“DID AIRPLANES REALLY DO THAT?”

1400 HRS. 16 SEP 1958. PACIFIC NAVAL OPS. USS RANGER (CVA-61). SEA STATE 2. WIND 270 DEGREES AT 18. A North American FJ-4B Fury from Navy fighter squadron VF-11 makes its approach to the new super carrier during training operations, canopy rolled back to full-open position for possible emergency egress, and banking in a regulation left-hand approach from base leg to final, descending at 500 ft.-per-minute while passing through an altitude of 450 ft. precisely maintaining an indicated airspeed of 145 knots and entering the straightaway “long in the groove” lining up with the carrier’s advanced-design angled deck. Calling “Roger Ball” to the LSO as he sights the now-centered Fresnel lense approach slope indicator, the Fury’s pilot is set up for a perfect trap on the big carrier’s three wire; the coveted “OK Pass” notation awaiting him on the scoreboard below decks in the pilots’ready room.

“PICTURE FLEET” REVELL KIT OF THE USS RANGER. 1400 HRS. 16 SEP 1958. PACIFIC NAVAL OPS, ET AL. A North American FJ Fury from an ambiguous Navy fighter squadron makes its approach to the new super carrier during training operations, canopy rolled back to full-open for possible emergency egress, and turning in a regula – hey, wait a minute! He’s in a right-hand turn about 500 feet from the carrier’s fantail mere seconds away from his airplane striking the stern of the ship while another Fury is just crossing the ramp ahead of him for its landing! The second airplane won’t only be landing literally on top of the first, but he’s too close to make a missed approach and go-around. This one’s headed for the safety column of Tailhook Magazine in a big way, except for one significant fact. It’s all happening in the stunning box cover image of renowned aviation and marine artist John Steel, and we are the lucky ones standing on the wing root of that second Fury looking right over the pilot’s shoulder as he makes his circling approach to the ship!

So who cares if this exciting scene isn’t exactly regulation-accurate? The boxart just looks so darn cool that you HAVE to buy this kit, and if you did, then “mission accomplished!” Not only did the cover artwork excite and inspire us 12-year-old-kids of that era to save up enough money to buy the model or at least politely ask Grandma for one for Christmas, it also very possibly launched more than a few naval aviator’s careers just like the movie “Top Gun” did back in the 1980s. As an Air Force Artist participating in a Navair exchange program ten years ago and being privileged to fly in the F-14 Tomcat, I vividly remembered this scene as we practiced carrier landings and won three straight “OK Passes” ourselves. Coming aboard and trapping on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) was nothing less than the realization of a dream first imagined when I built that USS Ranger kit back in the day.

Yes, this rich, colorful, and dramatic imagery was powerful stuff – I know, for not only did I build the kit, but I actually saved that gorgeous boxtop which contained some glue stains and test paint dabs on its reverse side. I’m sure we can all recall our favorite boxart images conjured up not by a Naval or Air Force pilot, but by a model manufacturer’s art director whose excitement and vivid imagination visually connected with what any red-blooded American kid would want to see on the cover of a model. While we may consider the waiving of technical accuracy as “artistic license” (which, like a pilot’s license, requires making five paintings to a full stop every 90 days), it was more a highly-calculated effort at successful product marketing at work here. Let’s examine a few other examples of this unique phenomenon.

Look at Jack Leynnwood’s dramatic depiction of Revell’s Vought Regulus II missile taking off from its secret test base at sunset. While operational Regulus missiles were blasted from their launch pads by a single large Thiokol solid-rocket booster for their one-way trips into history, early test versions were equipped with retractable landing gear allowing the vehicles to return to base for further usage, thus saving the taxpayers millions of dollars. Ground crewmen would safety the missile’s tricycle gear with heavy metal cables that stretched from the nose strut back to the mains, and these would be removed for flight, quite obviously. The cables can be seen clearly in photos of the missiles posed at the secret North Base facility of Edwards AFB, California, but are they in Leynnwood’s painting? You bet! – those landing gear cables can be seen clearly in the fading sunlight as the missile takes off at nearly 200 knots!

For another good example, let’s go back to one more stunning John Steel image – Revell’s Douglas AD-6 Skyraider coming aboard an Essex-class carrier as seen from the LSO (Landing Signal Officer) platform on the aft flight deck. The LSO figures are turning to see the dark blue SPAD catch the arresting cable, its tailhook clearly engaging the three wire just as it would in a picture-perfect landing. But “Oh, just one more thing”, as Detective Colombo would say. The main wheels are about six feet off the deck, giving the aircraft a much more dramatic angle of attack, but indicating that a wicked accelerated stall is about to occur any second. One noted Skyraider pilot saw this image for the first time and gasped, “There’s about to be an awfully loud noise on that carrier deck!” Accurate? No. Knock-out boxart? Absolutely!

More images showing this seismic shift in accuracy for the sake of sales would be Revell’s “Famous Artist” series Lockheed WV-2 Connie taking off from Antarctica with its wing flaps retracted, or the second-issue Republic F-105B showing two brightly-marked flight test Thunderchiefs making their bomb run next to an ominous thunderstorm while flying at 35,000 ft! For you Revell “Pre-S” fans, who can forget that Boeing B-52 kit showing the mighty Stratofortress coming right at you while making a JATO takeoff from a narrow dirt road? Like all the examples above, this completely fictitious scene was made highly-believable by inspired art direction and superb artistry. Please understand that my commentary here is in no way meant to denigrate these magnificent artists. Rather, I salute them all for creating those magical images that drew us into the hobby shops and created dreams that turned into reality for many of us little more than a decade later.