Aviation Art
This page is excerpted from the article "Aviation Artists" that was written by Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava and published in "INDIAN AVIATION". Reproduced here with permission.
There have always been enthusiastic pilots, other aircrew and airmen in the Indian Air Force (IAF) who expressed their passion for aviation through paintings. Most Officers’, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers’ and Airmen’s messes exhibit paintings, usually in bars, dining rooms and anterooms. Many aviation paintings adorn offices, especially of senior officers. Unfortunately, unlike public property, such as silver, furniture etc, paintings do not always show up in the inventories during handing over and assuming charge when personnel change.
The result at times is disastrous An Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of a Command was told by an artist that many works which were present before he took over had gone missing. The AOC-in-C instituted a Court of Inquiry and succeeded in retrieving three paintings, which had been illegally sold. But some were never found again. He also commissioned some paintings to make up the losses. Another source of routine loss of aviation art is the whitewashing or redecoration of rooms where they are displayed. Of course the paintings have to be taken down and stored carefully. Surprisingly they do not always find their way back to their original area of display. The story of one such painting lost and found is explained in Dennis La Fontaine's story.
There is an obvious need in the Air Force, and perhaps in the other services as well, to start officially recording details of the assets of aviation art. These should then form a part of official inventories for handing over to successors, exactly like other public property. It would also be nice, if the history of each work is recorded along with information about the artist and held in official files. A copy of relevant details may be pasted to the back of the painting so that a ready reference to it would always be possible. There is a painting by Raja Ravi Verma, which at a conservative estimate would be worth 60 or 70 lac rupees. Presumably, it is being held and cared for in the manner requested here. Otherwise, it would have gone missing long ago and sold abroad for far more money through an auction house such as Christies.
Date: 11/15/2006
Owner: Webmaster
Size: 11 items
(147 items total)
Album: Denis Anthony La Fontaine
Date: 11/15/2006
Size: 2 items
Views: 3637
Album: Ian Steele Loughran
Date: 11/15/2006
Size: 6 items
Views: 5264
Album: Polly Singh
Date: 11/15/2006
Size: 31 items
Views: 8309
Album: Joseph Arul Raj
Date: 11/15/2006
Size: 8 items
Views: 5534
Album: K S Raman
Date: 11/16/2006
Size: 7 items
Views: 5739
Album: Miscellaneous Artists
Date: 11/16/2006
Size: 14 items
Views: 5913
RIAF Water Colours by Capt H H Sheldon
These water colour paintings were done by the official war artist Capt H H Sheldon and were reproduced in the 1946 published book - The Royal Indian Air Force at War - An account of air operations in South East Asia .
Album: Derek Bunce
Derek Bunce did a number of paintings related to the Indian Air Force for the Society of Aerospace Studies - Publishers of Vayu Magazine. The first of these was done in 1982 for the 50th Anniversary Book published by Ducimus. Further paintings are feature
Date: 04/12/2008
Size: 5 items
Views: 4251
Album: Deb Gohain
Group Captain Gohain was commissioned in the fighter stream of 110 Pilots Course on 2 Jun 1973. After initial training He was posted to Gnat squadrons and for next seven years or so served in Nos 22, 23 and 2 Squadrons
Date: 05/19/2013
Size: 23 items
Views: 6812
Album: NCE Chinnaswamy Nagaraj
Non Combatant Enrolled (NCE) Chinnaswamy Nagaraj is probably one of the Indian Air Force's best kept secret in terms of Aviation Art. Over the years he has produced several paintings for the IAF that now hang in various IAF establishments
Date: 02/02/2019
Size: 31 items
Views: 6636
Album: Aditya Singh Chauhan
Aditya Singh Chauhan is an Airline pilot with Indigo airlines. He hails from an Air Force family. His father Wg Cdr R S Chauhan has a reputation as one of the leading aviation photographers from his time in the Indian Air Force.
