Air Racers and Flying Boats

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I am so distracted today that the drawing I had ready to outline repulsed me the more I looked at it.  I have lost my way.  Originally, this was to be a single panel illustrated diary of sorts.  Yet it is clear that my lack of commitment has really damaged my work, such as it is.  As I got better at drawing my bunny, it became more enjoyable to just draw him over and over rather than stretch and try new things.  I was aware of this, am aware of it, yet it is a hard habit to break.  I would post both things I did today, but it is possible that some work could salvage at least one of them.  I have been in a real slump and threw away about twenty sheets of paper I ruined on both sides.  The only reason I keep this up is because it is my one creative outlet.  I am at a dead end without guitar lessons and my belt projects are only vaguely interesting.  I have never enjoyed writing, I hate making stained glass, and pumping iron no longer seems worth the trouble.  

There is an artist out there name of Ken Fletcher who has a mythos built around Spontoon Island, a fictional vacation place in the North Pacific.  It exists in a forever 1930's time, and he is real big on the aircraft and look of that decade.  It is an Anthro cartoon, and I met him and his work on Fur Affinity.  (His user name is Heywulf).  The website is Spontoon Island and comes up immediately.  And it is an archipelago, not a single island.  This is very well worth checking out.  I think that this is what I sorta wanted to do before I lost my bearings.  I really like this.  I also really like the between wars aircraft.

(Spontoon Island is a cooperative effort and has lot's of artists and writers.  Mr. Fletcher is the main man, and I would suggest a visit to the website for some really well thought out story and artwork. http://spontoon.rootoon.com/  Now back to mine.)





Macchi MC72. Counter rotating props, not ready in time for the 1931 Schneider race.  Just lovely.  It is curious to me how for a time float planes were the fastest in the world. 





Jimmy Doolittle and the notorious Gee-Bee racer.  These are just the coolest looking and most dangerous to fly racers yet.  Doolittle was the only record setter in this to survive it.






Piaggio P. 7.  Had hydro-vanes instead of floats.  Mechanical problems doomed it, but it was estimated at 580/h.  360mph to 420 mph.  And that is 1929!  (A Stanley Steamer hit 199 mph about 1910, then went airborne.  The driver walked away from it).  This thing never flew and what a pity about that.  The tail has a water prop under it, as seen above.  Complicated clutches were employed to engage the airscrew and prop.  These did not work, and it was never again used.  Shame.  It does not seem to exist anymore, that is, I cannot find it.    I am really surprised that the Piaggio company gave up on this, but they must have had their reasons.  Some R.C. modeler made one of these with specs donated by Piaggio, and he fixed the angle of the hydrofoils.  It flew perfectly.




Supermarine S.6B Won the Schneider Cup outright for Great Britain.





Doolittle standing on the Curtis R3C, 1925 Schneider Cup winner.  245.7 mph.  I have always thought his name was ironic.
(In 1993 I wrote General Doolittle and got a 2 sentence letter back from him, most courteous.  He died a few weeks later.  This was some guy)!





Noel Pemberton Billings, Supermarine Founder, M.P. What a card this guy was!  (For those who are wondering what I am talking about, this guy started a lawsuit against Maude Durrant, a famous dancer and sister to the notorious murderer Theo Durrant.  The suit focused on things like treason and the "Cult of the Clitoris".  The book detailing this is Wilde's Last Stand, by Philip Hoare).

https://airminded.org/biographies/noel-pemberton-billing/





He was eccentric, and would be regarded today as a right wing nutjob.  Britain owes him a lot.  The drawing is of the PB-1, 1914.





Boeing 314 Clipper.




The HK-1 Hercules.  Flew 1/4 of a mile with a ceiling of 50 feet.  Owned by some guy, seen here in the pilot's seat:




I mentioned the word "nutjob"?





Spad S.20  In 1920 this former fighter set the world's absolute speed record three times.





Oh!  I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth.... S6B.





And to end this on a lighter, more Spontoon note, here we have Jock Lindsey on his Waco UBF-2.  This is, of course, from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which also features one of these, shown below:





You get my general drift.  Deliberate error navigation!

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