Robert Grant “R.G” Smith was originally an engineer for the Douglas Aircraft Corporation, and helped design a number of WWII and later aircraft. He was also a VERY talented artist, and did something like 2000 paintings, many of them Navy birds, including the A-4, which he had actually helped design.
He was known for the accuracy of his paintings, and many of his works have been displayed at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. He also spent time underway with the Navy, and it showed in his art. He loved to capture the aircraft coming right at you!
You can go to his website- HERE to see more of his works, and even purchase copies if desired!
Hey Old NFO,
Very impressive, His artwork reminds me kinda of Don Troiani’s work.
What I enjoy is this painter’s detailed attention to cloudscapes, and to do that right you need to understand weather, if not aviation meteorology. Another American painter, while painting aircraft identification numbers and lettering at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, Eric Sloane traded painting lessons to famed aviator Wiley Post in exchange for flight instruction. If you’ve “been up there in the bumpies” you draw and paint clouds a *lot* more believably. You can look at Sloane painting and know where in America you are, and the season. He really nails it.
I was the in the last class of mechanical engineering students to get a year and a half of technical drafting in school. The class following us was cutting their teeth on AutoCAD ver. 2. I spent a year as a ‘board rat’ before that company switched to CAD. I would not trade that hands-on drawing experience for anything; the technical illustrators from RG Smith’s day were phenomenal, especially stuff that’s not built up from straight-lined objects (blocks and wedges) but curvy elliptical things like aircraft surfaces, ships’ hulls, and capturing the drape and weight or lightness of apparel on people.
Bob- Yes, but Troiani actually came later!
Cranston- Wow! That is a bit of history!!! And very true!
That is some very nice art, and the Skyhawk is a great aircraft.
As a General Aviation pilot I always admired the A-4. First, it just “looks” right. Second, the lean, nothing superfluous build.
I love that aircraft. I carrier qualified in it, and have a few hundred hours in it. You don’t fly it, you wear it like it is an extension of your body.
If you are ever traveling I-90 east of Rapid City, SD there is a little militaria museum in the small town of Wasta that has a Marine livery Skyhawk outside. North side of the interstate, it can be seen on street view in google maps. Apparently their collection is quite nice, I’ve not taken the time to check it out.
Aaron- That it is!
WSF- Exactly!
OMF- I have a little over 50 hours in the back seat of a TA-4 at NAS Glynco (maintenance check flights)!
JFT- Thanks! If I ever get up that way I’ll stop and take a look!