Date: 04/08/2020
Size: 9 items
Views: 3652
« Jump to Album »
Aircraft Galleries
-- Current
-- -- Fighters and Bombers
-- -- -- SEPECAT Jaguar IB
-- -- -- SEPECAT Jaguar IM
-- -- -- SEPECAT Jaguar IS
-- -- -- MiG-21bis...
-- -- -- MiG-21Bison
-- -- -- MiG-21U/UM/US...
-- -- -- MiG-29 [Fulcrum]...
-- -- -- MiG-29 UPG (Upgrade)
-- -- -- Dassault Mirage...
-- -- -- Sukhoi Su-30 MKI ...
-- -- -- HAL ADA Tejas
-- -- -- -- HAL Tejas LSPs & SPs
-- -- -- -- HAL Tejas PV1,...
-- -- -- -- HAL Tejas TD1 & TD2
-- -- -- -- HAL Tejas (Trainer)
-- -- -- Dassault Rafale
-- -- Helicopters
-- -- -- HAL Cheetah...
-- -- -- HAL Chetak...
-- -- -- HAL Dhruv
-- -- -- HAL Light Combat ...
-- -- -- Mil Mi-17 [Hip]...
-- -- -- Mil Mi-25 / Mi-35...
-- -- -- Mil Mi-26 "Halo"
-- -- -- Mil Mi-8 [Hip] Rana
-- -- Trainers and...
-- -- -- BAe Systems Hawk ...
-- -- -- HAL HJT-36
-- -- -- HAL HJT-16 Kiran ...
-- -- -- HAL HJT-16 Kiran ...
-- -- -- Pilatus PC7 MkII
-- -- Transport Aircraft
-- -- -- Beriev A-50
-- -- -- Antonov An-32...
-- -- -- Boeing 737
-- -- -- Lockheed Martin...
-- -- -- Dornier Do-228
-- -- -- Embraer EMB135...
-- -- -- HAL HS 748M Avro
-- -- -- Illyushin Il-76MD...
-- -- -- Illyushin...
-- -- Miscellaneous
-- -- -- Unmanned Aerial...
-- -- -- Ultra Light and...
-- -- -- IAF Vintage Flight
-- Vintage Aircraft
-- -- Fighters and Bombers
-- -- -- Consolidated B-24...
-- -- -- Hawker Tempest II
-- -- -- De Havilland...
-- -- -- De Havilland...
-- -- -- Dassault Ouragan ...
-- -- -- Dassault Mystere IVa
-- -- -- EE Canberra...
-- -- -- -- Canberra B(I)58 -...
-- -- -- -- Canberra PR57...
-- -- -- -- Canberra B66 -...
-- -- -- -- Canberra Trainer ...
-- -- -- Hawker Hunter...
-- -- -- Folland Gnat Mk.1
-- -- -- MiG-21M/MF...
-- -- -- HAL Ajeet (Gnat...
-- -- -- MiG-23UM [Flogger]
-- -- -- HAL HF-24 Marut...
-- -- -- MiG-21FL [Fishbed...
-- -- -- Sukhoi-7 BMK...
-- -- -- MiG-23BN...
-- -- -- MiG-23MF [Flogger]
-- -- -- MiG-27M [Flogger]...
-- -- -- MiG-25R/U...
-- -- -- HAL Ajeet Trainer...
-- -- -- MiG23UM
-- -- -- Sukhoi...
-- -- Transport Aircraft
-- -- -- Antonov An-12
-- -- -- DeHavilland...
-- -- -- Lockheed L1049...
-- -- -- Douglas C-47 Dakota
-- -- -- De Havilland...
-- -- -- Illyushin Il-14
-- -- -- Miscellaneous...
-- -- -- De Havilland...
-- -- -- Fairchild C-119...
-- -- -- Tupolev Tu-124
-- -- -- Vickers Viscount
-- -- Helicopters
-- -- -- Bell 47 G-2
-- -- -- Mil Mi-4
-- -- -- Sikorsky S55...
