Page 42 - Studio International - October 1972

(Left to right) Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V plan and elevati10ns, Handley-Page Hampden 1940, Hawker Hurricane i 1938 (diagram)
the associations of arranging things in order, and altogether lost their status as workshop craft detail can be discerned. All in all, the character
I suspect that no associationless method of objects. They retain it partly due to the of an aeroplane is no more unchanging than its
identification exists, the artist's name itself being imaginative appeal of aviation, partly to purely formal characteristics. But a general shift
a pollution, since it establishes strong production complexity and the individual skills in aircraft design might perceptibly alter this
connections between one artwork and another involved, and partly to the frequency of general reaction, given, say, a plethora of
form altogether. Equally, our awareness of a craftsman involvement in what could quite often pilotless types like the VI doodlebug, or of
relationship between a particular form and our become a communal enterprise — particularly tail-engined aircraft like the Caravelle.
sense of art as cultural purpose constitutes when its directors had been, or still were, at once Otherwise, the pilot's cockpit is often an eye
another negation of any purification. pilot, craftsman and semi-intuitive designer. and a secondary centre of focus for our visual
Insofar as animism extends to animals and attention. Probably the aircraft nose is felt as a
artifacts alike, it provides the framework for the quadruped snout, rather than a human nose;
frequent and spontaneous comparisons between when aircraft caricatures show a mouth, it is
animals and aircraft. But it's doubtful whether, usually in the position of a shark's, as per the
since pioneer days, aircraft in flight have been gaping underbelly radiator of the Curtiss
Junker 88B, 1943
more than fleetingly sensed as birds. For birds Tomahawk. The aircraft tail never becomes the
Just as the animism characteristic of primitive clearly fly on the air (by flapping), whereas human feet, although sometimes feet are
man inspires him to endow each subject, aeroplanes move steadily through a medium indicated by the undercarriage, like birds' claws,
including his own artifacts, with a personality of which offers resistance much like water. But or like puppet feet which are often stuck like
its own, so Western man has extended this though wings might resemble fins, any fishiness stalks directly under a huge head. I doubt
pre-literate ascription of personality to ships seems blocked off by all the other factors, and whether the tail is felt as an animal tail or as
(which are 'she), automobiles and, naturally, aeroplanes still recall birds when they recover controlling the craft's direction. Rather, wings,
aircraft. Certainly aircrew (and mechanics) are their sense of mounting the air, as during take tailplane and rear fuselage are apt to dissolve
likely to react primarily to purely technical off, or when the older twin-wheeled types come into an overall shape, a vague but powerful
characteristics (whence Avro's 'faithful Anson'), in to land, tail down, as if to perch on the ground. atmosphere, a kind of imprecise infantile
or to handling in flight (Bell's sleek-looking but Otherwise, the underlying association is impression, contributing to a general character.
unmanoeuvrable Airacobra being execrated as probably to an illogical, but humanely very One can instance Wren's thumbnail (and
the 'Iron Dog'). Whatever animism owes to possible, combination between a quadruped, in considerably developable) description of the
purely visual aesthetic aspects is too complicated the swimming position (whence such terms as Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley as being
a matter for examination here, although the nose, belly, tail), and more specifically `dignified, rather stooping' but also 'powerful,
extension of Levi-Straussian, or some other anthropomorphic projections centred around purposeful'. Obviously, all these vague
structuralism, to technical objects would certainly the front fuselage. It's uncertain how far this anatomical correspondences vary according to
be relevant. At any event, aircraft animism latter centre of focus depends on each of three the type. Thus, in twin-engined aircraft, two
tends to be focused less on the individual possible considerations. One is our knowledge prominent airscrew spinners may replace the
specimen than on the type, as a result of the that this is where the pilot usually sits. The cockpit as eyes while close-set and prominent
effect of series production. But it is important, second is our sense of the traditional grouping of radial engines, which in a civilian type might
where aircraft are concerned, to speak of series, pilot, engines and wingroots around a centre of suggest a bosom, can read, in the Bristol
rather than mass production, for runs like the gravity, and of this as 'the works', i.e. the Beaufighter, as boxing-gloves. And so on and so
22,000 Spitfires (itself divided between 20-plus head-and-shoulders, just behind what then forth, the interest lying in each type being a
major variants) were wartime exceptions. Many becomes the physiognomy. The third is some special case, some obviously far more
aircraft types ran for fewer than the eight aircraft visual pun between aircraft foreparts and the intriguing than the general run. Relatively few
of the Hannibal class while many successful and human or animal face. While I should guess that aeroplane types are aesthetically interesting,
significant designs were one-offs and are best this third element is easily the strongest, I doubt which is why we feel such a pang of joy when
thought of as hand-made. Despite the whether it is uninfluenced by the others. confronted with those which are.
depersonalising effect of subcontracting and Moreover, much will depend on how near the The present writer has a series of associations
factory specialization, aircraft have not aeroplane is to the observer and on how much whereby, other things being equal, biplanes and
134