Aviation Art

This beautiful book, which contains paintings and detailed texts as well, will show you the aviation ( from the beginning to the late 1980's ) through many artists' perspectives.

The idea behind this book was to illustrate the work of all the senior members of the Guild of Aviation Artists ( G.A.A. ) at the time of publication in 1987. The author, a long standing contributor to the Royal Aero Club and founder member of the G.A.A., then organised his selection to include as a many different aircraft types as possible that together could tell the story of flight. Finally he refined his choice to include, as far as possible, only images that had not been generally released prior to the book’s publication. The result is a unique collection of paintings incorporating a wide range of subject matter, reflecting the personal styles of 55 different artists, most of which will be new to many readers.
The book is organised into five sections that take the reader chronologically from the early balloonists through both wars to modern combat jets. Each subject is fully described by the author. Reproduction is rather variable with some images coming out a bit flat but overall it is reasonable given the printing technology available at the time. The book concludes with short biographies of each of the contributing artists and a useful index.
( source : Aviation Art Books )

John Blake was a Guild of Aviation Artist, Raconteur, Historian and Airshow Commentator. When the Second World War started, he originally wished to enter the Royal Air Force ( his father having been in the Royal Flying Corps ), but was turned down as at that point there were no vacancies!!! He therefore joined the Irish Guards as a subaltern and hence commenced his own type of war, causing chaos, blowing up bridges and for a short time owning a Messerschmitt Bf 109, which he subsequently blew up with spectacular results in case the original owner re - appeared. He was heavily involved with the ’ Micks ’ ( Irish Guards ) in ’ Operation Market Garden ’ after his landing in Normandy on the beaches.
After the war, and patched up as well as could be done, he attended the Glasgow School of Art where, having to change hands, he trained as an artist. This was a skill he was to use until very recently and which led to him becoming a Fellow of the Guild of Aviation Artists and a former Chairman of that Guild. He found employment with the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom as their librarian. This suited him down to the ground, as his other love is Naval, Army and Air Force history. He had the run of the Library at the Royal Aeronautical Society and was paid to do this.
John Blake became a stalwart of the British Aerobatic Association and an International Aerobatic Judge and was the Contest Director for the World Aerobatic Championships held in Hullavington in 1970. He has published a couple of books about aviation, such as Early Airplanes ( 1974 ), 40 Years at Farnborough : S.B.A.C.'s International Aviation Showcase ( with Mike Hooks, 1990 ) and Flight : The Five Ages of Aviation ( 1991 ).
( sources : amazon, www.cahood.com )