-- -- Trainers and...
-- -- -- HAL HPT-32 Deepak
-- -- -- HAL HT-2
-- -- -- North American...
-- -- -- PZL TS-11 Iskra
-- -- -- Miscellaneous...
-- -- -- Percival Prentice
-- -- -- De Havilland DH82...
-- Aircraft Walkarounds
-- -- The Upgraded...
-- -- MiG-21Bison
-- -- MiG-25U Garuda
-- -- Sukhoi Su-30 MKI ...
-- Aircraft Cockpits
-- Aircraft Engines
Weapons and Ordnance
-- Air to Air Missiles
-- -- Matra Magic II
-- -- R-77RVV-AE [AA-12...
-- -- R-23R/T [AA-7...
-- -- R-27RE1/TE1...
-- -- R-60MK [AA-8...
-- -- Matra Super 530D
-- Piston Engined...
-- Air to Surface...
-- Surface to Air...
Equipment, Radars...
-- Radars
Special Features,...
-- Special Features
-- -- 119 Helicopter...
-- -- Air Indias Boeing...
-- -- Baaz : Induction ...
-- -- The Indian Air...
-- -- Camels land at...
-- -- Fire Power...
-- -- First HAL...
-- -- LCA Calendar 2011
-- -- No.20 Squadron - ...
-- -- Operating in an...
-- -- Agra in the 90s: ...
-- -- The Crocodiles of...
-- -- Round the world...
-- -- Canberras retire ...
-- -- The Suryakirans -...
-- -- The IAF in South ...
-- -- Farewell to the...
-- -- Farewell to the...
-- -- Unmanned Aerial...
-- -- Last of the...
-- -- Uttarkhand Airlift
-- -- Visiting the...
-- -- The Floggers of ...
-- -- Red Arrows at...
-- -- Jamnagar - The...
-- -- The Forgotten...
-- -- The MiG...
-- -- Lightnings...
-- -- The Caribous of...
-- -- Simon Watson's...
-- -- Last of the Deepaks.
-- -- The Silent...
-- -- The Caribous of...
-- Current Events
-- -- 2006 Events (And ...
-- -- 2007 Events
-- -- 2008 Events
-- -- 2009 Events
-- -- 2010 events
-- -- 2011 Events
-- -- 2012 Events
-- -- 2013 Events
-- -- -- Raising of 81...
-- -- 2014
-- -- -- Presentation of...
-- -- 2015
-- Air Shows and...
-- -- Aircraft Display ...
-- -- Chennai Air Show ...
-- -- Red Arrows at...
-- -- Air Force Day...
-- -- Hyderabad Airshow...
-- -- Mumbai Air Show 2004
-- -- Patrouille De...
-- -- Thiruvananthapura...
-- -- Cope India 2004 -...
-- -- Cope India 2004 -...
-- -- Cope India 2006 -...
-- -- Cope India 2006 -...
-- -- Cope India 2006 -...
-- -- Exercise Garuda -...
-- -- Exercise Garuda...
-- -- Illyushin-76 at...
-- -- Indradhanush -...
-- -- Indradhanush -...
-- -- Indradhanush -...
-- -- Iron Fist 2013
-- -- Exercise Eastern ...
-- -- Red Flag 08:...
-- -- Red Arrows at...
Memorials and...
-- Flight Crew...
-- 9 Wing Memorial...
-- Frozen Tear...
-- Vijay Smarak and ...
-- Wall of Silence...
-- Tsunami Memorial ...
-- 8 Wing War...
History
-- The First Decade ...
-- -- Training at Cranwell
-- -- Subroto...
-- The RIAF in World...
-- -- RIAF Water...
-- -- Recruitment...
-- -- IAFVR pilots in UK
-- -- Sqn Ldr M S Pujji...
-- -- No.1 Squadron -...
