Naturally, in the popular press of the time, Consolidated Vultee’s B-24 Liberator bomber would be hailed as a magnificent fighting machine, capable of plowing down any obstacle like cutting through butter. While the B-24 did have its strong points, crew members had a different angle on the craft. Lately, I have been reading Laura Hillenbrand’s… Continue reading B-24 Liberator Bomber Cutaway Drawing, 1943
Tag: 1940s
Wright Cyclone Engine World War 2 Aircraft Cutaway, 1945
This was a fictional Second World War aircraft meant to illustrate the Wright Cyclone engine (located in the engine cowling, #10) on a test flight. The aircraft interior has been specially designed for testing. Areas of this aircraft shown on the cutaway: Oxygen supply for crew. Movie camera recording instruments. Movie lights. Instrument panel. Flight… Continue reading Wright Cyclone Engine World War 2 Aircraft Cutaway, 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
Futuristic Car Cutaway, 1940
In 1940, it was asked if we might be driving a car like this in only two years. The novel cutaway turned the notion of how to design a car on its head: streamlined to look like “a giant aerial bomb on wheels,” with the engine in back, driver in the center, and rear passengers… Continue reading Futuristic Car Cutaway, 1940
Quonset Hut / House Cutaway, 1946
A gorgeous picture of a Quonset hut from 1946, touted by Popular Science as a possible “stop gap” to the immediate post World War II housing shortage. I’ve called it a Quonset hut/house because it clearly does not resemble its earlier incarnation: Army barracks. In fact, the vets were said to be moving back to… Continue reading Quonset Hut / House Cutaway, 1946