13 articles · 0.8K karma · 4 friends · active 9 years, 3 months ago
I'm a retired librarian and curator who worked for 19 years in the RAF Museum at Hendon in London. I must have made somewhere over 1000 kit models of aircraft since the first Airfix ones came out in about 1956. I haven't made any since the early 90's but I've concentrated on drawing colour aircraft profiles which I first started doing as a kid of about 8 years old in the early 50's. When computer graphics became available in the early 90's I couldn't stop drawing them. So far I've drawn 1,630 profiles which I'd love to share with enthusiasts. My interests cover military fighter type aircraft from 1916 to 1980 or so, mostly RAF, but also over 250 post-war US Navy profiles, along with allied and enemy WWII types.
The Fury, originally named Hornet, first entered service with 43 Squadron RAF in May 1931. Powered by the Rolls-Royce V12 Kestrel IIS, the Fury was the RAF's first interceptor fighter capable of exceeding 200 mph (top speed 207 mph). The [...]
For a time during its service career the Bulldog equipped 70% of the RAF's fighter defence force, with eleven squadrons in service.
The prototype, powered by a Jupiter VII engine, first flew on 17 May 1927. The aircraft had a problem with [...]
The Gamecock was developed from the Grebe, with the more powerful Jupiter engine replacing the Jaguar. The prototype was delivered in February 1925 and a further 90 production machines were eventually ordered, entering service with 23 [...]
The Woodcock was designed as a night fighter to meet an RAF requirement in 1922 and the first prototype, Mk. I, with a Jaguar II engine, flew in March 1923. This aircraft had a number of serious problems and was redesigned with a Jupiter [...]
The first prototype of the Siskin flew in May 1919. Unfortunately its Dragonfly engine, of which much was expected, proved to be lacking in power and was unreliable. Hence, after some long time, the aircraft was redesigned with a metal [...]
Entering service in1923, the Flycatcher was one of the earliest aircraft specifically designed and built for operation from aircraft carriers. Fitted with floats, it could also be operated from catapults on battleships and cruisers.
The [...]
The Grebe was the RAF's first new fighter to enter service in the UK after World War I. At first one flight of 111 Squadron was equipped with them at Duxford alongside their Snipes and Siskins from October 1923. Five other squadrons were [...]
Going back to an earlier war than my previous profile offerings, here is my collection of Snipes.
The Snipe entered service late in World War I as the RAF's new standard fighter, in preference to the Martinsyde Buzzard. They were painted [...]
Too late to see service in WW II, the Bearcat operated with the US Navy's frontline fighter squadrons from 1946 to 1950 as their last piston-engined fighter, alongside late marks of the F4U Corsair. It fitted very neatly into the period of [...]
Here's my collection of Wildcat and Martlet profiles. Martlet was the early British name for the type but was later abandoned for the US name. The Royal Navy Martlets of 805 Sqn in North Africa in 1941/42 were delivered in the standard US [...]
