Aeroplane Monthly – Missing in action…??

Not for air shows 🙂

They don’t count anyway they don’t Spit.

You may have sorted February’s edition out then 🙂

Junk Collector
Didn’t they use Seafires in the Korean War?:)

What about the early to mid Cold War period? It seems to have been totally passed over in the main.

because they had stopped using Spitfires by then !

It is more to do with tried and tested ways of selling magazines and, frankly, having to compete with all the clamour on the news stands. The cover needs to grab attention in a few seconds, impart quick and easy information about the range of content… and then sell itself as a result!

I don’t think anyone can honestly say that the Aeroplane cover would be much nicer/clearer without the ad for the Soviet article in the lower left corner.
Really takes away from the main image.
Many magazines are trying hard at being more like TV and film and end up far too “busy”….Magazines for people with short attention spans or constant need for motion.

Aww bless.

What’s that supposed to mean…?

Cross & Cockade journal

Ony covers WW1 – and £6.50 a copy??!

Automobil Sport

A German car rag – really??
I bet the paper’s spiffing – it will be as the German government pays for it…

The Aviation Historian

I agree, excellent.

Classic Wings

Good, but tends to concentrate on Oz/NZ subjects.

Meng Air Modeler

How can you compare a model mag with a full size magazine?

I’m not sure if you have direct links with Aeroplane or Flypast

None whatsoever, just someone whose appalled by petty criticism of the hard working Aeroplane editorial and art team.

You seem to be lumping FP and Aeroplane together.
FP has an awful layout, I think Aerplane is superb.

OK?

Sorry, to me, first version dull and uninviting: Second version dynamic and interesting.

It’s a modern magazine, we’re living in 2015, not 1950.
Magazines on shelves in newsagents have to vie for cutomers, they have to catch the eye.

Each to his own, I think the last few editions of Aeroplane have been amongst the best for a long time.

You’re spot on, times do and have changed.
And who are these ‘others’ who are supposedly doing ‘better things very nicely’??

Some people are never happy…

Aww bless. I’m certainly perfectly happy – happy reading quality magazines that are in the ‘others’ category – the afore-mentioned, sublime, Cross & Cockade journal, the also-sublime Automobil Sport. Then The Aviation Historian. Last time I looked, Classic Wings too. Meng Air Modeler. How’s that for a start? – there are MANY more, all of which I am more than happy with.

I’m not sure if you’ve read the many comments in previous posts regarding overly-busy text, poor layout etc (most of which are not mine), but clearly I am not alone in my views. I’m not sure if you have direct links with Aeroplane or Flypast, but if you do I find it strange that you wouldn’t want to do a better job.

Bottom line is that I have those many better-quality magazines to spend my money on, so I shan’t be committing cash to Aeroplane or Flypast any time soon. It just seems a shame that (at least it would appear so – and Flypast in particular) these mags aren’t interested in acting on constructive criticism.

First version: classy and understated; second version: cluttered and fussy.

Sorry, to me, first version dull and uninviting: Second version dynamic and interesting.

It’s a modern magazine, we’re living in 2015, not 1950.
Magazines on shelves in newsagents have to vie for cutomers, they have to catch the eye.

Each to his own, I think the last few editions of Aeroplane have been amongst the best for a long time.

I shall await some sort of “times change/we can’t afford it/whatever” response, still in the knowledge that somehow others are still doing better things very nicely, despite it apparently being impossible for Aeroplane and Flypast to do it.

You’re spot on, times do and have changed.
And who are these ‘others’ who are supposedly doing ‘better things very nicely’??

Some people are never happy…

I don’t buy any of them anymore.I used to but i set a price limit on what i would pay and when it went above it that was it.I do have to say that i feel the new cover is very over cluttered,too much information in an area,over powering so in the end non of the images look at their best.As for printing the writing on top of photos thats just horrible to read.

It is. And what’s wrong with the cover? A superb piece of dramatic art…

I don’t get it. Presumably if it was a Roy Cross watercolour you’d be happy?
This has a lot more to do with not liking change than anything to do with bad art.

‘The Aeroplane’ frequently used the art of the day on its front cover – Usually an advert too! Why was that OK then, but not now?

First version: classy and understated; second version: cluttered and fussy. I’m not just talking about the CGI box top rendition either.

Not sure what your obsession with Roy Cross is, but I think the difference is plain to see.

And I didn’t have a problem with photos on the cover by the way.

I shall await some sort of “times change/we can’t afford it/whatever” response, still in the knowledge that somehow others are still doing better things very nicely, despite it apparently being impossible for Aeroplane and Flypast to do it.

Nige what week (date) and year is that cover on the left please?

…and people have been saying that Aeroplane’s been getting better?

It is. And what’s wrong with the cover? A superb piece of dramatic art…

I don’t get it. Presumably if it was a Roy Cross watercolour you’d be happy?
This has a lot more to do with not liking change than anything to do with bad art.

‘The Aeroplane’ frequently used the art of the day on its front cover – Usually an advert too! Why was that OK then, but not now?

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Had a pic of the Malta sound mirror and few notes in Aeroplanes letter page this month

I agree about WW2 having been very extensively covered. There really can’t be that many surviving veterans who will still be there to tell their undoubtedly interesting and probably courageous stories. What about the early to mid Cold War period? It seems to have been totally passed over in the main. There must be thousands of Aircrew and Groundcrew with exciting and interesting tales to tell like flying FAA Helicopters in Borneo, Beverlies in the Middle East, Venoms in the Far East, Javelins in Germany, Gannets into Malta etc etc. I hope when my RAF service period becomes “fashionable” that I will be able to publish some of the thousands of pictures that I took of the RAF at work at home and abroad. Until then, they will remain gathering dust…

. Before the merger both magazines competed against each other and tended to be based on the same sort of format focusing on mainly military subjects, often mainly WW2,

Which is why I rarely bought them. In my opinion WW2 has been done to death, and I for one am pleased that Aeroplane has broken free from that particular rut and has branched out into more civilian and preservation based articles.

Don’t get me wrong I am a fan of digital art, just not some of the stuff being used and the way it is being used in the likes of Aeroplane and Flypast.
One of the jewels in the crown on the takeover must have been the photographic archive that Aeroplane was / is renowned to have. Why oh why must they use CGI artwork when they must have an extensive archive of images possibly not published or seen for years, I just wish they would use them more, after all it’s what the magazine is all about.

Andy thanks for the explanation, the cover is maybe what’s putting across the increased aviation content.

BTW as I said I love CGI art, this is my favorite artist John Liberto, who did a lot of the Halo designs etc…. Simply stunning, scroll down and look at my favorite image which is the shot of a B17 taking a direct hit to one engine… Now hats better CGI and in a different class. See

http://conceptartworld.com/?p=899

Publishers engaged in an ‘issue race’ for many years. If your magazine was on the bookstalls with a December date, and the competitors cover said January they outsold you by a margin. So each publisher moved their cover dates back as far as possible resulting in the stupid stalemate we see today.

Much like the one guy who stands up in an airshow enclosure, leading to everyone else having to stand, and none of them being any better off.

Moggy

Yes and yes! I see and fully agree.

Your wish has been granted! http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?137288-Aeroplane-Monthly-January-issue-Soviet-military-aviation-special!

…and people have been saying that Aeroplane’s been getting better?

I would love to see the front cover of the January 2016 issue…

Your wish has been granted! http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?137288-Aeroplane-Monthly-January-issue-Soviet-military-aviation-special!

My copy arrived in today’s post with an index for 2014.