The War in the Air, 1914 - 1918

Gerry A. Embleton ( 1941 ) was born in Edgware ( Middlesex, England ). Throughout the war years his father was absent, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in North Africa and Italy. Gerry Embleton had two older brothers, and he followed the eldest, Ronald ( 1930 - 1988 ) - who also became a renowned illustrator and cartoonist - in an early passion for all things military, which was fuelled by films and books. 

When Ronald returned from his own military service in the Malayan Emergency and took up illustration professionally, the ten - year - old Gerry soon became his all - purpose assistant and, inevitably, pupil. Illustrated magazines for young people enjoyed a heyday in Britain in the 1950's - 1960's ; Gerry Embleton was just 14 when he sold his first full page of strip art, and 15 when his first historical illustration was published. 

His first serious military illustrations appeared in the later 1960's in a magazine called Tradition, based in the West End of London ( England ) and co - located with a shop of the same name which sold military figurines - this was at the very beginning of the hobby of painting finely detailed miniatures. Regular commissions for Tradition brought Gerry Embleton into contact with fellow military history enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic, and began his assembly of a serious research library, based not least on study of the great masters of previous centuries. 

It was his work in Tradition that led to a meeting with Martin Windrow, when he was editing, with the weapons historian Fred Wilkinson, a book called The Universal Soldier ( Guinness Superlatives, 1971 ). Three years later, Martin Windrow managed to persuade Gerry Embleton to accept some commissions for the Osprey's Ment - at - Arms series. In 1984, he decided to move to Prêles ( canton of Bern, Switzerland ). As an illustrator of military and historic subjects, he has illustrated more than 40 titles for the military publisher Osprey. 

In 1998, he founded a company called Time Machine that works with museums all over the world, specializing in vivid displays with 3D figurines. 

After 43 years as a greatly valued contributor to the Men - at - Arms and other series, Gerry Embleton has decided that he can no longer take on regular book illustration contracts ( 2018 ). He is still painting, but he is now " sliding gracefully into a welcome semi - retirement, to pursue those really important things he's never had time for. " 

( sources : Wikipedia, ospreypublishing.com, www.post-gazette.com, www.shfwire.com )