JOHN DELL'S AVIATION ART PAGE 1
ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT JOHN DELL
I love painting aircraft, and I have always had a great interest in British aviation between the wars, in particular the many projects and prototypes abandoned in 1939 and 1940 when production had to be concentrated on a few proven types, such as the Spitfire, Hurricane and Blenheim. Here are just a few for you to look at...
Spitfire Mk V
Two Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs of 91 squadron in the colours worn in early 1942.
BLACKBURN B20
Flying boats had to have a deep hull to keep the airscrews clear of the water. The Blackburn B20 was designed so that the whole bottom of the fuselage could be extended to form a central float and wingtip floats folded down to provide support. Once retracted these gave the B20 a streamlined profile and the single prototype built had a sparkling performance, being as fast as a Beaufighter. The prototype crashed during the test program and the Catalina flying boat was purchased from America instead. As originally designed the B20 was to be powered by 24 cylinder Vulture in-line engines (see picture below). In the picture above I have painted the B20 as it may have looked with the more reliable Hercules radial engine.
To find out more about the Blackburn B20 Click here
MARTIN BAKER MB2
Designed to be mass produced the MB2 used the Napier Dagger in-line air cooled engine. This picture shows how it might have appeared shooting down a Ju52 towing a Horten ammunition carrier glider (as planned to be used during the Invasion of Britain).
VICKERS "SUPERBOMBERS" AND HORTEN HO 229 FIGHTERS
In 1942 Vickers did a design study on a "next generation" bomber, it had an unusual canard layout and was to be powered by six massive Centaurus engines and have a heavy cannon armament mounted in turrets. If the war had dragged on into the late 40's it could have joined the B-29s and B-36's (and perhaps B-35s) of the USA in attacking Germany and Japan. In this scenario a likely opponent would have been the Horten Ho 229 (often refered to as the Gotha Go 229, a designation it would not have taken into service) an advanced flying wing design.
AVRO 10 ENGINED BOMBER
Avro did design studies for the same requirement. One of the projects was for a super-stretched Lancaster with 10 Giffon engines with contra-props. Shown here at night after a brush with an Me262B-2a night fighter. Thanks to Dave Dixon who worked at Avro and supplied me with the information to do this painting.
