The cover that made me love aircraft

[Alain Gadbois]

 

 

Hi all!

Just wanted to show you guys the cover of an issue of Model Airplane News my dad had from way before I was born. I remember being completely fascinated by that image growing up. I've kept this magazine and it is falling to pieces after being leafed through for many years. Nothing inside about the Corsair though, but lots of cool builds of flying models and ads for plastic kits that made my imagination fly way up to the clouds!

 

 

 

My dad had two aviation magazines actually, and the second one had all the aircraft in it in the form of small line drawings, all classified by year. This is where I think I learned to name and date most planes, at least those before 1953...See how the future was imagined beyond 1953! When I was five, I would cut out a little plane I liked and bring it in my kindergarten class to be fixed on the peg board. Now the magazine is full of holes, all in the section of aircraft of WWII. Sadly I don't remember which ones I chose then...

The magazine also had some very nice detail drawings too of aircraft and engines.

 

 

 

 

One last thing,

Again in kindergarten one day, we went to visit the Air Canada maintenance center in Dorval, Montreal. We were able to visit airplanes there ( a DC-8 ) and see engines being serviced. Cool stuff for us kids! When The lady leading the tour (she looked like an airline hostess) asked for a volunteer to try a life jacket I raised my hand so fast! To say I was surprised when she pulled the cord and the jacket inflated is an understatement! We left with little white plastic planes of the Air Canada fleet...So a memorable day for sure!

 

Thanks all!

If you have some memories to share, please feel free to write your own!

Alain

Edited November 8, 2019 by Alain Gadbois

[rigor]

Hey Alain thanks for sharing. I would put them pages in a photo album very cool 

[ringleheim]

Nice to see these images.

 

I have a number of things like this in my possession as well.  Stuff I got as a kid and have kept ever since.

 

I still have my first Tamiya catalog from 1984.  The covers fell off a long time ago but I still have it and still page through it from time to time.  I somewhat remember the day I bought it at a hobby shop.  I would have been 13 years old.

 

 

[TorbenD]

Lovely stuff Alain - proper eye candy!

 

Torben

[LSP_K2]

Oddly, I have no specific recollection of any one thing that sparked my interest in military aviation. I do recall when my view of model building changed though, it was during a public display of the work of Sheperd Paine, at a local museum here, many, many years ago (mid 70's, probably). When I walked out of that place, my view of model making had forever changed.

[MikeMaben]

Thanks Alain , that is one tattered magazine !!

 

 

[mozart]

Hmmm, this thread made me think Alain since I was raised on "all things aircraft" including regular copies of "The Flying Review" magazine which I devoured from cover to cover.  But the "oldest" (and I'm talking mid-1950s here) memory goes back to these:

 

 

The one I've photographed is January 1944, but my father, as an 18 year old had the Aeroplane Spotter delivered every week throughout the war years.  It was printed on a very poor quality paper so photographs are pretty grainy, but nonetheless served a purpose.  Before being finally called up to do his pilot training, Dad was a "roof spotter" at a local factory, noting down aircraft types flying over head.  Bath, just 10 miles away, was the HQ of the Admiralty, so quite a target for German bombers at times.  This extract from his diary:

 

 

Tuesday was pretty busy!  Notice the reference to the ATC, Air Training Corps - an embryo organisation at the time but attempting to prepare young men for life in the Royal Air Force and all its disciplines.  Back to the Aeroplane Spotter and its typical content:

 

 

Treasured items that come out every now and again!

[R Palimaka]

1 hour ago, mozart said:

Treasured items that come out every now and again!

 

Thank you for sharing those! It's fascinating to be able look back with tangible material like this, makes things so real. The notes taken at the time by your father are fun and interesting too. Even the movies seen. :-) 

 

The level of knowledge of aircraft identification at the time is revealing too.  I guess they weren't any less determined to know as much as was possible than we are now. Even to breaking down FW 190 subtypes. 

 

Thanks for that!

