Hurricane Mk1 Oil on Canvas 500 x 750mm

[ArtickWarspite]

Hi everyone,

 

Here's my first attempt at an aviation painting. I do quite a bit of painting as a hobby so it was inevitable that this would one day become a subject. This one will be going into a show at the end of the month.

The Hurricane in question is Hurricane MK1 GN-H (V6683) flown by F/O Percival Ross Frames Burton during the Battle of Britain.

 

I chose this subject simply because I was building a Hurricane at the time which became the model for the painting. 

 

Having not done one of these before, some feedback would be good if you could!

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

WOW ... Thats good ! Very nice Tribute to F/O Burton. 

[Britman]

Very nice, you must do more.

[Pauls9cb]

That's a great and atmospheric painting, really well executed. Green with envy. A question on the Hurri's markings since Percy Burton famously lost his life near where I live and I've done quite a bit of research on his loss and that of the Bf 110 he collided with. One of the few details that eluded me, despite contact with several knowledgeable members of the 249 Squadron Association, was the individual a/c id which you show as "H". Few individual a/c id letters seemed clear (production number notwithstanding) and I established that on 27 Sept 1940 when he was lost, he was probably part of A Flight's Red Section led by PO John Beazley along with Titch Palliser who claimed to have seen Burton's final attacks. Could you let me know where you found the info showing Burton was flying "H". Maybe it's not meant to show the early morning sortie on 27/9/40 since it's well known that, while pilots had preferred a/c, they often used different machines. Any suggestions much appreciated. I made the Hasegawa 1/48 Hurri as Burton's V6683 but opted for the id letter "D" since it appeared nobody had any accurate opinion. Paul

[keefr22]

That's very nice! I really like your colour palette, in particular for the land and cloudscapes. I'm not sure that's the most flattering angle of a Hurricane, but it's very well painted!

 

Good work!

 

Keith

[MarkSH]

Nice painting I agree with Keith's comments above, you have achieved a nice tonal balance and strong colour range, however the angle is a difficult one to get right. One thing that stands out is the ellipses and relative sizes of the roundels on both the underside of the wings and the fuselage, if you are a modeler as well, have a look at one of your models and see how the dihedral, however small, of a pair of wings and the curve of the fuselage affects the ellipse shape and thickness of the roundel bands.

Keep it up, you have good control of paint.

[Nils]

Now rhat’s a lovely piece of art. Truly well composed and beautifully painted.

[ArtickWarspite]

Thanks for all the kind words. 

 

I appreciate the feedback. There were multiple reasons that the aircraft ended up at that angle, though the majority is Inexperience as I was ultimately fixated on creating as much space in the painting as possible, and that angle created a lot. Also the model I'm currently building of it was a work in progress and things like roundels & letters etc were all hand copied and those shapes in particular are extremely hard to draw convincingly. Will definitely do another one as it was quite enjoyable.

 

14 hours ago, Pauls9cb said:

That's a great and atmospheric painting, really well executed. Green with envy. A question on the Hurri's markings since Percy Burton famously lost his life near where I live and I've done quite a bit of research on his loss and that of the Bf 110 he collided with. One of the few details that eluded me, despite contact with several knowledgeable members of the 249 Squadron Association, was the individual a/c id which you show as "H". Few individual a/c id letters seemed clear (production number notwithstanding) and I established that on 27 Sept 1940 when he was lost, he was probably part of A Flight's Red Section led by PO John Beazley along with Titch Palliser who claimed to have seen Burton's final attacks. Could you let me know where you found the info showing Burton was flying "H". Maybe it's not meant to show the early morning sortie on 27/9/40 since it's well known that, while pilots had preferred a/c, they often used different machines. Any suggestions much appreciated. I made the Hasegawa 1/48 Hurri as Burton's V6683 but opted for the id letter "D" since it appeared nobody had any accurate opinion. Paul

I have also done extensive research into this, and the 249 squadron Operations Record Book say he flew the following Hurricane's during September 1940:

 

Flew P3384- on 2nd September 1940 & made forced landing after dogfight.

Flew V6610- 3rd, 5th September

Flew V7313- 8th September

Flew V6566- 9th September

Flew V6683- 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th – 19th, 22nd– 27th September

Flew P3834- 13th September

Flew P3615- 20th September

 

Also here:

 

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Hurricane/RAF-249Sqn-GN.html

 

And there is also another painting of his Hurricane wearing the GN-H code ramming the Me110. Just google image it. 

