QN SPRING 23 COMPLETE V1

QUARTERLY 

N EWS 

SPRING 2023 

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS 

WWW.GAVA.ORG.UK 

Lightning strikes twice! 

The 50th Anniversary Annual Exhibition poster painting 

is by Guild President Michael Turner P&FGAvA 

CONTENTS INCLUDE... 

From The Chair - Andrew Latham 3 

AGM 2023 Report - Richard Wheatland 4-9 

2023 Annual Poster - Michael Turner 10 

Waterbird Book - Anne Hughes 11 

Blowing up a Spitfire - Chris French 12 

Peter Nield RIP 13 

A Tale of Two Towers - Graham Henderson 14-15 

Region Meeting Reports 16-28 

2023 Submission Report 29 

MAVAS & Aviation Magazines 30 

Caption Competition 30 

HQ contact information 31 

The Back Page - Roy Nockolds 32 

GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023

DIARY 2023 DATES & VENUES 

FROM THE CHAIR 

Andrew Latham GAvA 

QN EDITORS 

Robert Calow GAvA 

David Calow GAvA 

Welcome to your Spring QN 

Work continues apace as we approach our 

first live exhibition since 2019. IWM Duxford 

offers the Guild an opportunity to show our 

artwork at a new exiting venue and fitting 

that it is our 50th too at a major aviation 

museum. There has been a lot of hard work 

going on to bring the new Annual to fruition 

in June and thanks go to all involved. Well 

done also to everyone who was successful 

in having work accepted. 

Our QN front cover is President Michael 

Turner’s painting ‘Lightning Strikes Twice’ 

which is the Annual Exhibition poster -the 

RAF’s Lightning aircraft both old and new. 

We report on the very successful 2023 

AGM Hendon weekend showing much 

good work produced on both days as 

well as the necessary official duties. Our 

thanks go to South East Region organiser 

Richard Wheatland GAvA and colleagues 

for putting the weekend together. Your 

Eds were honoured (and very surprised!) 

to receive the Air League Trophy from 

Chairman Andrew. It made us realise that 

remarkably, we have been members of 

the Guild since 2003 and QN Eds for some 

12 years! 

Articles include the Waterbird book launch 

at Turweston Aerodrome which contains 

Guild artwork from the Liverpool Airport 

sketching day and a follow up from 

Graham Henderson to his previous P38 

Lightning and Control Tower story. 

The Back Page looks at Roy Nockolds, 

the ‘Name behind the Award’. Roy was 

involved with the earlier aviation art 

societies before becoming one of the 

Founder Members of the Guild in 1971 

and Chairman from 1975-77. The Nockolds 

Trophy is awarded to the best work at the 

Annual by public vote. 

Finally, we would like to send our best 

birthday wishes to Hugo Trotter on the 

occasion of his Centenary. Congratulations 

Hugo! 

We hope to see some of you at the Annual 

exhibition at Duxford. 

Robert and David 

Midland Region Meetings 

Sat 10th June 

Sun 16th July 

Sat 19th August 

Sat 23rd September 

Sat 21st October 

Sat 25th November 

East Anglian Region Meetings 

Sun 21st May 

Sat 1st July 

Sat 22nd July 

West Region Meeting 

Sat 1st July 

Sat 29th July 

Sat 9th September 

Sat 7th October 

RAF Cosford pre Airshow Day 

Hooton Park with mini exhibition 

Newark Air Museum 

Statfold Barn, Tamworth 

Venue to be confirmed 

RAF Museum Midlands, RAF Cosford 

Norfolk & Suffolk Air Museum 

Exhibition and Sketching day 

Little Gransden Airfield 

Shuttleworth Collection 

Wheels & Wings at Middle Wallop 

R N Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton 

Aerospace Bristol, Filton 

Beaulieu Motor Museum, Hampshire 

GAvA Committee Provisional Zoom Meeting Dates 

Mondays - 13th June / 11th Sept / 20th Nov 

Cartoon Corner 

Thankfully with the on-line 

submission this idea wasn’t used... 

by 

It’s submission and exhibition time again... 

and celebrating 80 years 

since the Dambusters raid... 

Thanks again from the Eds to Clyde Anderson AGAvA for all his contributions! 

Spring 2023 

I’m writing this on St. Mary’s in the 

Isles of Scilly, so it might be titled more 

appropriately, ‘From the Deckchair’! 

In actual fact, much of the time here is 

spent walking, boating or admiring the 

scenery which inspires at every turn. 

As ever, I travel with sketchbook which 

appears at any opportunity. The weather 

has been pretty sunny throughout our stay, 

although it has often been necessary to 

seek out some shelter from the cool wind. 

The holiday was booked long before thoughts 

of the annual in June, or indeed our move 

to Rugby, so it has been necessary to try 

and keep the ball rolling and make different 

travel plans accordingly. Thankfully Zoom 

and emails make it all possible. 

2023 Annual Exhibition 

We’re busy putting the final touches to the 

plans for the 50th Annual at IWM Duxford. 

Selection resulted in just over 300 works to 

be hung on the Thursday, once the panels 

have been assembled. The catalogue has 

been prepared by Chris French and features 

one work from each artist exhibiting to make 

it a fitting souvenir of the 50th Aviation 

Paintings of the Year exhibition. Invitations 

have gone out and we are expecting a good 

turn out for the opening on Friday 23rd June, 

among them some eager buyers we hope, 

and all new to an exhibition at Duxford. 

Duxford themselves are very keen to have 

us, enjoying the synergy of our being the 

first group with an aviation background to 

book the conservation space. 

A reminder you will need to book in with 

Martin if you wish to attend so that passes 

can be issued, and the numbers of helpers 

admitted over the weekend may be limited 

by Duxford. 

We are very much looking forward to this 

new venture and the exposure it will give 

to an aviation loving public, as well as 

sales. Good luck to everyone participating 

in the Annual and other events through the 

summer. 

Hugo Trotter DFC 

We spoke with Hugo Trotter this week, and 

he turns 100 in a couple of days. He loves 

the Scillies too and has happy memories of 

past visits. He talks enthusiastically of the 

special spirit that is evoked by the place, 

with which we wholeheartedly agree. 

Hugo reminded us that he was instrumental 

in founding the Guild from beginnings in the 

Kronfeld Club in 1953 to the Kronfeld Art 

Group and then formation of the Guild in 1971. 

As part of his celebrations he has been 

back to Lincolnshire and visited the BBMF. 

He was saying he flew 30 missions in the 

Lancaster with 12 Squadron. He also said 

he had learned to fly in Florida! 

He was much interested in the recent news 

about the Waterbird replica taking to the 

skies in Windermere and connections with 

a Major John Trotter OBE who I think was a 

distant cousin. 

Hugo has been associated with and served 

the Guild in many ways throughout its history 

and we all join in celebrating with him such 

a significant milestone. 

Andrew Latham GAvA 

Chairman 

Hugo has been a familiar face at the 

AGM and Annual exhibition over many 

years. He was the official “opener”at the 

Mall Galleries Annual back in July 2016. 

2 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 

GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 3

THE 2023 AGM WEEKEND AT 

RAF MUSEUM LONDON 

Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th March 2023 

Hosted by the South East Region 

Report by Richard Wheatland GAvA 

It was the turn of the South East Region 

to host the 2023 Annual General Meeting 

Weekend this year and once again 

the Royal Air Force Museum London at 

Hendon was the venue. Familiar territory 

to the S.E. Region members who visit the 

museum twice each year for painting 

and sketching sessions. 

The museum opened in November 1972 

and underwent a major upgrade a few 

years ago, continuing improvements are 

ongoing and for our visit all areas were 

open. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, 

exhibits from the museums art collection 

have been displayed in the art gallery 

space upstairs in Hanger 3. The exhibition 

titled ‘To The Stars’ charts aviation from 

early civil aviation at Hendon through 

to subjects from the cold war era. This 

unique art exhibition remains open until 

7th January 2024. 

