|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
French First World War Aviation Art
First World War Art  Aviation Art  French Aviation |
[UP] - British Aviation - German Aviation - US Aviation - French Aviation - Ilya Muromets - Hanriot HD.1 - Caproni Ca.3 - Fighter Aces - WW1 Aviation Print List |
|
French World war One aircraft shown in aviation art prints by Stan Stokes, Ivan Berryman, David Pentland and Randall Wilson. This collection by Stan Stokes at these great prices are available direct from Cranston Fine Arts the Military, naval and Aviation art print company American aircraft in aviation art prints of the US Army Air ServiceThe Lafayette Escadrille was a French air service squadron which was manned by American volunteers during WW I. Thirty-eight Americans served with the squadron during the war. These American WW1 pilots are shown in a collection of aviation art prints by Stan Stokes, Anthony Saunders, David Pentland and Ivan Berryman are available direct from Cranston Fine Arts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Text for the above items : |
The Air Pirate by Stan Stokes. The Societe Anonyme dAeroplanes Morane-Saulnier first showed its aircraft at the Salon Aeronautique in Paris in 1911. With the famous French airman Roland Garos as its test pilot, the company received a lot of interest in the products it displayed. The first production models were delivered in 1913. The Type L was a parasol monoplane, and orders were received from the French Air Corps. The Type L was the forerunner of the first true family of fighters, the Fokker Eindeckers. When War began the Type L was one of the fastest reconnaissance aircraft available. With its high speed and excellent maneuverability, the Type L was a natural to take on the role of interceptor, once it became evident that aircraft were going to be utilized for more than just reconnaissance. The Type N debuted in mid-1914. Its most characteristic feature was its incorporation of a large prop spinner which completely covered the engine. With no ailerons, all lateral control was made by warping the wings through a complex system of control wires. In early 1916 the Type I was introduced. It utilized a more powerful 110-HP rotary engine. The Type I was capable of 176-MPH, with an operational ceiling of 3,500 feet. The large prop spinner was reshaped, and the undercarriage was strengthened. These aircraft were not without their faults. Flying was exceptionally difficult in bad weather, and the wing design was modified several times to reduce the tendency of the Moraine-Saulnier to go into an uncontrollable tail spin. A number of these aircraft were flown by the Russians on the Romanian and Southwestern Fronts. The Moraine-Saulnier monoplane of Lt. Ivan W Smirnoff is depicted in action in Stan Stokes painting entitled The Air Pirate. While the vast majority of the air combat in WW I took place on the Western Front, air combat was not uncommon on the other fronts. Smirnoff, an ex-infantryman, joined XIX Squadron in 1915 as a Sergeant. He attained his first victory piloting a two-seater. His last victory, which was recorded in November of 1917, was his twelfth. Fearing that he would be executed by the Bolsheviks, Smirnoff fled Russia and served briefly with the Royal Flying Corps. In 1922 he joined the Dutch airline KLM. He flew for KLM for many years. In 1942, during WW II, Smirnoff was Captain of a KLM DC-2 which was shot down by Imperial Japanese fighters over the East Indies. Smirnoff survived this disaster, and he died in October, 1956. Smirnoff is generally acknowledged to be the top scoring Russian ace of WW I. |
Farman F.40 by Ivan Berryman. Designed the brothers Henri and Maurice Farman, the F.40 embodied many of the features of contemporary designs comprising a crew nacelle with pusher propeller and a tail supported by narrow booms and struts. Forty French squadrons were equipped with the type which first entered service in 1915 but, just one year later, they were being withdrawn as rapid developments in fighter design rendered them obsolete. One such example is shown here having surprised a single-seat Taube observation aircraft, which is spotting above some abandoned trenches near a crashed Albatros C.III. The F.40s prominent position for the gunner / observer was one of its qualities and, it is said, inspired the German AGO company when designing their C.1. |
Capitaine Rene Fonck by Ivan Berryman. The highest scoring allied ace of World War 1, Rene Fonck was born on 27th March 1894 and spent his early military service with the 11th Regiment of Engineers before being sent for flying instruction in the spring of 1915. Almost as soon as he had been assigned to combat duties, he began to score and was posted to Groupe de Combat No12, the famous Storks where a combination of superb airmanship and deadly accurate gunnery ensured that his victory tally continued to grow. By the end of the war, Fonck was credited with a commendable 75 confirmed victories, but it is likely that he may have been responsible for a further possible 69 kills, which would have taken his total score to 144 - 64 more than Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious Red Baron. Capitaine Rene Fonck is shown in one of his Spad S.XIIIs chasing down a DFW C-Type. |
Sous-Lieutenant Charles Nungesser by Ivan Berryman. Surely one of the most irrepressible aces of World War 1, Frenchman Charles Nungessers victory total of 43 confirmed kills and a further 11 probables was achieved despite surviving a number of crashes and accidents from which he always bounced back in defiance of his quite severe injuries. His fame and prowess brought him a personal challenge from his German adversaries to take part in a one-on-one combat. Accepting the challenge, the lone Nungesser encountered not one, but six, enemy aircraft and promptly sent two of them down in flames. In this picture, his Emblems of Mortality personal motif is clearly seen on the side of his Nieuport 23 as he sees off an Albatross toward the end of the war. Nungesser survived the Great War, only to be lost over the Atlantic when attempting a flight to New York in 1927. |
