40 E.A. dived on the Dolphins.
One Fokker Biplane passed within 30 yards of Bristol Fighter E2181 (Pilot - Capt. Lale, Observer - 2/Lt Edwards). Capt. Lale put about 50 rounds into it and sent it down in flames. The observer (2/Lt Edwards) was in the meantime firing with double Lewis gun at another E.A. about 40 yards away on the left. This E.A. first spun, then appeared to gain control, but a few seconds later burst into flames. Both these E.A. appeared to be falling into the middle of St. Quentin."
This is third of three projects that I'm juggling right now. The client and I began discussing this one over a year ago. We both really like the idea of the simultaneous victory scored by one aircraft.
the client's specifications were simple: make it the same size and dimensions as
Wolff's Requiem as it will hang in close proximity to that piece. The final dimensions will be 44" x 28.5". Those of you who have seen
Wolff's Requiem in person know that its going to be a big boy (the Bristol itself will be approximately 33" wide on the canvas).
As for my own initial goal, I simply wanted to choose a view of the Brisfit that would highlight some of the unique lines of the aircraft (in addition, of course, to telling the story correctly).
A few weeks back I finally got an opportunity to sit down and sketch out some ideas for the composition. This is the one Nick chose, and I have to say that I too felt that it best described the action.
Of course, with a flight of Brisfits, 30-40 Fokkers, and a bunch of Dolphins, SE5s and DH-4's, there is going to be a LOT going on here. My goal is to make it action packed and exciting, but not busy, and in addition to the Bristols and DVII's I would like to include at lest a few of the other types back in the background.
Reading through the combat log you'll see that it specifically states that Edwards was firing at a Fokker
on the left. However, in this composition I imagined that aircraft as having already been hit and zooming past the Brisfit so that he's now on the right. Lale's victim is already going down and he's turning the Brisfit to give chase to Edwards' victim just in case he needs to.
Yesterday I managed to sit down and work out a rough draft of the Brisfit perspective drawing. It actually isn't quite finished. There are still some details that I'm trying to narrow down - specifically what letter E'2181 carried on the side. 20Sq's markings consisted of the letters "A" through "S" located approximately below the pilot's cockpit. I've posted inquiries on a couple of forums to see if anyone might have information that might be able to help us out. I've found photos of "K" & "P", but neither of those are our bird. If I come up dry, I'll just choose a random letter.
I'm also holding off on the guns and the crew. I'd like to get the DVII's in place before I aim the Lewises.
The Bristol F2b carried 2 different exhaust configurations - a short pipe and a long pipe. I chose the short pipe configuration since a majority of photos I've seen from around that time show short pipes. Chances are, our bird carried them too.
and in context:
I'll be updating this thread as I progress.
Last edited by
Russell Smith on Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.