Saturday sketching 

It would to be an early than usual 

Saturday start for David Livesley and 

myself in order to arrive at Hendon for 

8.00am and meet with Andrew and 

Janet Latham together with Vicki Hibbert 

who is head of events and catering at 

the RAF Museum Hendon. Once again 

we had been allocated the educational 

suite in Hanger 6 which suits our needs in 

every respect. A comfortable, private, 

well-lit area with enough room for our 

expected attendance and a small 

kitchen area, Janet Latham and Christine 

Thorne very kindly volunteered to supply 

tea, coffee and biscuits at popular times 

over the two days. 

The advance bookings revealed a 

smaller than usual attendance with 

around 30 expected for Saturday and 

43 for Sunday including the AGM itself. 

Less than the AGM 2022 at Cosford but 

we’ve had a ‘cost of living crisis’ since 

then and trips to North London aren’t 

everyone’s cup of tea I guess. 

Members found their way to our meeting 

location as soon as the doors opened 

at 10.00am, by which time we had set 

up our meeting room. My introduction 

contained all the usual do’s and don’ts 

as set out in the museum guidelines and 

risk assessment. I was also able to give 

a few tips on the best areas around the 

museum to work and subjects to work 

from. As we were already running behind 

schedule it was going to be shorter than 

usual session as we planned to meet for 

the critique at 3.00pm. Allowing time for 

the revue, the anticipated to drive to 

the hotel and time to get ready for the 

7.00pm evening meal. 

Our artists quickly dispersed to all corners 

of the site, I usually sketch and paint on 

these occasions but mindful that I’d be 

writing this article I thought it would be 

more beneficial to walk around and 

chat to our members, taking a few 

photographs on the way. It would also 

give me plenty of time to look around 

the ‘To the Stars’ art exhibition. 

Starting in Hanger 6, On the ground 

floor I found Martin Gibbons who had 

just started to draw the nose section of 

the Buccaneer in its desert livery. Rob 

Hames was well on the way with his first 

drawing of the same subject. Up on 

the first Mezzanine Martin Perman had 

started his drawing of the Jaguar in flight 

suspended from the roof. 

I made my way back to Hanger 1 but I 

didn’t find any artists working in what is 

the entrance point, shop and café, it’s 

always the busiest area in the museum. 

Moving on to the historic Grahame-White 

building ‘Hanger 2’ and just one artist, 

Phil Jackson who was just underway with 

his Avro 504 drawing. Across to Hanger 

3 and just inside the hall, returning 

member Dominic Berry had his easel 

set up and his painting of the Kittyyhawk 

was already progressing well, across to 

his left Phil Tucker had set up to work on 

a Hunter / Auster/ Kittyhawk combo in 

Acrylics. Further down the line of Hanger 

3 aircraft, Paul Bennell was busy working 

on the front section of the Hawker 

Tempest in oils. 

Into Hanger 4 and at the far end with 

the helicopters, Damon Poole was busy 

on the Gazelle in his own unique mixed 

media style, moving back into the 

entrance to Hanger 5, David Livesley 

continued with his watercolour and 

gouache painting of the Lancaster, a 

painting that he started at our February 

visit. Through into Hanger 5 and David 

Scrutton was sketching the Liberator and 

Michael Daley the ‘once submerged’ 

Handley Page Halifax. 

South East Region Organiser 

Michael Chapman had chosen 

something different, the Avro Anson 

fuselage on a trailer in watercolour. 

Around the corner our Chairman Andrew 

Latham was working on the Airspeed 

Oxford in water soluble crayon on 

yellow paper. At the far end of Hanger 

5 Andrew Wright was busy sketching the 

Fairey Battle, close by, David Heaton was 

sketching the Lysander white pencil on 

black paper. The P51 Mustang was the 

choice of Graham Henderson and Vicki 

Gunnell, both working in pencil, Graham 

drawing on a grey paper. Derek Blois had 

his easel set up under the Avro Vulcan 

to work on a four-wheeled subject the 

Bomb Disposal Unit Ford Zephyr. Not far 

away and Chris Tyler was making good 

progress on his Mosquito in watercolour. 

As I made my way around inevitably I 

missed a few of our artists, some prefer to 

‘work on the move’ others take a while 

to get underway. From what I’d seen so 

far, I was looking forward to seeing the 

completed works later in the afternoon. 

We always look forward to our ‘Calow 

Critique’ at each AGM, unfortunately 

this year both Robert and David were 

only able to be with us on the Saturday, 

so I quickly changed plans and very 

kindly Robert and David agreed to 

host our Saturday critique session. 

With around 24 pieces to revue in the 

available time frame, the session was 

soon underway. Artists that I missed on 

my travels included Jeremy Linton who 

worked on two drawings in Hanger 2 of 

The Cauldron and Sopwith Triplane. By 

the close of play, Rob Hames had more 

drawings to show including the BE2 and 

Albatros, clearly I should have re-visited 

Hanger 2 later in the day. Phil Jackson 

had added more aircraft to his pencil 

montage, now comprising the Avro 

504, Bleriot, Thunderbolt and Hunter, 

quite an eclectic combination. Two key 

members who I also missed until later in 

the day were Robert and David Calow 

who hadn’t strayed far from our base in 

Hanger 6. Interestingly they both chose to 

feature the semi-circular window end of 

the building in their superb compositions. 

As we’ve come to expect from a ‘Calow 

Critique’ the session was highly informative 

and constructive. The standard and 

variety of the work done over the day, was 

highly impressive as usual. 

To close the afternoon proceedings, our 

Chairman Andrew Latham presented the 

‘Air League Trophy’ to Robert and David 

Calow in recognition of their exceptional 

service to the Guild over many years; 

a complete surprise for the two worthy 

recipients of this prestigious award! 

4 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 5

AGM 2023 RAF MUSEUM LONDON 

A HENDON SATURDAY SELECTION 

Damon Poole 

Martin Perman 

Andrew Wright 

Andrew Latham 

David Calow 

Paul Bennell 

Graham Henderson 

Martin Gibbons 

Vicky Gunnell 

Robert Calow 

Phil Tucker 

David Livesley 

Phil Jackson 

Rob Hames 

Mike Daley 

Rob Hames 

David Heaton 

David Scrutton 

Chris Tyler 

Derek Blois 

Dominic Berry 



AGM 2023 RAF MUSEUM LONDON 

Report by Richard Wheatland GAvA 

Saturday evening meal 

The Barn Hotel, Ruislip 

One of the biggest challenges to running 

an AGM weekend in London is finding a 

suitable and affordable hotel. 

The hotel that we used last time was 

‘unavailable’ but fortunately Andrew 

and Janet knew of a hotel in Ruislip that 

fitted our needs and pockets. The only 

slight downside was that it was between 

12 and 15 miles away depending on the 

route chosen, and London traffic and 

road conditions can be problematic. 

As it turned out The Barn Hotel in Ruislip 

proved to be a ‘hidden gem’, but as 

anticipated, it took a while to get there 

through the Saturday early evening 

traffic and various roadworks on route. 

Awards 

There were a reduced number of awards 

presented at this AGM. Those were as 

follows:- 

The Flight Trophy 

‘Aviation Painting of the Year’ 2022 

James Robins for “Hunting Pirates” 

James wasn’t able to be present. 

(see Winter 22/23 QN) 

The Wilkinson Sword Poignard 

Best work in oils by Full or Associate 

Member in the 2021 exhibition. 

Chris Stothard GAvA. 

Promotions 

New Fellow 

Alex Hamilton FGAvA 

New Full Members 

Phil Hadley GAvA 

Nicholas Harder 

Those who stayed over at the hotel 

however enjoyed an excellent evening 

buffet-style dinner and breakfast. As 

always it was good to catch up with 

fellow Guild members, some who we 

only see this once a year at the moment. 

Jack Froelich (Unjuried Show 2nd place) 

Sunday AGM 

RAF Museum London 

Sunday AGM day, a 10.00am start 

although it seemed earlier as it was the 

start of British Summer Time! 

Time though for a hearty breakfast, 

check out of the hotel and a much 

quicker Sunday morning drive into the 

museum. As is customary at each AGM 

Sunday, we have our ‘unjuried show’ for 

Friend members and Phil Jackson was 

ready in good time to handle the entries 

as the artists arrived. Entries were rather 

thin on the ground this year again with 

just three paintings all entered by Jack 

Froelich. So Jack was guaranteed the 

win; the question was which painting 

would get the most votes? 

