Tour de Crayon

A little Spitfire sketch, challenging myself with the green and grey pencil palette 🎨 every mark made is a lesson learned. This is a drawing of Spitfire Mk.IX 'ZD-B' as flown by Flt Lt ‘Pat’ Lardner-Burke of 222 Squadron August 1943.  This Spitfire went on to make her most famous film appearance in what is regarded as the best WW2 film ever made, ‘A Bridge Too Far’, where she flies over the young Dutch boy on a bicycle and waggles her wings.  Spitfire Mk.IX 'A Bridge Too Far' Work in progress

While letting the glue harden on my Monty's Humber, I thought I’d kick off another pencil sketch. This, however, is probably my most ambitious in some time, as it includes figures!  This sketch is of an Airspeed AS.51 Horsa Mk.I with British Paratroops. It's set on D-Day Normandy 1944, during "Operation Tonga", the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 7 June 1944.  The big decision in completing this piece was whether to add the Pegasus Bridge back ground or not. My fear was the big risk in me messing it up versus perhaps even adding a bit of ground so it doesn’t look like everything is levitating! The unanimous feedback I received was to leave it as is and let the viewer fill in the detail with their own eyes. This is also beginning to be an artistic theme of mine, so let's go with the flow. Airspeed Horsa "Operation Tonga" Work in progress  

Between scale model builds, I thought I’d add another pencil sketch to my 2D collection.  This is the Focke Wolfe Ta 152 of H-1 Stab./JG 301 W.Nr.150168/9 Green as flown by Ofw. Willi Reschke in Germany during April 1945.  Designed by Kurt Tank (Ta), the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 was a development of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 as a high-altitude fighter-interceptor. The first Ta 152H entered service with the Luftwaffe in January 1945 but was produced too late and in insufficient numbers to have a significant role in the war. Willi Reschke was one of the leading members of JG300 Wilde Sau flying the Fw190A in the 'Defence of the Reich'. Towards the latter months of the war he transferred to the JG301, and soon after was selected to be re-equipped with the new Ta 152. In April 1945, credited with 26 victories of 8 fighters & 18 four engined bombers, he was awarded the Knight's Cross. In May 1945 it was Green 9 in which he surrendered to Allies. Focke-Wulf Ta 152

Another little pencil sketch of my latest model kit's box art, while the paint dries 🎨 This is a drawing of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 ‘Weisse 3’ as flown by Martin Ullmann of the ‘Eismeergeschwader’ (Arctic Sea Fighter Wing) JG5 based on the Norwegian island of Herdla, near Bergen.  Eismeergeschwader JG5 provided air cover against allied attack over the sea lanes of the Arctic Ocean and German naval bases in Norway. Martin Ullmann had the name ‘Ingeborg’ painted on the nose of his aircraft under his cockpit, suggesting that he may have had a Scandinavian sweetheart during his posting there. Unfortunately, my drawing has the Fw190's port wing raised obscuring the name ... I feel another sketch may be required! Focke-Wulf Fw 190 ‘Weisse 3’