All the sources I have found all point to GN-H. Aside from your Hurricane, I have not seen any reference with GN-D..

 

Also try and get a copy of Brian Cull's book 249 squadron at war. From memory that may tell you what flight he was in...

 

 

 

[Pauls9cb]

Hi - Thanks for your reply on this. There's no doubt that Percy flew V6683 on 27/9/40 but I think the individual id letter remains unclear. My use of D on my model was a pure guess on my part but even Tom Neil admits that, while he favoured one a/c, he often flew different ones according to operational needs. Below is an extract of a summary I made of my own research which effectively failed to identify Percy's a/c id:

 

Known aircraft and markings

6/9/40 S/L John Grandy shot down by 109s over Maidstone in GN-J (R4229).

7/9/40 F/O Pat HV Wells baled out wounded from GN-0 (P3594) over Faversham.

Tom Neil frequently flew GN-F (V7313), which was lost over the Thames Estuary while he was on leave flown by Frenchman Adjutant Georges Perrin on 12/10/40.

28/9/40 P/O A Gerald Lewis baled out burned over Faversham from GN-R (V6617).

11/10/40 P/O JJ Solak crashed GN-Z (V6728) on landing.

Station Commander Victor Beamish flew GN-B

 

A Flight numbers ran from A – M.

B Flight numbers ran from N – Z.

 

Squadron structure for morning of 27/9/40

A Flight

Red section

Red 1              P/O H. John S. Beazley

Red 2              Bentley Beard or Burton

Red 3              Sgt. G.Charles (Tich).C. Palliser

 

Yellow section

Yellow 1          “Butch” Barton?

Yellow 2          P/O Tom F. Neil (Ginger). Said to have commented that he was flying GN C but others suggest C was flown by George Barclay.

Yellow 3          P/O Keith.T. Lofts

 

B Flight

Blue 1              Sgt. J.B. Mills

Blue 2              Possibly P/O A.Gerald. Lewis (GN-R V6617?)

Blue 3              ?

 

Green section

Green 1           P/O J.R.Bryan. Meaker

Green 2           Sgt. H.J. Davidson (“Appy Arry”)

Green 3           P/O P.A. Worrall

 

Others

Denis Parnall

“Ozzie” Crossey

“Boost” Fleming

George Barclay

 

 

Percy Burton crash site on New Barn Farm. Owner Chris Weller, details hopefully to follow.

 

+++++++

 

My guess is nobody really knows despite the aziz stuff but I'm always ready to be pointed in the right direction. It doesn't take away what a fantastic painting you've created and I remain deeply envious.

Paul.

[stevej60]

Beautifully crafted piece,love especially the green field's which look superbly done and the aircraft blends into the scene rather than dominate's it

which as a modeller and enthusiast would be an easy mistake to make,year's ago I was manager of a  stores furniture dept.I over saw the picture

gallery and got a severe earbashing for buying framed aviation print's from my boss till the thing's started "flying" off the wall,we were even taking order's

for one Vulcan print at nearly £70 a pop and that was back in the early nineties,I still have two beauties on the wall today I think the Hurricane trio echo's

your's they  don't dominate but still very evocative!

Edited June 13, 2018 by stevej60

[keefr22]

14 hours ago, ArtickWarspite said:

things like roundels & letters etc were all hand copied and those shapes in particular are extremely hard to draw convincingly.

 

I couldn't agree more, they always cause trouble (& much bad language!)

 

Keith

[DMC]

You have absolutely nailed the cloudscape.  Years ago I. tried my hand at aviation art and I really struggled with getting the clouds and landscape to look convincing.  True, not many artists would choose to show an airplane subject from underneath, but why not?  Did you sketch it freehand?  National insignia and lettering are very difficult to draw freehand.  I suspect most aviation artists use some sort of image transfer to get the outline correct and then add the details.  I used slides of models I built, insignia and lettering included, and then projected the image onto a sheet of transparent paper and transferred that to the canvas and added the details.  I have hundreds of slides I took of most of the principal combat airplanes of WWll.  Very tempted at times to get back into it.

 

Your painting reminds me of something Frank Wooten might have done.  I’m sure he drew his airplanes freehand as they have a very painterly look about them.  In fact, to me, his paintings often look like cloudscapes with an airplane added for interest. 

 

Anyway, by all means keep at it.  I think you have the knack.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[ejboyd5]

Roundels look fine to me.  I particularly like the three dimensional nature of the clouds.  Good luck with the show.