The first meeting of the day was the ‘Full 

Members Meeting’ which was attended 

by a good number of Full Members. 

Various topics discussed ranged from the 

inclusion ‘or not’ into the Guild of digital 

art/digital artists, the arrangements 

for the forthcoming Duxford Annual 

Exhibition and any plans or ideas for 

future exhibitions. 

It was a productive discussion with 

several Full Members including myself, 

contributing plenty to the discussions. 

Fortunately we had other members’ 

paintings brought in on Sunday for 

perusal by the members present. 

Our Sunday critique hosts were Graham 

Cooke and Paul Couper and starting 

with the three ‘unjuried’ entries, Graham 

and Paul worked through the assembled 

works, giving excellent informed 

comment and advice. 

After a break for lunch it was on with the 

main event the Annual General Meeting 

which as usual, ran through without any 

problems. The Annual General Meeting 

ended at around 4.00pm. 

Although attendance at this year’s AGM 

was somewhat lower than usual, I hope 

those present enjoyed our annual get 

together at the museum. 

I would like to thank all the members 

who helped with the organisation of this 

year’s event; Andrew and Janet Latham 

who did all the advance booking 

arrangements, Vicki Hibbert at the 

museum for her help, both at this event 

and all the sketching and painting days 

that our area group attends at Hendon, 

Richard Thorne our Secretary, for 

manning the check-in desk and keeping 

things running smoothly and Janet 

Latham ‘again’ with Christine Thorne for 

the tea, coffee and biscuits throughout 

the weekend. Thanks also to David 

Livesley who came along with me to 

help set up and take down the meeting 

room, Phil Jackson who managed the 

unjuried show once again and our four 

‘critters’ Robert, David, Graham and Paul 

for the two excellent critique sessions on 

Saturday and Sunday. 

Richard Wheatland GAvA. 

South East Region Organiser 

The Unjuried Show 

The Winner of The Unjuried Show 2023 

was Jack Froelich for his painting “Air Mail 

Special Delivery”, his painting “Sopwith 

Pup” was placed second. 

The Air League Trophy 

For outstanding service to the Guild 

Robert Calow GAvA David Calow GAvA 

Vince Nevin GAvA 

New Associate Members 

Nicholas Harder AGAvA 

Benjamin Holmes AGAvA 

Darren Howlett AGAvA 

Russ Proctor AGAvA 

Congratulations to all the award winners 

and the newly promoted members. 

Damon Poole 

David Livesley 

Ieuan Layton-Matthews 

Some of the work reviewed in the critique 

8 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS NEWS SPRING WINTER 2023 2022/23 


Lightning Strikes Twice! 

Michael Turner P&FGAvA 

WATERBIRD Wings over Windermere - the book 

The recent Midland Region Sketching day 

at Turweston Aerodrome, home of the 

LAA (Light Aircraft Association) coincided 

with the launch of the new book about 

the Waterbird, the first hydro-aeroplane to 

make a successful flight in Britain in 1911. 

We have already featured this major 

project to build a replica Waterbird in 

the QN. The last issue saw a report by 

Phil Hadley covering a comprehensive 

background on the project and a visit to 

Liverpool to draw and sketch the replica 

Waterbird by Midland Region members. 

Some of the art produced on the day has 

subsequently been used in the new book. 

“Waterbird - Wings over Windermere” is 

an A4 softback 80 page, full colour book, 

lavishly illustrated throughout with detailed 

historical plans, posters, photography and 

illustrations charting the development of 

the Waterbird from the early days of the 

20th Century to the present day replica 

and the first flight on the 13th June 2022 

at Windermere. 

The authors are Anne Hughes and Ian 

Gee. Anne is well known to the Guild 

and Midland Region and is a former 

light aircraft pilot, freelance writer and is 

currently Chair of the Vintage Aircraft Club 

and a Trustee for the National Transport 

Trust and the Lakes Flying Company Ltd. 

Ian has a commercial pilots licence and is 

a retired lawyer. His dedication to build the 

replica Waterbird is unrivalled and he has 

inspired the 12-year project and acted as 

Chairman of the Trustees of the Lakes 

Flying Company. His passion and 

enthusiasm for recording the history and 

development of the Waterbird has made 

the book a unique document to one of 

the ground breaking steps in the history of 

aviation in Britain. 

The book sells at £14.99 and is 

available to be purchased fromwww.waterbird.org.uk 

The QN Eds with Anne at 

Turweston Aerodrome 

on launch day 

As a founder member of The Guild, 

when the achievement of 50 years 

since our first Annual Exhibition in 1971 

was due, I felt honoured to be asked 

to produce artwork for the celebratory 

2021 Exhibition. 

The primary objective of a poster is 

to attract attention, with the content 

representing the event using colour, 

contrast and atmosphere as primary 

ingredients. I set my mind firstly on 

content, circling round the concept that 

using a fast military jet on this occasion 

would offer the most scope. Thinking 

of the elapse of fifty years, the iconic 

Lightning interceptor was in current RAF 

service in 1971, a high performance 

machine which would certainly fit the 

bill, and it didn’t take long to realise 

that 50 years later the current fast jet in 

RAF service was the F35, which had also 

been named the Lightning. A perfect 

coincidence, and what a stroke of luck. 

The next step was to scribble out 

variations of viewing angles and 

composition to best fulfil the purpose of 

conveying eye-catching movement, 

speed and drama in an uncomplicated 

visual form. Having decided on the 

subject and composition, the dramatic 

use of colour and contrast should 

maximise a striking result and, hopefully, 

convey the basic objective, to represent 

the achievement of fifty years of The 

Guild’s successful existence portraying 

the world of aviation. 

The artwork, painted in gouache on 

illustration board. was submitted in 

due course, and approved by the 

Committee, but, as we know, the 

advent of COVID 19 overruled the 

holding of the Annual Exhibition in 2021, 

so our 50th has had to be put on hold 

until this year, but the artwork has been 

dusted off, and will still herald the event, 

albeit a couple of years late. 

Michael Turner P&FGAvA 

AVIATION PAINTINGS YEAR 

GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS 

23 - 25 JUNE 2023 

THE CONSERVATION SPACE 

IWM DUXFORD AIRFIELD 

CAMBS, CB22 4QR 

OF 

THE 

The Annual Summer Exhibition 

Detail from “Lightning Strikes Twice” 

- a painting by Michael Turner FGAvA (President) 

Friday 23rd by invitation only 

Open to Duxford 

Summer Airshow visitors 

Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th 

The book is superbly detailed with 

historic photos, plans and excellent 

photography of the replica under 

construction and on Windermere. 


GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 11 

T: 03331 302223 | E: admin@gava.org.uk | www.gava.org.uk

Blowing up a Spitfire 

Chris French FGAvA 

Peter Nield RIP 

It is with great sadness that we report 

that Peter Nield, Hon Secretary, and 

founder member of MAVAS (Manchester 

Aviation Art Society) has passed away. 

Although Robert and I never actually met 

Peter, we had regular communication 

via emails and occasional telephone 

calls as we drew together articles and to 

updated each other on the MAVAS and 

QN magazines. 

Peter had a career in engineering, mainly 

with Avros at Woodford with a bit of kitcar 

building on the side! He took early 

retirement and devoted himself to MAVAS 

being a founder member when it started 

as a branch of the Friends of Manchester 

Museum of Science and Industry. 

Peter was more than an accomplished 

aviation artist and his detailed and 

carefully controlled work was regularly 

seen in the MAVAS magazine. As the 

range of subject matter shown here 

demonstrates, he was at ease portraying 

every era of flight and had a keen eye 

for the composition and important 

background details. 

Peter with the Jim Mackendrick Trophy he won 

most recently in 2021 for his painting of the 

Bristol 188 research jet. 

Robert and I will miss the regular catch 

up and chats about the technical 

issues of aviation art with Peter. He was 

a real gentleman and we pass on our 

condolences to his family. 