-- -- Sqn Ldr MS Pujji...
-- -- No.8 Squadron -...
-- -- No.8 Squadron -...
-- -- Frank Shelton's...
-- -- No.4 Squadron in ...
-- -- No.4 Squadron in ...
-- -- War Graves and...
-- -- -- The Runnymede...
-- -- -- Singapore...
-- -- Miscellaneous
-- -- Pilots and other ...
-- -- Flying Officer...
-- -- Coastal Defence...
-- -- Training in the IAF
-- -- Flying Officer P ...
-- -- 4 Squadron Album
-- -- No.3 Squadron
-- -- Wing Commander K ...
-- -- Wing Commmander...
-- -- No.1 Squadron at ...
-- -- Fg Offr O D...
-- -- -- Early Years -...
-- -- -- Kohat '44 with...
-- -- -- No.2 Squadron -...
-- -- -- No.2 Sqn - Camp...
-- -- -- Back to Kohat in ...
-- -- -- WW2 Memorabilia
-- -- -- Air Services India
-- -- -- No.51 Squadron...
-- -- Group Captain...
-- The Jammu &...
-- -- Dakota Operations...
-- -- Civil Aviation...
-- The Era of the...
-- -- Group Captain B S...
-- -- 54th Pilots Course
-- -- Tenure with No.3 ...
-- -- The Battle Axes' ...
-- -- 65th Pilots Course
-- -- Instructional Duties
-- -- No.2 Squadron -...
-- -- No.2 Squadron -...
-- -- No.2 Squadron -...
-- -- 70th Pilots Course
-- -- No.20 Squadron...
-- -- 101 PR Sqn, 2 Sqn...
-- -- No.23 Squadron - ...
-- -- 71st Pilots Course
-- -- Miscellaneous
-- -- 69th Pilot's Course
-- -- -- Passing Out...
-- -- Pilot Officer...
-- -- Hindustan...
-- -- Flt Lt George...
-- -- No.5 (HB)...
-- The 1962...
-- -- POW Repatriation ...
-- The Glorious...
-- -- No.45 Squadron...
-- -- Plane Spotting at...
-- -- Miscellaneous...
-- -- No.1 Squadron...
-- -- Bounty Flying in ...
-- -- No.8 Squadron...
-- -- No.4 Squadron...
-- -- No.14 Squadron - ...
-- -- The North East Album
-- The...
-- -- 114 Helicopter Unit
-- -- The Eastern Sector
-- -- 114 Logistic...
-- -- The Sabre Slayers...
-- -- The Canberras
-- -- No.32 Squadron - ...
-- 1971 War
-- -- Gp Capt Harish...
-- -- The Western Front
-- -- News Paper Gallery
-- -- Eagles Over...
-- -- Lawrence Frederic...
-- -- Flt Lt Gurdeep...
-- -- 14 Care and...
-- That Seventies...
-- -- Miscellaneous...
-- -- Wg Cdr K S...
-- -- No.2 Squadron...
-- The Last Quarter ...
-- -- Group Captain B S...
-- -- Wg Cdr P M Ahuja ...
-- -- Air Vice Marshal ...
-- -- Miscellaneous...
-- -- No.1 Short...
-- Operation Safed...
-- -- The Air Warriors ...
-- -- A View from the...
-- -- From the Front Lines
-- Tributes
-- Veteran...
-- -- Canberra...
Museums
-- Air Force Station...
-- Air Force Station...
-- Jumbo Majumdar...
Medal Gallery
-- 1933-1950
-- 1947-48 Jammu &...
-- The Bangladesh...
Philately
-- Stamps
-- Special and First...
-- Brochures and...
-- Other Philately...
Aviation Art
-- Denis Anthony La ...
-- Ian Steele Loughran
-- Polly Singh
-- Joseph Arul Raj
-- K S Raman
-- Miscellaneous...
-- Derek Bunce
-- Deb Gohain
-- NCE Chinnaswamy...