Mustering of Storks, Bonnemaison, France, 4th July 1917 by David Pentland. French Spad VIIs of the famous Groupe de Combat 12 Les Cigognes (The Storks) during a relative lull on the front. Shown here are some of the famous names of Escadrille N3, Capitaine Georges Guynemer (No.2) , Capitaine Alfred Auger (No.6) , Sous Lt. Georges Raymond (No.9) and Adjutant Rene Guilliaumot (No.13) |
Capitaine Georges Guynemer by Ivan Berryman. One of Frances most venerated pilots in World War 1 was Capitaine Georges Guynemer whose final victory tally has never been fully established, although he has been officially credited with 53 kills. It is more likely, however, that his actual total was nearer to 88! He is shown here in his Spad S.VII having just claimed his 31st victim, a Gotha bomber. |
The First Victory by Ivan Berryman. Pilot Joseph Frantz and his observer Louis Quénault have the unique distinction of recording the first ever aerial victory by an aircraft using weaponry. On 5th October 1914, Quénault used magazines of ammunition of the machine gun mounted on their Voisin III craft, with its incredibly primitive appearance, and continued with rifle fire once it had failed. Their prey, an Aviatik returned fire, but was observed to crash into trees following the combat - the first recorded aircraft to be shot down by another. |
Stuck in the Mud by Stan Stokes. The Lafayette Escadrille was a French air service squadron which was manned by American volunteers during WW I. Thirty-eight Americans served with the squadron during the war. Nine were killed in action and one was accidentally killed in a fall from a horse. The squadron had four French officers, and only one, Captain Georges Thenault, survived the war. The Lafayette Escadrille accounted for a total of thirty-eight victories during its service. Nearly half of these victories were accounted for by Raoul Lufbery. Born in France, Lufbery was a soldier of fortune, having joined the U.S. Army and barnstormed in the Orient. Lufbery joined the aviation service initially as a mechanic but was attached to the Lafayette Escadrille because of his prior service with the U.S. Army. Lufbery achieved 17 confirmed victories, and prior to his being killed in action in 1918, he gave instruction to some of Americas top aces of the war, including Eddie Rickenbacker. The Lafayette Escadrille used a Seminole Indian insignia until April 1917, and a Sioux Indian insignia thereafter. The squadron initially flew the famous Nieuport fighting scouts, and was equipped with the heavier and stronger Spad later in the conflict. Many of the pilots preferred to fly the Nieuport because of its tremendous maneuverability. The Nieuport 17 was one of the most distinctive single-seat fighters of the War. This French-built aircraft was utilized by British, Belgian, Italian, American, and Russian airmen. Two of the most famous British aces, Billy Bishop and Albert Ball, flew Nieuports for much of their service. The design of the Nieuport is attributed to Franz Schneider who had suggested that a good compromise between a monoplane and a biplane would be a design utilizing a large upper wing and a much smaller lower wing. The resulting aircraft was much stronger than the early monoplane designs which suffered from frequent structural failures. The Nieuport 17 was initially powered by a 130 HP Clerget or a smaller 110 HP Le Rhone engine. The Nieuport 17 entered service in May 1916. Its performance at that time was superior to any fighting aircraft. It was about 10 percent faster than any other aircraft in service and could climb to 10,000 feet in approximately ten minutes. The Germans thought enough of this aircraft that they produced an improved copy of the 13-metre Nieuport Type-11 Baby. Aviation artist Stan Stokes, in his outstanding painting entitled Stuck in the Mud, shows a Nieuport of the Lafayette Escadrille in the process of being extricated from the mud following an aborted takeoff. The Lafayette Escadrille was absorbed into the 103rd Aero Squadron USAS in 1918 with Americas official entry into the War. |
Tanks on the Marne - France, 18th July 1918 by David Pentland. Schneider CA1 Tanks of the French tenth army spearhead the successful counter offensive against the German army on the river Marne. Overhead a tenacious Junkers JI artillery spotter dogs their tracks. The Second Battle of the Marne, though not an overwhelming victory, spelt the end of German successes on the Western front, and a turning point for the allies. |
Tribute to Pierre Dufaur de Gavardie by Ivan Berryman. French Ace Pierre Dufaur de Gavardie claimed a total of six victories - four aircraft and two observation balloons between March and November 1916. He was badly wounded in early 1917 and despite recovering, would not fly in the war again. Pictured here in his Nieuport 11, he flew with Escadrille 12 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, Legion d'honneur and Medal Militaire. He died aged 76 in 1966. |
Tribute to Georges Lachmann by Ivan Berryman. Georges Lachmann was a French Ace pilot credited with a total of 9 victories during World War One. He is shown here in his Spad S.VII armed with Le Prieur rockets lining up to claim one of four balloon victories, this being one of the three balloons he claimed in Russia in late 1917. Notable for becoming an Ace while surviving as a serving pilot from the beginning to the end of the war, he lived into his 70s and died in 1961. |
|
Contact Details |
|
Sign Up To Our Newsletter!
This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com
|
 |