In 2020, when the Guild had the ‘A5 

Surprise’ blind auction of small works, 

my contribution was a small oil study of 

a Spitfire banking against a cloudscape 

backdrop. 

Some time later, I was contacted by 

someone who wanted to buy it! I 

explained the principle of the ‘A5 Surprise’ 

through which it was sold and that the 

purchaser wasn’t interested in selling it. 

The potential buyer then decided to 

commission me to do the same work for 

him. Fortunately, he wanted the work 

to be larger than A5 so I was able to 

finesse the painting to a much greater 

degree. He was keen to have exactly 

the same cloudscape and the Spitfire 

banking at the same angle. The only 

difference between the new painting 

and the A5 study (apart from the size) 

was that he wanted me to portray 

Douglas Bader’s Mk V Spitfire (and give 

it the title ‘Homeward Bound’). 

The new work was 16” x 20”, 2½ times 

larger than the A5 Surprise! 

Chris French FGAvA 

Peter’s funeral service took place 

on Thursday 20th April at Radcliffe 

Crematorium, Manchester. 


...and in reverse...sort of! 


Chris’s Spitfire journey reminded me of 

my sort of ‘reverse’ version. 

Ten years ago I painted a large picture 

in acrylics of my favourite Spit, the PR XIX 

flying high as a “Spy in the Sky” for the 

2013 Annual exhibition. I was more than 

pleased to see it find a good home as it 

was sold on the opening day. 

Roll onto 2020 and the ‘A5 Surprise’ amid 

the Covid lockdown. Inspired by the 

colours and clouds, I revisited my PR XIX 

but this time wanted to use my favourite 

coloured pencil crayons, taking a section 

out and making a different landscape 

image. Reducing the size to A5 (more 

than a fifth of the original size) and using 

a mid blue textured Daler pastel paper 

suited the crayon medium perfectly and 

resulted in a new, vibrant, result. 

It turned out to be an interesting 

exercise and I really enjoyed using my 

crayons on such a small-sized project. 

Food for thought! 


Charles Pettit RIP 

We were very sad to learn of the death 

of Charles Pettit. Charles was a VP of the 

Guild and had just stepped down from his 

position as Trustee. Charles was an ardent 

supporter of the Guild over many years 

and a regular attendee at committee 

meetings, willing to give of his vast 

experience and wisdom in so many ways. 

Charles was an ex-Master of the 

Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers 

and supporter of the Big Draw. With great 

foresight, Charles found a successor for 

his trustee position with the Guild, Helena 

Woodhouse. When we met with him to be 

introduced, Charles took off his tie, fittingly 

adorned with aircraft, and gave it to me: 

I wore it at the AGM in tribute. He also 

talked fondly about flying the Atlantic in 

Concorde, something he said he had 

done 30 times. He was a true gentleman, 

with deep enthusiasm for art and flying 

and great to have had his association 

with the Guild over many years. 

Andrew Latham GAvA Chairman 



A Tale of Two Towers 

Graham Henderson GAvA 

I had a very special day in Virginia 

Beach last September but I’d best give 

you the background first! 

I need to go back to 2012 when I was 

commissioned by a new customer to 

portray a WW2 scene at RAF Goxhill/ 

USAAF Station 345. 

My customer, Paul Wilson, didn’t realise 

that I live in Hull, just over the Humber from 

the air base. He wanted me to show a 

P-38 Lightning being demonstrated over 

the airfield by Lockheed’s chief test pilot 

Tony Le Vier. 

To start my research I went over to see 

the airfield. I found that most of the 

wartime buildings still stood, however 

the control tower was missing. I was told 

that the tower was “in America”! Using 

wartime photo’s of the building I was 

able to complete the painting’s view 

over Goxhill airfield. It was well received 

and it now hangs in Paul’s house in 

Scotland, close to a Spitfire by Graham 

Cooke! In the commission process Paul 

and I have become good friends. 

Later, Paul found out where Goxhill’s 

tower was: the Military Aviation Museum 

in Virginia, and he made contact. They 

asked for a file of the painting so that 

the museum could hang a print in their 

recent reconstruction of the control 

tower. They also invited the artist to sign 

it if I was ever in the States! 

In early 2021 I was searching for a 

subject for a new drawing – possibly as 

a first piece for the Guild’s Annual. When 

I suggested a British subject, Paul insisted 

I do something DIFFERENT! I thought 

American for a change: an F-14 Tomcat. 

I bought a kit for reference and found a 

dynamic angle to portray. 

On completion I put it on social media. 

There was a great reaction and to my 

surprise, Bruce McCampbell, the RIO on 

‘my’ aircraft got in touch, to ask for a print! 

We soon became friends and he 

introduced me to a couple of his friends 

and fellow F-14 aircrew. These two 

guys, Leon Phelps and Ric Morrow were 

involved in the story of how the US Navy 

almost grounded their Tomcat fleet. 

There had been an alarming amount of 

F-14 aircraft lost at sea, taking the lives 

of many aircrew. 

Just after take-off from Oceana NAS, and 

while still in the circuit, one of their engines 

exploded. Miraculously, Leon effected a 

controlled crash landing, from which the 

two JUST managed to escape. 

Later, after investigation, it was found 

that the main turbine blades had been 

incorrectly manufactured and were 

shearing in flight with catastrophic results. 

On examination, 26 aircraft were found 

to be at risk… 

I was asked by the guys if I could 

represent this scene in a painting. I 

agreed, but I had no reference to the 

environment, so I had to put it on hold 

– until I ever made it over to the States 

(and Virginia) again. 

Fast forward to September 2022 when 

I accepted an invitation to a relative’s 

wedding in Atlanta, Georgia. 

On thinking about my trip, I wondered 

about the locations of the museum and 

Oceana NAS (Naval Air Station). On 

looking online I was flabbergasted to 

find that they were only 11 miles apart! 

With this information a plan was put 

together: an ‘excursion’ from Atlanta 

airport to Norfolk, Virginia, in a combined 

package with hotel and car. 

I got in touch with Bruce (my F-14 RIO) 

to let him know of my plan and idea. 

Sadly he couldn’t get but he very kindly 

organised it so that a friend who lived 

locally would look after me for the day: 

F-14 Captain Steve Husak (Ret’d), even 

taking me to BOTH venues! 

After collecting me from my hotel we 

went first to Oceana NAS. Firstly we 

looked at the historic collection of US 

Navy jet fighters, then came a visit to 

VFA-211 the ‘Fighting Checkmates’ 

at their hangar and their F/A-18 Super 

Hornets. I HAD to take photo’s for 

possible future use. On explaining my 

wish/hope to have reference images of 

the location of the F-14 crash it was then 

arranged that we go up the Oceana 

control tower – to the conference 

room, a level below Ops. WOW, what 

a panoramic view – not only of two 

aprons FULL of F-18s, but V-22 Ospreys, 

Hercules, Hawkeye, etc. I got all the 

shots I needed – just superb. 

I was pleased to be able to present one 

of my F-14 drawing prints as a thank you 

to the Squadron. I’ve since kept in touch 

with the ex OC and current ‘Boss’. 

Steve then took me to the Military 

Aviation Museum and we met up with 

my contact, museum director Mike 

Potter. We were warmly welcomed 

and were taken over to the hangar 

area and turned a corner… Between 

the trees I spotted the amazing Goxhill 

control tower. It was ‘gobsmacking’, 

just superb! It looked like it had been 

built there originally. On entering, 

Mike gave a great tour showing us 

the original furniture and equipment 

that had been collected. It was when 

we entered the room that featured 

RAF Goxhill that I saw it, ‘my’ painting 

hanging on the wall! It felt SO surreal, 

my work, showing the control in context, 

INSIDE the actual building, but 3,670 

miles from where it once stood. It was a 

great pleasure to realise that Mike had 

studied the painting and knew of the 

smallest details. 

After this we were shown the WW1 

hangar (in a RFC design), the Luftwaffe 

hangar (an actual German building) 

and US Navy hangar – all with superb, 

airworthy, authentic aircraft. It was a 

fabulous place – heaven! 

