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More from baroncoon
Over the next month or so I'm going to be posting images of an ongoing commission project with 
abakan This is a project that got stalled big time when my life and BackBreaker Studios started to go downhill. Now things are slowly improving but since so much time has passed I want to make certain that Abakan is happy with the concept we had came up with or if he wishes to revise elements of his commission. He has no problem with me publicly posting and replying to initially development sketches posted to FA, and it gives me a chance to show one example of how creator/ client interaction can work for the general audience.
When Abakan approached me with this concept there were several design and ethical questions I reconcile with myself before going forward. Before I go any further wish to make something very clear. While this piece does portray individuals, settings and aircraft of the German Luftwaffe of WWII it is not done to condone or glorify the ideology or actions of the Nazis. The intents of this picture is to portray a moment in time. The emphasis is on the story of individuals living in one of the defining moments of human history. My objective is to show people struggling to retain their humanity under the brutal conditions of war. Especially if you are on the side that is losing.
The technical challenges of this piece are varied. One Abakan knows very well the period and the equipment I will be portraying in this piece. He choose me for this project because he felt I'll do the necessary study and research to properly recreate the setting and mood for the picture. The other aspect I had to tackle was how I would deal with the swastika. It is my understanding that it is still illegal to portray the symbol of the Nazi Party in Germany, but every aircraft of the Luftwaffe had the swastika on this rudder, and many of the insignias and badges on the Luftwaffe uniforms have them. Since I hope to send prints of this piece to conventions like Eurofurence I'd have to find ways to discretely hide the swastika.
Another element of the piece I have to deal with is the historical location and strategic/ tactical doctrine concerning the The Defense of the Reich. Now I built many a WWII Luftwaffe model aircraft in my day and I always tried to faithfully recreate the features and markings of the aircraft I built. But my efforts at duplication then were only to make certain I had the right shade of grey or that I placed the decals in the right place on the model. Now I'm learning what the various geometric symbols on their aircraft meant and how one can determine roughly what rank the a pilot has based off them. Also the assorted color bands and other markings denote where a squadron was located since we wanted Abakan to be defending against the USAAF having his unit in West would be good.
Finally the piece will probably be taking place in the late spring of 1944. At this point the infrastructure and logistical supply chain for the Luftwaffe and the German war effort starts to unravel faster and faster. As result units and individuals start improvising to find ways to keep themselves equipped and ready for operation. A lot of captured and ersatz equipment starts making appearances. This is why I thought it would be nice to have Abakan wearing a captured USAAF flight jacket. One leather was becoming increasingly scarce and expensive in Germany. Also it represents both the enemy he must daily face in combat, but as a kind of a trophy from his combats. Like a big game hunter saving rack or hide from one of their trophy hunts.
abakan This is a project that got stalled big time when my life and BackBreaker Studios started to go downhill. Now things are slowly improving but since so much time has passed I want to make certain that Abakan is happy with the concept we had came up with or if he wishes to revise elements of his commission. He has no problem with me publicly posting and replying to initially development sketches posted to FA, and it gives me a chance to show one example of how creator/ client interaction can work for the general audience.When Abakan approached me with this concept there were several design and ethical questions I reconcile with myself before going forward. Before I go any further wish to make something very clear. While this piece does portray individuals, settings and aircraft of the German Luftwaffe of WWII it is not done to condone or glorify the ideology or actions of the Nazis. The intents of this picture is to portray a moment in time. The emphasis is on the story of individuals living in one of the defining moments of human history. My objective is to show people struggling to retain their humanity under the brutal conditions of war. Especially if you are on the side that is losing.
The technical challenges of this piece are varied. One Abakan knows very well the period and the equipment I will be portraying in this piece. He choose me for this project because he felt I'll do the necessary study and research to properly recreate the setting and mood for the picture. The other aspect I had to tackle was how I would deal with the swastika. It is my understanding that it is still illegal to portray the symbol of the Nazi Party in Germany, but every aircraft of the Luftwaffe had the swastika on this rudder, and many of the insignias and badges on the Luftwaffe uniforms have them. Since I hope to send prints of this piece to conventions like Eurofurence I'd have to find ways to discretely hide the swastika.
Another element of the piece I have to deal with is the historical location and strategic/ tactical doctrine concerning the The Defense of the Reich. Now I built many a WWII Luftwaffe model aircraft in my day and I always tried to faithfully recreate the features and markings of the aircraft I built. But my efforts at duplication then were only to make certain I had the right shade of grey or that I placed the decals in the right place on the model. Now I'm learning what the various geometric symbols on their aircraft meant and how one can determine roughly what rank the a pilot has based off them. Also the assorted color bands and other markings denote where a squadron was located since we wanted Abakan to be defending against the USAAF having his unit in West would be good.
Finally the piece will probably be taking place in the late spring of 1944. At this point the infrastructure and logistical supply chain for the Luftwaffe and the German war effort starts to unravel faster and faster. As result units and individuals start improvising to find ways to keep themselves equipped and ready for operation. A lot of captured and ersatz equipment starts making appearances. This is why I thought it would be nice to have Abakan wearing a captured USAAF flight jacket. One leather was becoming increasingly scarce and expensive in Germany. Also it represents both the enemy he must daily face in combat, but as a kind of a trophy from his combats. Like a big game hunter saving rack or hide from one of their trophy hunts.
