by Joel R. Simpson

Artwork Description

NAVY'S NEW FIGHTER_MONTAGE

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One of the eras of aviation which has intrigued me has been what is known as 'The Interwar Period'. The period from the end of the First World War (1918) to the beginning of the Second World War (1939). For the field of aviation, this was the time period of the 'Barn Stormers', the first 'Air Shows', the opening of the US Postal Service Air Mail Branch, the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It was a time period for setting aviation records for the highest flyer, the fastest airplane, time and speed records. It was the era of Charles Lindburgh, Emilia Earhart, Col. Billy Mitchell, the first Black American female of Native descent, Bessie Coleman to make aviation history. It was also the era which saw the first movies heralding the brave and dangerous exhorts of American fighter pilots during the Great War; movies such as "Wings - 1927" and "Hell's Angels - 1930". Air travel began during this time, first from New York to Chicago, then New York, to Chicago, to Los Angeles... coast-to-coast air travel came into being along with bigger airplanes to carry the people with ready cash, time, and the constitution for air travel. It was also a time of experimentation in new, advanced, aviation designs to machine and human endurance. This is when we learned that if pilots are to fly ever higher, they need to have the means to keep them from passing out due to hypoxia as well as making sure the aircraft has the ability to at those heights. No pun intended but the sky was the limit. In spite of the importance aviation played during the Great War, military aviation was gradually accepting the need for a military air wing for both the US Army and the US Navy. By 1927, fledgling aviation manufacturers such as Boeing, Wright, Grumman, Martin, etc... were regularly designing and producing prototypes of aircraft to meet the military's needs. In the painting "Navy's New Fighter" we see a Boeing F4B-3 fighter plane. Even by 1927, the biplane was still the developmental standard for aircraft design however, these planes were manufactured using new methods in manufacturing, replacing wood framing with lightweight metals such as aluminum and more powerful radial engines with improved propeller designs. This particular F4B-3 belongs to the VBF-1 Squadron, known as the 'Top Hatters' from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga CV-3. Many pilots enjoyed flying this little fighter, it had speed, maneuverability, and it was just fun to fly. Unfortunately, by 1933 the world was quickly changing, Japan had been at war in China since 1930, Adolf Hitler will be elected to the Reich Stag in 1932 and begins a robust rearmament program for Germany in strict violation to the Versailles Treaty, and Mussolini of Italy continued it pursuit of imperial glory in Africa. With this global change came a need to keep pace with the three potential adversary's military advancements. By 1933, virtually all of aircraft developed during 1927 to 1932 had become horribly obsolete.

Artwork Details

Medium: Painting Acrylic

Genre: Figurative