Later, I was to be a guest of Steve, his 

wife and friends (including a retired USN 

Admiral) for Dinner at their home. At the 

end a superb meal and evening, I was 

able to give a second print as a small 

thank you. 

If I HADN’T drawn this F-14 the whole 

day would NOT have happened, a day 

so brilliant that I had to keep pinching 

myself to make sure it WAS happening! 

Epilogue: 

With reference photo’s from Oceana I 

was able to create ‘Checkmate away’ 

my F/A-18E drawing, representing one 

of their aircraft. I’m delighted that VFA- 

211 have taken some VERY limited 

edition prints. 

I’ve also just completed my F-14 

painting, which has now received 

this feedback from the aircrew, “The 

painting is absolutely perfect.” and “It 

looks like you were there on that day…it 

is beautiful.” It’s made my year! 

Graham Henderson GAvA 

Goxhill’s wonderful control tower is now restored at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia USA! 


MIDLAND REGION MEETING 

Armourgeddon 

Military Museum 

Husbands Bosworth, Leics 

Saturday February 11th 

The trouble with February is that it can 

be cold. Sometimes not just cold, but 

damned effing cold. 

In February 2018, those who were 

present will vividly recall visiting the 

Aston Manor Transport Museum in 

Alldridge, Staffs on a snowy winter’s 

day. That Museum houses a fascinating 

collection of buses and other vehicles 

in a large industrial unit on a trading 

estate. With no heating and filled to 

capacity with large lumps of metal 

vehicles acting as heat sinks, it was 

positively Siberian. 

However, despite the cold temperature, 

we were given a very warm welcome 

by our host who provided unlimited 

teas and coffees throughout the day. 

Our trusty QN Editors, Robert and David 

carried out their usual splendid Critique 

session in the afternoon and their notes 

on our work follow below. 

It was agreed by all to have been a very 

worthwhile visit and I am sure we will 

return one day, but perhaps next time 

we’ll pick a date when the weather will 

be warmer. 

Phil Hadley GAvA 

Midland Region Organiser 

Patrick Fleming 

Robert Calow 

Steve Clayton 

David Calow 

There we were, sketching away, almost 

sitting as close to one another as 

possible in the hope of having some 

shared bodily warmth. But nonetheless 

a great day that has gone down in the 

annals of Midland Region history as 

the venue by which we judge all other 

‘cold’ establishments. 

So, if, - on a score of 1-10 (where 1 = 

warm and 10 = Arctic) we scored 

Aston Manor as a 10, we must surely 

score Armourgeddon Tank Museum a 

veritable 8. 

This farm based Museum near Husbands 

Bosworth in Leicestershire hosts a 

museum of armoured fighting vehicles. 

Also, during their open season, they 

provide paint ball experiences along 

with tank driving within the venue’s 

extensive grounds. 

Bob Spendlove 

Phil Hadley 

Having negotiated Armourgeddon 

would open up especially for us during 

the museum’s closed season, we duly 

turned up at the appointed time to find 

several large units filled with tanks and 

other AFVs. 

Steve Hennah 

As heat sinks go, these huge solid 

chunks of metal can certainly outdo 

buses and whilst there was, in the 

main building, an industrial sized hot 

air blower, it struggled to make a dent 

on the ambient cold. But, ……at least it 

wasn’t snowing. 

Pete Maxwell 

Brian Ward 

With a good turnout of 14 (15 had 

booked in) and well wrapped up, 

we had a fascinating time looking at 

the AFVs and producing our sketches 

and paintings. One or two of us even 

elected to sketch some of the vehicles 

stored outside as we decided it was an 

each way bet as to whether the inside 

was warmer than the outside. 

Nigel’s figures 

Grahame Witts 

Trevor Colegate 




No.1 School of Technical 

Training, RAF Cosford 

Tuesday March 7th 

The Midlands Region meeting and 

sketching day on Tuesday 7th March 

was the first visit of the year to the main 

base at RAF Cosford. 

The group assembled for a 1030 start 

and made its way to Hangar 143 

which contains a mix of No. 1 School 

of Technical Training Jaguars and 

Tornadoes (see Autumn 2022 QN p.10 

for Phil Hadley’s wonderful painting of 

the typical layout in this hangar). 

Host for the day was Sqn Ldr Chris Wilson 

and his team. As always we were made 

very welcome and after initial briefing 

on arrangements for the day (and with 

congratulations expressed to our two 

newly promoted Full Members of the 

Guild – Phil Hadley and Vince Nevin), 

artists found respective subjects and views 

for the day’s work. 

With a break for lunch and the critique 

arranged for around 3pm, this gave about 3 

hours in which to produce some art. (Vince 

commenting later during the critique, 

mentioned that this should be enough time 

for a complete work on a sketch day, based 

on say 1 hour for preparation and outline 

then 2 hours to finish. (But then there is also 

freedom during sketch days to complete 

‘experimental’ work !)). 

Phil and Vince led the critique to review 

works from the day. 

lines framed the subject – a dramatic nose 

view. Neil mainly worked with white pencil 

in a very detailed rendition of the subject. 

Next it was back to a Tornado for Vince 

Nevin’s work, starting with drawings 

in a small sketchbook. People started 

appearing around the aircraft so Vince 

took the opportunity to sketch figures ! 

These sketches were used as references for 

a larger picture on watercolour paper. This 

picture was built up from pencil, through 

ink pens to brush pens. Watercolour was 

then added round the subject to produce 

a striking final picture. The window lighting 

in the background adds emphasis to the 

nose. Noted also were stylised figures 

building on those from previous sketches. 

A nicely executed HB and 2B pencil 

drawing of a Jaguar was Ian Smith’s 

work of the day. A recommendation 

was made to try 4B, 6B or 8B grades to 

get depths of shadow etc e.g. under the 

aircraft. Discussing erasers used for e.g. 

highlights, the reviewers suggested that a 

putty eraser or Blu Tack are quite effective. 

Back to a view of part of a Tornado for 

Andrew Ross’s well drawn offering on blue 

paper. Andrew used pen for line work 

and pencil crayons for the colour work. 

Subtle highlights enhanced the capture 

of form. Also of note were the black fill-ins 

in intakes and wheel wells and the use of 

red on the wheel covers. 

Phil Hadley produced a nose view of 

a Tornado in a moleskin watercolour 

book, the paper taking graphite (pencil) 

well. Also used were 0.3mm line marker 

and ‘liquid graphite’. The latter, in 

reworkable form, is produced by an 

Australian company, Derivan. The curves 

of the nose contrast well with the linear 

form of the surrounding gantries which 

effectively framed the aircraft. Picture was 

attractively presented with a white border. 

of detail of the subject. White gouache 

was used to paint in highlights and pick 

out details. A very pleasing study resulted. 

Thanks go to all who participated in 

the visit, and displayed a wide range of 

compositions, media and styles. 

Thanks also to our hosts, Sqn Leader Chris 

Wilson and the team who made this 

another very enjoyable visit to the RAF’s 

No. 1 School of Technical Training. 

Richard Thorne AGAvA 

Ian Smith 

Vince Nevin 

Neil Adcock 

Peter Lane 

Phil Hadley 

I chose the rear three quarter view of 

a Jaguar using pencil on toned grey 

paper. Suggestion that darker shadows 

under wing would be effective. This 

led to a discussion on reflections and 

the observation that the underside 

surfaces can be somewhat lighter due to 

reflections off the floor. 

Steve Clayton 

Andrew Ross 

First up was Bob Spendlove’s Tornado in 

Polychromos colour pencil on Pastelmat 

paper. Very striking spotlighting effect and 

hangar details, together with vignetting 

the edges really made the subject stand 

out. Multiple colours and tones were 

captured well, even though the aircraft is 

basically grey in a grey hangar. 

Neil Adcock’s drawing of a Jaguar was 

produced in ‘blue print ‘ style on paper 

that Neil had prepared beforehand with a 

side elevation and plan view of a Jaguar 

nose. These two views along with border 

Stephen Clayton completed a very good 

drawing of a Tornado using pastel pencil 

on Pastelmat paper. A very well observed 

piece of work with many nicely rendered 

features of the aircraft e.g. nose section, 

windows with highlights and lighting and 

shading effects on the ground. 

