British Artist, Illustrator G.H. Davis

Like most magazine illustrators of the early to mid 20th century, little is known about George Horace Davis. From a site dedicated to The Illustrated London News (ILN), we learn that he spent 40 years contributing to that publication, producing up to 2,500 pages of illustrations. Born in Kensington in 1881, Davis was first published… Continue reading British Artist, Illustrator G.H. Davis

Illustrator Stewart Rouse

Stewart Rouse was, for a period, a staff artist at Popular Science.  The magazine bio (February 1946) described Rouse as a “lanky Lincolnesque character”  of 6″ 4.5′ who attended the Chicago Art Institute. Handy with metalwork tools as well as pen and ink, Rouse once built his own airplane. Rouse was an artist of breathtaking… Continue reading Illustrator Stewart Rouse

WWII Fighter Plane Cutaway Showing Gravity Suit, 1945

WWII Fighter Plane Cutaway Showing Gravity Suit 1945

A cutaway within a cutaway.  Drawn by Stewart Rouse, this illustrates a generic WWII fighter plane peeled back to show the pilot within.  Then the pilot’s gravity suit itself is peeled back to reveal some of its inner workings. Bladders within the suit were inflated with air from the craft, to minimize the chance of… Continue reading WWII Fighter Plane Cutaway Showing Gravity Suit, 1945