1984 Calendar Aviation Week & Space Technology by Paul Lengellé, the famous French aviation artist ...

 1984 Calendar Aviation Week & Space Technology 

Paul Lengellé, the famous French aviation artist and learned historian of the early years of powered flight, was again commissioned by Aviation Week & Space Technology to peint the twelve scenes that make up this calendar. 

January

CURTISS JN..." A PORTRAIT OF JENNY" 

February

THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

March

MACCHI M-39 THE ITALIAN FLAVOR

April

THE FIRST CLIPPER

May

THE BRITISH PERSUASION 

June

CURTISS... THE CONDOR

July

THE DC-1 ... ONE OF A KIND!

August

THE "GAMMA"

September

THE ROBIN " A VERSATILE BIRD" 

October

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

November

FW200 ... THE GERMAN TOUCH

December

THE "CUB" EVERYMAN'S AIRPLANE

The Birth of Air Transport  

Text by Jim Marquis

This 1984 Aviation Week & Space Technology calendar is the fifth in a series of original paintings, commissioned by Aviation Week & Space Technology to record Aviation and Aerospace history through the medium of art. 

This sequence, ”The Roaring Twenties and Thirties” portrays 12 historical airplanes and details their contributions to the fast-moving technological revolution in aviation which, up to this time, had focused on the design of experimental machines testing man's ability to fly or, subsequently, of machines of war. 

At the end of WWI, surplus aircraft like the de Havilland-4 and the Curtiss Jenny became available on the United States civilian market and the “barnstorming” era intensified. The aeroplane was no longer a rare and mysterious curiosity. Any level and reasonably smooth pasture or hay field became a landing field, and in many instances, are huge international airports today. Rides were sold, and acrobatic demonstrations wowed the populace. Stunts such as wing-walking, inverted flight, and loops were popular, air shows became organized events and air races thrilled the old and new generations alike. 

Designers and manufacturers competed frantically to satisfy the myriad different requirements for sports planes, amphibians, airliners, and racers. Specialized applications of the aeroplane were developed for crop-dusting, airborne ambulances, fire-fighting and air-mail services. Innovations came fast, more powerful engines for more speed and higher payloads, metal covered airframes instead of fabric, air to ground communications, instrument flight and long-range capabilities, to mention only a few. 

Personalities began to emerge and, in many cases, went on to achieve fame as aviation pioneers. Tony Fokker of Holland, builder of trimotor airliners, Jimmy Doolittle, demonstrations of instrument flying, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, polar exploration by air (flying a Fokker trimotor), Igor Sikorsky, designer of large amphibians for over-water airline service, Charles E. Lindbergh, solo flight from New York to Paris 1927, Italo Balbo, leader of a flight of Italian aircraft to the Chicago World's Fair -- 1933, Ellen Church, first air hostess – 1930, Amelia Earhart, long distance and speed records holder, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, pioneer of air travel from the U.S. to Australia, Douglas (Wrong-Way) Corrigan and many others. Before the end of "The Roaring Twenties and Thirties,” the aeroplane had become commonplace Aviation became a multi-faceted international industry, and, in the United States, stimulated by the demands of WWII, it matured and developed into the now established industrial and scientific base that provided for man's even more awesome leap into the space age.