A striking view of a Tornado was produced 

by Pater Lane on a black foam board. This 

board had a very smooth surface and 

was being trialled by Peter as something 

new to try ! Peter used art studio markers to 

good effect on the board, capturing lots 

Richard Thorne 

Bob Spendlove 



Turweston Aerodrome 

Saturday May 7th 

Patrick Fleming 

11 artists including the Guild Chairman 

plus one guest attended Turwestern 

Aerodrome (home of the LAA) for 

what was an interesting Guild meeting. 

Visitors including the airfields owner 

and other interested parties took the 

opportunity to stroll round and engage 

with the artists throughout the day. 

One of the visitors was an ex-pilot who 

actually clocked up 150 hours flying 

time on the Bulldog aircraft myself and 

others were painting. 

We were again afforded all the amenities 

including a dedicated room for our meet, 

critique, tea, coffee and light snacks. So 

thanks to Anne Hughes, Ladies and Gents 

who made our day so enjoyable. 

After a briefing, and a safety reminder that 

we would be working in an operational 

environment we were free to wander, 

explore and choose our subjects of which 

there were many varieties of aircraft and 

at least one helicopter that landing by the 

hangars later. 

David Calow 

The most popular aircraft to sketch and 

paint appears to have been the black 

and yellow Bulldog trainer still sporting air 

force roundels. 

A point I’d never really considered was 

mentioned by one of the visitors, was the 

number of artists painting and sketching 

the same aircraft but seeing it through a 

totally different perspective from each 

other. 

During the day, there was always the 

opportunity to stretch our legs and have 

a stroll around the hangars and flight lines 

and watch these aircraft being worked 

on by mechanics and owners or being 

refuelled. 

As is always the case however, the day 

went much too quickly and it was soon 

time for critique undertaken by Robert 

and Phil. 

Richard Thorne undertook the Bulldog 

using a 6B pencil. This prompted an 

interesting discussion on the potential 

problems of replicating a white fuselage 

on white paper using pencils. This topic, 

will be further explored next meet when 

a quick subject sketch exercise will be 

undertaken by group members. 

Victoria West undertook her chosen subject 

using water colour and pastel media from 

a front three quarter view. Her shading was 

commented on regarding identification of 

a left or right handed artist. 

Patrick Fleming’s fine study of a Chipmunk 

trainer aircraft using coloured pencils was 

up next. This prompted a discussion on 

the subject of distance and related 

distorted view perspectives. 

Andrew Latham produced a water 

colour of a red Beagle aircraft as viewed 

from the rear and looking out through 

an open hanger door. What made this 

more interesting was the colour variations 

created on the fuselage as a result of light 

coming in through the open hanger. 

Next was Grahame Witts striking hanger 

setting featuring light aircraft but, more 

prominently, the close up view of a yellow 

nosed aircraft dominating the foreground. 

This was done using multimedia (literally) 

David Calow chose the Bulldog trainer as 

viewed from the rear using Caran D’ache 

coloured pencils and Biro. David’s work 

was further enhanced by using a dark 

grey border. 

Phil Hadley’s detailed 6B pencil work of 

a Scottish aviation Bulldog contrasting 

against a darkened background hanger 

and bracketed by vertical and horizontal 

hanger supports made for a fine study. 

Allen Churchyard chose for his subject 

a line drawing done on lining paper 

of a French named aircraft that when 

interpreted stood for ‘Flying Flea’ 

Using 300rgm paper Robert Calow also 

painted the Bulldog as viewed from a port 

side perspective. 

Following the advisory and informative 

critique Victoria and myself sought out 

advice and tips on recent works either 

completed or still being undertaken. 

Indeed Victoria’s framed clay- board work 

of a climbing Walrus sea plane required 

no explanation. 

A Thoroughly enjoyable day! 

Steve Hennah Friend Member 

Phil Hadley 

Andrew Latham 

Richard Thorne 1 

Richard Thorne 2 

Victoria West 

Robert Calow 

Grahame Witts 


Steve Hennah 


EAST ANGLIAN REGION MEETING 

City of Norwich 

Aviation Museum 

Saturday April 8th 

I arrived at the museum a bit later than 

usual at just after 10am as my sat nav 

was confused by the new road systemsit 

kept telling me these roads do not 

exist! I must update it sometime... 

The weather forecast was fair, but just 

like last year, no rain! Fantastic news as 

most of the exhibits are outside at the 

museum. 

Norwich Aviation Museum is a small 

museum with plenty of local historical 

exhibits and run by volunteers. It has a 

nice homely atmosphere and has very 

helpful staff who were very interested 

in the Guild’s activities on the day. The 

museum also has had a new cafeteria 

built recently which was serving hot 

coffee, tea and snacks on our arrival. 

It was just what we needed on a cold 

spring morning! 

Most of us finally ventured out from the 

nice warm inside to start our artistic 

ventures, while a few of us decided 

to extend the enjoyment of the cosy 

cafeteria. 

Photos: cnam.org.uk 

Mike Daley 

David Fosh 

Mike Chapman 

The standard of work on the day was 

amazing again despite cold hands, 

spring clothes and cold easterly winds. 

During the critique which was chaired 

by Derek Blois and myself, it was 

interesting to hear the staff’s comments 

as well as our own on the day. 

A good discussion point was frames 

for paintings and how important it is to 

have the right frame and right quality to 

compliment the painting. 

Martin Gibbings 

Rod Kirkby 

My thanks everyone for your continued 

support and of course a big thank you 

to Linda and all the staff of the Norwich 

Aviation Museum who made us so 

welcome. 

A good artistic day was had by all! 

Phil Jackson GAvA 

Rod Kirkby 

Phil’s Meteor on the easel 

“in the field” 

Photos: cnam.org.uk 


GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 23

EAST ANGLIAN REGION MEETING 

IWM Duxford 

Saturday March 11th 

We gathered at IWM Duxford at 10am, 

then after signing everyone in, we 

proceeded to the coffee shop which 

was a perfect way to start the day. Nice 

company, good strong coffee, plenty of 

banter and with the occasional roar of 

merlin engines in the background. What 

could be a better start? 

After coffee we dispersed to all parts of 

the museum, giving me a nightmare of 

finding everybody to photograph, but I 

did the best I could. 

To me at Duxford, time seems too short. 

There just aren’t enough hours in the day 

for our visit as there’s so much to see and 

take in and you always feel the clock is 

against you. But it really is a complete 

aviation enthusiast dream! 

The members who I did find in the depths 

of the museum were; 

In Hangar 2, Chris French was sketching 

the Hawker Nimrod and David Heaton 

the Sea Fury. Chris Impey was close by 

painting the Curtiss P-40. I found myself 

doing a quick sketch of the tail of the 

Spitfire Mk Vc JG891 also in the same 

hangar. 

The day went very quickly and soon 

it was critique time in the usual picnic 

room, with Chris French and myself 

chaired the proceedings. 

All works were of good standard as 

usual and ones to note for me was 

Chris Impey’s P-40 in acrylics, and David 

Smiths Airco DH9 with car, both really 

well observed. Chris French’s drawing of 

the Hawker Nimrod was exceptional as 

usual of course. 

My thanks to Chris French for the critique 

and to everyone for their continued 

support. 


East Anglian Region Organiser 

Chris Impey 

David Heaton 

Duxford photos: www.iwm.org.uk 

Allen Churchyard 

David Fosh 

Phil Jackson 


Martin Perman 

WEST REGION MEETING 

Boscombe Down 

Aviation Collection, 

Old Sarum 

Saturday March 4th 

A rather chilly start to our sketching 

days; but a warm welcome all the 

same from the collection at Old Sarum, 

and with thirteen members and guests 

present a good start to the season. 

The hangars have seen much activity 

over the winter, some new arrivals, and 

others in new paint schemes. Favourites 

seem to be the shiny black prototype 

Hawk, the bright red Avro 707A, and 

gleaming English Electric P1a, due in 

part to many hours of rubbing with 

Wadpol metal polish by volunteers! 

