Ian Kennedy

I consider the master of drawing aircraft to be Ian Kennedy. He still draws the covers for some of the “Commando” books and has specialised in aviation strips throughout his extensive career in the comics. I’ve yet to find out whether he’s ever done a Whirwind strip but he is an absolute master of drawing all aircraft whether ancient or modern.

Positive stuff – “new-build Whirlwind and 110 to dogfight at Legends”, “Stirling found in Russian barn”, that sort of thing.

Unusual takes on aviation photography – rare planes, colour schemes, sites.

Scrapyard stuff is incredible but ultimately rather depressing.

How about…Those four cannons in the nose – no other Brit aircraft had that punch at the time. Great visibility from the cockpit. It could fly (within limits) on one engine. Longer range than any other Brit fighter for many years (great for bomber escort). Lots of later successful aircraft had roughly similar layout – P38, Hornet, Meteor.

I seem to recall Westland were criticised for putting too much emphasis on Lysander production rather than the Whirlwind.

KC135?

St Mere Eglise on the Cherbourg peninsular is well worth a visit. Omaha Beach and Pointe Du Hoc, too.

In 1990, I went to Berlin to see Roger Waters (formerly of Pink Floyd) put on a massive version of The Wall album on Potzdamer Platz. Leonard Cheshire was there to promote a new charity for disaster relief. He got seriously booed by a very militant crowd. The mayor of Berlin got even more heckling (not sure of the political reasons behind this). I later read that Waters wanted a couple of WW2-era bombers to fly over during one part of the concert but he was told that this might cause distress to elderly Berliners and the idea was dropped. Not sure what the situation would be like today.

What a great model! I’m slightly biased but always liked the lines of the Whirlwind. I think it owed a lot to the Art Deco styles of the 30s. Didn’t the designer of the Whirlwind, WEW Petter, also design the Gnat – another very attractive design that never reached it’s full potential?