 

Richard

[Alain Gadbois]

On 11/8/2019 at 1:34 PM, rigor said:

Hey Alain thanks for sharing. I would put them pages in a photo album very cool 

 

 

On 11/10/2019 at 1:12 PM, MARU5137 said:

Alain..

Sweet memories never fade away.

I would frame them -in a glass frame- as time passes the paper will disintegrate. so best to keep them in glass framed frames..

 

thank you for sharing  this.

 

 

 Thank you for these good ideas, as they will be better protected than in the folder they're in now. I will also add a little note to explain the story about those magazines, as it is the context that makes these tattered pages important. In the past few days I have remembered a lot of interesting aviation related stories I have witnessed in the distant and not so distant past.  While not incredible, some are worth noting down, and  also to share with those like you who share the same interest.

 

One thing related to WWII I remember happened while I lived in Tunisia in the early seventies (where my father worked for three years). We would sometimes take a walk in the port of Tunis and the tail section of a Ju-52 was lying there, possibly pulled out of the sea after getting caught in a fisherman's net. It was quite corroded and all the paint was stripped of the corrugated aluminum, so it had obviously spent a lot of time submerged. I guess could be one of many shot down in the evacuation of the German forces in the last stages of the North African campaign. It seemed to be a permanent fixture in that corner of the port until one day it was gone. Guess some decided to recycle the metal, but we were never able to find out what happened.

On 11/8/2019 at 3:51 PM, ringleheim said:

Nice to see these images.

 

I have a number of things like this in my possession as well.  Stuff I got as a kid and have kept ever since.

 

I still have my first Tamiya catalog from 1984.  The covers fell off a long time ago but I still have it and still page through it from time to time.  I somewhat remember the day I bought it at a hobby shop.  I would have been 13 years old.

 

Cool! I have the 1980 one and it is worn out too. I was 16 when I bought it.

 

Also, great stuff you have shown Max. That note pad is very precious. If I remember correctly, kids were much better than adults in aircraft recognition, and the Aeroplane Spotter was created to improve everyones knowledge of aircraft, Allied also, as it was essential in the defense of England. Must have been interesting times for the kids to watch what was happening in the sky above.

 

 

On 11/8/2019 at 4:50 PM, LSP_K2 said:

Oddly, I have no specific recollection of any one thing that sparked my interest in military aviation. I do recall when my view of model building changed though, it was during a public display of the work of Sheperd Paine, at a local museum here, many, many years ago (mid 70's, probably). When I walked out of that place, my view of model making had forever changed.

There are some moments that make a difference in our lives, and these models were the reference then. I hope they are taken care of well today.

 

Alain

[Shoggz]

My Dad was quite a 'mover and shaker' in the UK historic aircraft preservation world, so from a very young age my life was steeped in aviation!

 

Most weekends up until the age of 6 were spent hiking across the North Yorkshire moors looking for crash wreckage, or when he was posted to RAF St Athan, in the cockpits of the Axis aircraft that were (at that time) stored there.

 

Even to this day, he is a useful man to know - we got VIP treatment from Tony Agar when we visited his Mosquito at East kirkby as he and my old man go back as friends to the 60s.

 

I've got loads of old magazines that he let me have which I'll try and scan and share.

[GrahamF]

My first experience was my Uncle Peter who was a military and war enthusiast and a modeller, who took me when I was around about 5 years old to see the Spitfire at Manston Kent, It was a high back Mk16 TB752 and I remember him lifting me up and looking into the cockpit which was all taped up round the edges with black masking tape.

Years later when I worked as a teenager on the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Steam Railway we had a visit organised to Rochester Airport to see it being restored there MAPS [ Medway Aircraft Preservation Society ] It is now immaculate in it's own purpose built hall.

It is an actual combat veteran with 403 Canadian Squadron and is all original too, this set me off on a love of WW2 aircraft.

Graham

https://www.spitfiremuseum.org.uk/spitfire

[LSP_Mike]

Good reading. I have my original Military Modeller with Shep Paines 251German halftrack diorama on the cover. I too, have my first Tamiya catalog: 1974. As well as my 1975 Revell catalog. At one point I had quite a collection of 1/32 planes in my room.