Our artists soon busied themselves; and 

here’s what they produced: 

Darren Howlett up from Torquay, 

brought daughter Niamh for what I 

believe is her first sketching day with us. 

I saw her drawing a lovely study of a 

model Spitfire but she didn’t pitch it into 

the crit later! Darren himself, working in 

acrylics got stuck into a view through 

the cockpit door of a Canberra with 

the hangar roof above creating a 

lovely vignette framing a well observed 

and busy 1950’s setup with ejector seat, 

rivets, straps, and dials. 

Victoria West on her second jaunt out 

with us, created a very spare, but non 

the less recognisable pencil and pastel 

rendition of the Sea Harrier. All of its 

nascent features present, showing that 

less is more on a sketching day when 

time dictates. 

Paul Bennell; industrious as ever, 

portrayed the Avro 707A and P1a in his 

recognisable little oil study. Watching 

Paul work, he seems to attack his board 

with paint, a rich ochre under painting, 

umbers for shadow, wiping away the 

surface with rags, and sparing the 

details. Job done, in frame, submit to 

Annual! 

Martin Perman got himself settled into 

the not so roomy Lancaster B1 Special 

Navigators position to create some 

beautifully observed pencil and pen 

studies of his surroundings. Saying that 

the view fascinated him, and perhaps 

adding water colour another time, his 

linear pieces captured well the cramped 

busy interior of a wartime Lanc. 

Leo Marriot down from Gloucester 

produced a lively study of the Sea 

Harrier in acrylics. Editing out all of the 

museum ephemera in the foreground, 

Leo’s Harrier looked as if it were caught 

mid hover against a misty South Atlantic 

sky, a super colourful piece that could 

work on a longer canvas to grace a 

large wall of a study perhaps. 

Derek Saunders (I knew it was him as his 

Guild badge was attached to his hat!) 

stood in front of the gleaming Hawk 

prototype to create a couple of well 

measured drawings, with one leading 

to a lively close in perspective colour 

washed version depicting with simple 

marks the Hawk’s shiny contours. 

Michael Garner turned up the colour to 

paint a little watercolour of the red Avro 

707A. Mike said that he never has time 

to finish; well we are all time challenged 

on these days, but his depiction never 

the less was in his recognisable jolly 

style, a bit like Mike himself who braved 

the cold hangar all day! 

After a good old catch up with 

everyone, I decided to do a couple 

of quick sketches of the Avro 707A in 

artists crayon in my sketchbook. Having 

the collection on my doorstep is a 

bonus, but does leave me puzzling over 

new views on these days, so as Mike 

and Paul were looking that way, the 

diminutive Avro was also my choice. 

Paul Bennell 

Darren Howlett 

Favourites for the day seemed 

to be the shiny black prototype 

Hawk, the bright red Avro 707A, 

Sea Harrier and the gleaming 

English Electric P1a. 

Victoria West 

Leo Marriot 

Barry K Barnes attended for some 

research no doubt; I know he loves the 

RFC collection here, and although I did 

not see his artistic output today, it will 

probably inform some delicate water 

colours from him soon enough. 

Phil Tucker, and Richard Hawkins also 

attended, but for travel reasons left 

prior to critique, but I’m sure we’ll catch 

their efforts another time, so thank you 

for coming all that way just to show 

willing! Thanks to Martin and Paul who 

took the crit. 

A successful first outing for the West 

Region, great to see returning faces 

after a while away, and looking forward 

to getting more dates and new venues 

in our regional calendar. 

May we also extend our thoughts to 

Chris Draper and family, as he recovers 

from his unexpected spell in hospital, still 

painting all the while though as we’ve 

seen on his facebook page! Hope to 

see you at an event soon Chris, and all 

the best from the Guild. 

Rob Hames GAvA 

West Region Organiser 

Derek Saunders 


SOUTH EAST REGION MEETING 


HQ NEWS... HQ NEWS... 

RAF Museum London 

Hendon 

Saturday February 4th 

The South East Region’s first sketching 

day of the year was held at the RAF 

Museum Hendon on Saturday 4th 

February. A useful winter venue with 

lots of indoor subject matter, the only 

problem is usually deciding what to 

sketch and paint! 

Our relatively small group was spread 

quite thinly around the site and after 

the initial briefing I only saw one other 

artist before we reunited for the critique 

at 15:30. However visitor numbers were 

high, and many were keen to chat 

about our drawings and paintings. 

This time we were given a different first 

floor meeting room to use as a base. An 

adjacent balcony overlooked the Short 

Sunderland – providing some of our 

group with an interesting vantage point 

to sketch this large aircraft. 

For a change I ran the critique but with 

a small group we were able to have 

a really detailed and lively discussion 

about the works completed on the day. 

Allen Churchyard had produced a study 

of the Eurofighter Typhoon suspended 

in Hangar 6. Actually a black painted 

prototype, Allen had chosen to depict 

it as a grey production aircraft in flight. 

A good rendition of the aircraft was 

made with a combination of pencil 

and watercolour wash. The glow of 

the afterburners/engine exhausts was 

captured with yellow and orange paint. 

It was suggested that darker tones, for 

example in the sky, might have helped 

give emphasis to these exhausts as 

primary light sources. 

He also added a very wide tonal range, 

using a 8B pencil for the very darkest 

shadows. This really made the aircraft 

look solid and three dimensional. 

Jeremy Linton presented two studies 

both, in a loose style. The Halifax was 

drawn on hand-made watercolour 

paper with a watercolour wash overlaid. 

Black pen was added to pick out 

some details and add texture to the 

background. The Halifax is an unrestored 

example with a distinctive patination 

and this style of illustration suited it 

very well. Jeremy also sketched the 

Sunderland in pencil, again with black 

pen to add highlights. 

Damon Poole once again used 

his distinctive style to create a very 

pleasing portrait of the Sikorsky Hoverfly. 

A detailed pencil drawing was then 

painted wet-in-wet with watercolours 

with inks then used to pick out the line 

work. Salt was also added to create 

texture in the washes. The result was a 

very vibrant and colourful painting. 

2023 Exhibition 

Submission Report 

What with this being the first physical 

exhibition with an on-line submissions 

process and at a new and untried venue, 

we had a lot to think about leading up to 

the submissions period this year. 

This saw the use of updated entry Terms 

& Conditions and entry guidance forms, 

which I’m pleased to say most (if not all) 

members entering works evidently read 

before submitting. 

One big change this year was the removal 

of the entry form to free text format. This 

was made mainly to assist those members 

with lesser IT skills who previously struggled 

completing and returning the forms. I’m 

pleased to say that the change seems to 

have caused no real issues and actually 

made transferring the data on to the 

spreadsheet easier for us. I’m also happy 

to report that there was a noticeable 

increase in the quality of images 

submitted this year, with few requiring 

adjustment. This is important as the images 

supplied are obviously subsequently used 

for judging, the catalogue and website. 

Following feedback, the judges this year 

were encouraged to give reasons for 

rejecting works. This proved useful where 

feedback was requested from artists 

getting a dreaded ‘R’ for a submission(s). 

As you will know, when giving out the 

results we always show the number of A’s 

and R’s for each work submitted. If a work 

received two R’s, rejection was obviously 

a little closer than one would wish. In 

such case I would encourage the artist 

to seek feedback/guidance as to where 

improvements could be made. 

Works rejected were typically done so 

for reasons of poor tonal values, lack 

of regression, poor perspective and in 

particular this year poor execution of 

the subject. Don’t forget aviation art 

enthusiasts know their aircraft well so your 

painting or drawing has to be exactly right 

with every angle and dimension correct! 

It is also imperative that any writing on the 

aircraft is done in the correct font showing 

the correct contours of the surface it’s on. 

In the end we received 312 entries of 

which 301 were accepted. This was a little 

lower than I than I think we had hoped for. 

For comparison below is the number of 

accepted works over the past few works: 

2015 - 453 

2016 - 440 

2017 - 411 

2018 - 388 

2019 - 373 

2020 (online) - 100 

2021 (online) - 298 

2022 (online) - 241 

2023 - 301 

It can be seen that numbers are a fair bit 

down compared with The Mall Galleries 

days, I’m sure not helped by the three 

years of online exhibitions. 