[ArtickWarspite]

17 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Beautifully crafted piece,love especially the green field's which look superbly done and the aircraft blends into the scene rather than dominate's it

which as a modeller and enthusiast would be an easy mistake to make,year's ago I was manager of a  stores furniture dept.I over saw the picture

gallery and got a severe earbashing for buying framed aviation print's from my boss till the thing's started "flying" off the wall,we were even taking order's

for one Vulcan print at nearly £70 a pop and that was back in the early nineties,I still have two beauties on the wall today I think the Hurricane trio echo's

your's they  don't dominate but still very evocative!

Thanks, yes that is a fine print. I like how the sun creates a strong contrast against the aircraft which in turn enhances their lines. 

[ArtickWarspite]

19 hours ago, Pauls9cb said:

Hi - Thanks for your reply on this. There's no doubt that Percy flew V6683 on 27/9/40 but I think the individual id letter remains unclear. My use of D on my model was a pure guess on my part but even Tom Neil admits that, while he favoured one a/c, he often flew different ones according to operational needs. Below is an extract of a summary I made of my own research which effectively failed to identify Percy's a/c id:

 

Known aircraft and markings

6/9/40 S/L John Grandy shot down by 109s over Maidstone in GN-J (R4229).

7/9/40 F/O Pat HV Wells baled out wounded from GN-0 (P3594) over Faversham.

Tom Neil frequently flew GN-F (V7313), which was lost over the Thames Estuary while he was on leave flown by Frenchman Adjutant Georges Perrin on 12/10/40.

28/9/40 P/O A Gerald Lewis baled out burned over Faversham from GN-R (V6617).

11/10/40 P/O JJ Solak crashed GN-Z (V6728) on landing.

Station Commander Victor Beamish flew GN-B

 

A Flight numbers ran from A – M.

B Flight numbers ran from N – Z.

 

Squadron structure for morning of 27/9/40

A Flight

Red section

Red 1              P/O H. John S. Beazley

Red 2              Bentley Beard or Burton

Red 3              Sgt. G.Charles (Tich).C. Palliser

 

Yellow section

Yellow 1          “Butch” Barton?

Yellow 2          P/O Tom F. Neil (Ginger). Said to have commented that he was flying GN C but others suggest C was flown by George Barclay.

Yellow 3          P/O Keith.T. Lofts

 

B Flight

Blue 1              Sgt. J.B. Mills

Blue 2              Possibly P/O A.Gerald. Lewis (GN-R V6617?)

Blue 3              ?

 

Green section

Green 1           P/O J.R.Bryan. Meaker

Green 2           Sgt. H.J. Davidson (“Appy Arry”)

Green 3           P/O P.A. Worrall

 

Others

Denis Parnall

“Ozzie” Crossey

“Boost” Fleming

George Barclay

 

 

Percy Burton crash site on New Barn Farm. Owner Chris Weller, details hopefully to follow.

 

+++++++

 

My guess is nobody really knows despite the aziz stuff but I'm always ready to be pointed in the right direction. It doesn't take away what a fantastic painting you've created and I remain deeply envious.

Paul.

I'll do some more looking int this. I had some more information stored on a hard drive about this which recently packed up, so when time allows I will back track and look at my sources. 

 

Thanks to everyone who has been so kind as to comment with your supportive words. I'm going to take a small break and build a commission 1/600 HMS King George V, but will be researching more for the next aviation painting. The feedback you guys have  provided has been noted and will be incorporated into the next one. 

 

Any ideas as to what aircraft you want to see painted next? At this point we'll keep with the WWII subject..

[Nils]

19 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

I couldn't agree more, they always cause trouble (& much bad language!)

 

Keith

Something I learned in my younger days and still use to check a drawing is to mirror it for any errors. It sticks out instantly in a mirrored image.

[Greg Law]

That is a very good painting. This is another interest of mine. I have six prints of some of the best painters. I would have a lot more, but I don't have the walls to put them. My favorite is 'Hurricane country' by Nicolas Trudgian. I did some research on the crashed Ju 88 in the painting. It looks like it was taken from a photo of a Ju 88 that crashed on a beach. Everything matches including the guards and the hole in the canopy. Still it is a great painting the background is really nice. This is why I like this painting.

[bobsyouruncle]

Lovely painting. I like the atmospheric feel you've created around the aircraft. Great job.

Cheers Bob.