-- Aditya Singh Chauhan
Collectibles
-- LP Album Record -...
-- Golden Jubilee - ...
-- Golden Jubilee - ...
-- Mementos and...
-- Golden Jubilee...
-- 75 Years -...
-- No.4 Squadron...
Modelling the...
-- Polly Singh's...
-- -- 1/72 Lindberg SE 5a
-- -- Frog / Novell...
-- -- Airfix 1/72...
-- -- Match Box 1/72...
-- -- Monogram 1/48...
-- -- 1/24 Trumpeter...
-- -- Airfix 1/72...
-- -- Monogram 1/48...
-- -- Revell Frog 1/72 ...
-- -- Spitfire Parade...
-- -- Academy and...
-- -- Academy 1/48 ...
-- -- Match Box 1/72 ...
-- -- Occidental 1/48...
-- -- Italeri 1/72...
-- -- Italeri 1/72 Bell...
-- -- Heller 1/72...
-- -- Matchbox 1/72...
-- -- Hobbycraft 1/72...
-- -- Canberra Farewell...
-- -- Aeroclub 1/72...
-- -- Black Panthers...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- -- Alliance 1/72...
-- -- Fujimi 1/72...
-- -- KP 1/72 ...
-- -- Airfix, Heller...
-- -- 1/72 The Indian...
-- -- Fujimi MiG-21PF, ...
-- -- Hasegawa 1/72...
-- -- Heller 1/72...
-- -- 1/72 Italeri Hawk...
-- -- 1/72 Azur FRROM...
-- -- 1/72 Revell MiG...
-- -- 1/48 Academy MiG ...
-- -- 1/72 Eastern...
-- Rupesh Santoshi's...
-- -- Matchbox 1/72...
-- -- Matchbox 1/72...
-- -- Hasegawa 1/72...
-- -- Hasegawa 1/72...
-- -- Eastern Express...
-- Murli Rajan 's...
-- -- 1:48 Mirage 2000
-- -- 1:48 Sepecat Jaguar
-- -- Mig-21 Bis TACDE
-- -- Hawker Hunter F56A
-- -- MiG-29 UPG
-- -- BAe Hawk Mk.132...
-- -- C-130J-30s Hercules
-- -- Sukhoi Su-7
-- -- De Havilland Vampire
-- -- Hawker Tempest Mk.II
-- Misc Modeller...
-- -- Hasegawa 1/48...
-- -- Hasegawa 1/72...
-- -- Matchbox 1/72...
-- -- Aeroclub 1/48 HAL...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- -- OEZ N02 1/48...
-- -- Tamiya 1/100...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- -- Eastern Express...
-- -- KP Models 1/72 ...
-- -- ESCI 1/48 MiG-23UM
-- -- Trumpeter 1/144...
-- -- Revell 1/48 Mil...
-- -- Revell 1/32 Mig-29
-- -- Italeri 1/72 MiG-29
-- -- Italeri 1/72 MiG-29
-- -- InAir 1/100 MiG-29
-- -- Trumpeter 1/48...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- Aamod Potdar's...
-- -- Academy 1/48...
-- -- Italeri 1/72...
-- -- Italeri 1/72...
-- -- Italeri 1/72 Sea ...
-- -- Balsa Wood 1/72...
-- -- MiG-29 [Fulcrum]...
-- -- Tamiya 1/72 Mi-25...
Patches
-- Squadron Patches
-- Crest Patches
-- Type Patches
-- Missile Units
-- Qualification...
-- Special Teams
-- Miscellaneous...
-- Exercises
-- Second World War ...
-- Stickers
Books and Brochures
-- No 220 Squadron -...
-- 32 Squadron -...
-- "I join the RIAF"...
-- IAF Over Burma
Documents and...
-- Accident Report...
-- -- Investigation Photos
-- -- Photos of the...
-- The Indian Air...
-- PAF Miranshah...