It was also notable that some of the 

‘bigger’ names were unfortunately 

missing from the submissions this year and 

the numbers of Full Members entering also 

down. 

I remain hopeful however that when the 

success of this year’s Duxford exhibition is 

seen more will be encouraged to enter. 

The main benefit of being involved in the 

submission’s process is that one obviously 

gets to see the works early I can assure 

you all that, as we would expect, there 

are some very nice entries which will no 

doubt do the artist and Guild proud at our 

all new and exciting exhibition! 

Steve Chard GAvA 

Andrew Wright had been working 

on a pencil drawing of the Westland 

Lysander. This is a complex aircraft to 

draw. The inboard sections of the wings 

have quite an exaggerated forward 

sweep and it can be hard to depict this 

without giving the impression of a gull 

wing shape. However, Andrew did a 

great job - producing a very accurate 

looking drawing. 

Richard Wheatland had been working 

in Hangar 2 which features aircraft from 

World War 1. He had previously made a 

start on the Caudron G3 trainer, and this 

work was completed with prismacolour 

pencils on grey multimedia paper. The 

complex arrangement of struts and 

rigging was nicely captured and the 

choice of colour helped produce a very 

attractive artwork. 

Brian Miller was unable to stay for the 

critique but had also produced a 

pencil study of the Sunderland from the 

balcony in Hanger 1. 

Finally, I showed my work-in-progress 

gouache painting of the Avro Lancaster. 

Starting with an initial pencil drawing – 

cropped to focus on the fuselage and 

inboard engines - I had predictably run 

out of time to paint in the airframe. 

However, I hope the AGM in March will 

provide the opportunity to make some 

more progress. (see Page 6) 

David Livesley AGAvA 

One point raised this year was regarding 

the number of works submitted of subjects 

painted at Guild painting days. Whilst 

generally there was no doubting the 

artistic quality I would say that not only 

does entering such works mean that 

you may be ‘competing’ with a similar 

painting from another member but very 

few of them sell. Buyers tend to like a 

picturesque or atmospheric scene or a 

subject which reminds them of a career or 

loved one. 

28 36 GUILD GUILD OF AVIATION OF AVIATION ARTISTS ARTISTS QUARTERLY QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING NEWS 2023 AUTUMN 2022 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023 29


HQ NEWS... HQ NEWS... 

AVIATION ARTISTS SOCIETY MAGAZINES 

Other aviation artists’ societies 

issue quarterly magazines 

Thanks to Colin Taylor for the latest MAVAS 

magazine No.115. The colourful cover by 

Mike Hutchinson shows a Pitts S2b Special 

in aerobatic action. 

The website details of AERO BRUSH, the journal 

of the American Society of Aviation Artists, 

AERIAL VIEWS, the Canadian Aerospace 

Artists Association and CROSS & COCKADE 

are also shown. It is interesting to see 

what our fellow aviation artist societies 

are getting up to. 

MAVAS 115 shows another article by 

our own Charles J Thompson and the 

featured painting is by the late Peter 

Nield. (see page 13) 

www.mavas.co.uk 

www.asaa-avart.org 

www.aviationartists.ca 

www.crossandcockade.com 

CAPTION COMPETITION SPRING 2023 


YOUR REGIONAL ORGANISERS 

East Anglian Region 


07484 302051 

philjacksonart@btinternet.com 

Midland Region 

Phil Hadley AGAvA 

01743 860404 

07876 222485 

midlandregion@gava.org.uk 

Northern Region 

Paul Warrener AGAvA 

01309 673606 

paul@griffon.uk.com 

South East Region 

Richard Wheatland GAvA 

01293 885430 

richardwheatland@aol.com 

evenings - weekdays 

(7.00 to 9.00pm) and weekends 

West Region 


07976 102955 

rahames@hotmail.com 


GENERAL COMMITTEE 

Andrew Latham GAvA Chairman 

07711 652152 

chair@gava.org.uk 

Chris French FGAvA Vice Chairman 

01376 551869 

Richard Thorne AGAvA Secretary 

secretary@gava.org.uk 

Janet Latham VP Hon Treasurer 

treasurer@gava.org.uk 

07778 068563 

Stephen Chard GAvA 

07722 845412 

Ken Farmer GAvA Membership 

01825 722061 

membership@gava.org.uk 

Simon Mumford GAvA Website Co-ordinator 

01372 844586 

Martin Perman GAvA Administrator, 

Commissions and Sales 

can be reached via Guild phone number: 

0333 130 2223 

and admin@gava.org.uk 

Robert Calow GAvA 



Paul Warrener AGAvA 

Anita Hole Bookkeeper accounts@gava.org.uk 

NEXT QUARTERLY NEWS DATE FOR 2023 

Issue Summer 2023 Copy to Editors June 2023 

Est Dispatch August 2023 

Not seen on 

Flightradar 24... 

Ron Gale GAvA 

“….OK, you are cleared to give the bird-watchers a 

low pass - then vector 090 to avoid the shooting party”. 

Opinions expressed in this newsletter are not 

necessarily those of the editors, the Guild or its 

officers or committee. No article may be copied 

or reprinted in any form without the permission of 

the editors. 

Editors: Robert Calow/David Calow 

75 Severn Road, Oadby, 

Leicester, LE2 4FW 

07825 537649 (Robert) 

07825 537647 (David) 

PLEASE NOTE OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES! 

robert@calowcreative.co.uk 

david@calowcreative.co.uk 

Please Note that the email 

address used for all QN 

correspondence is: 

robert@calowcreative.co.uk 

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW GUILD ADDRESS 

Guild of Aviation Artists 

Studio 100 

161 High Street 

Ruislip HA4 8JY 

Tel: 0333 1302 223 

Email: admin@gava.org.uk 



Roy Nockolds, master of aviation and automotive art 

With the 2023 submissions completed and 

the 50th Annual exhibition on the horizon, we 

though we would investigate a name behind 

one of the awards; The Nockolds Trophy. 

The Nockolds Trophy is awarded to the best 

work voted for by the public at the Annual and 

is named after Roy Nockolds (1911 - 1979), one 

of the most important founding artist members 

of the Guild. 

THE BACK PAGE 

A self-taught aviation and motor racing artist, 

Roy Nockolds was born in Croydon. Roy was 

attracted to motor sport on his first visit to 

Brooklands in 1924 and he contributed to 

Motor Sport, Autocar and Motor magazines, 

and excelled in capturing the atmosphere 

and technical aspects of motor racing. 

Roy applied the same skill to aviation art - his 

authoritative picture of the Battle of Britain, 

commissioned for Royal Air Force Fighter 

Command, is a tour de force. 

During World War II Roy served in the RAF, 

developing a new revolutionary camouflage 

for the Mosquito and was an Official War Artist 

alongside Paul Nash, Raymond McGrath and 

Laura Knight. He also had works accepted by 

the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1945, 

and Royal Academy in 1949. 

Immediately after the war he produced a 

remarkable series of near-abstract paintings 

for Armstrong Siddeley celebrating the effects 

of the new of the jet engines. 

In the 1950’s Roy also continued to have many 

commissions from car makers such as Ford, 

Jaguar, Standard, Rover, Rolls-Royce and the 

Rootes Group plus component manufacturers 

such as Lockheed and Lucas. 

Roy took a very keen interest in the Brooklands 

Society founded in 1967 to foster the memory 

of the race track, cars and personalities and 

to create a full-time museum. He was an early 

Committee Member and then Chairman from 

1976 to 1978, only resigning due to ill health. 

In 1959 Roy helped organise the first exhibition 

of aviation artists under the guise of the 

‘Kronfield Social Club’ These beginnings led 

to the Society of Aviation Artists which via a 

1971 breakaway group into today’s Guild of 

Aviation Artists. Roy was Trustee of the Guild 

and Chairman from 1975 to 1977. 


32 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SPRING 2023

QN SPRING 23 COMPLETE V1

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