Category All / All
Species Squirrel
Size 717 x 907px
File Size 95.3 kB
A Popinjay has couple meanings. In English it referred to one who dressed foppishly. But in Germany they had a shooting contest in which one shot with either crossbows or rifles at a wooden bird on top of a very tall pole. The wooden bird, often in the shape of an eagle, was called a Popinjay. Whoever knocked the bird won. In many cases the bird was designed to break into separate pieces and you were rewarded depending what part, or parts, you succeeded in shooting off.
Actually there were quite a few planes around without Swastica. During the BOB the whole III/JG 53 did overpaint their swastica to protest the ban of Unit sign ( also there was another Gruppe which removed theirs in protest to the unfair threatment of their commander ( who was married to a jewish woman ). Interesting enoug no one was punished for it as the Luftwaffe was much, much more liberal than the army.
Also by the end of the war quite a few airplanes came off the assembly line without it and they did not bother to paint them on when the planes reached the units ( there is a rather wellknown pic of a group of He 162A1 of JG1 and it is clearely visible that quite a few of them do not bear a Swastica )
Also by the end of the war quite a few airplanes came off the assembly line without it and they did not bother to paint them on when the planes reached the units ( there is a rather wellknown pic of a group of He 162A1 of JG1 and it is clearely visible that quite a few of them do not bear a Swastica )
Well though the swastika was placed on most Items, I've noticed more often then Iron cross was places and more noticeable a battle insignia then the swastika. On most tank models I made they were not included at all. Of course you could just turn them the right way and then they would be the Indian swastika which means a totally different thing :D
Well, it may mean a totally different thing - but don't count on it that lot of people in germany/austria will see (and know) the difference.
The sign of a swastika alone calls for trouble here :(
The Iron Cross instead existed far before the third Reich and so is still used by the german airforce.
The sign of a swastika alone calls for trouble here :(
The Iron Cross instead existed far before the third Reich and so is still used by the german airforce.
This series of images is not only very interesting, but it coincides with my recently re-acquaintance with the subject of the Second World War whilst watching various programs on the History and Discovery Channel.
One such documentary I watched yesterday chronicled the story of a USAF pilot who was shot down over Nazi-occupied France in 40 and his incredible journey through the rest of the war. He initially took up residence with a female member of the French Resistance movement in a small village outside Paris where a close bond was formed between the two. The pilot stayed for several months in the woman's house, narrowly avoiding capture on several occasions thanks to the help of the villagers, before another extremely close shave convinced the airman that he had to head to Paris to hopefully make his escape to England and the lady who had kept him safe reluctantly agreed.
Unfortunately when he taken to the French capital by folks he believed to be from the Resistance, the pilot was betrayed to the Gestapo and captured.
To cut a very long and interesting story short (the documentary lasted 2 hours), the pilot ended up at a concentration camp deep within the Germany border with hundreds of fellow Allied pilots and French Resistance fighters, facing an inevitable death. Miraculously he survived his harrowing ordeal (though there were at least FIVE separate occasions when by rights he should have been killed), not least due to the fortuitous intervention of a high ranking Luftwaffe pilot who happened to visit the SS-run camp.
Another captured pilot who happened to speak German managed to tell the officer of the prisoners awful conditions, conditions which clearly contravened the Geneva Convention regulations concerning captured prisoners of war.
Thanks to that incredibly brave speech, early in 1945, (having survived a severe bout of pneumonia and a subsequent visit from a "Doctor Death" at the camp who was moments away from sending him to the gas chamber, and being caught in the full beam of a searchlight after curfew carrying a 5 liter bowl of steaming soup of the other inmates) he and the other captured military personnel where sent to a far more humane Luftwaffe prison camp elsewhere in German.
Viewing this image reminded me of this pilot's incredible story, because not only was a tale of courage and heroism in the face of unspeakable odds, it also showed the various sides of human personality from BOTH sides of the military divide. He had been betrayed by French nationals who he through he could trust, but was ultimately saved by the German Luftwaffe pilot who was clearly disturbed by the barbaric conditions that the "enemy" were being kept in.
Also what your picture perfectly illustrates is that despite the horrid regime they were fighting under, the majority of those fighting for German were just ordinary people doing their duty, who probably didn't support the Fuhrer's insane ideology of racial hatred but couldn't voice their oppositions to such views without losing their lives.
In fact the Luftwaffe were generally a more lenient, level headed part of the Nazi military machine, and certainly didn't share the same rabid enthusiasm to carry out Hitler's orders as the SS did.
All in all Baroncoon, this is a fabulous set of sketches dealing with a touchy subject and handled with upmost respect and care for the characters depicted. :)
One such documentary I watched yesterday chronicled the story of a USAF pilot who was shot down over Nazi-occupied France in 40 and his incredible journey through the rest of the war. He initially took up residence with a female member of the French Resistance movement in a small village outside Paris where a close bond was formed between the two. The pilot stayed for several months in the woman's house, narrowly avoiding capture on several occasions thanks to the help of the villagers, before another extremely close shave convinced the airman that he had to head to Paris to hopefully make his escape to England and the lady who had kept him safe reluctantly agreed.
Unfortunately when he taken to the French capital by folks he believed to be from the Resistance, the pilot was betrayed to the Gestapo and captured.
To cut a very long and interesting story short (the documentary lasted 2 hours), the pilot ended up at a concentration camp deep within the Germany border with hundreds of fellow Allied pilots and French Resistance fighters, facing an inevitable death. Miraculously he survived his harrowing ordeal (though there were at least FIVE separate occasions when by rights he should have been killed), not least due to the fortuitous intervention of a high ranking Luftwaffe pilot who happened to visit the SS-run camp.
Another captured pilot who happened to speak German managed to tell the officer of the prisoners awful conditions, conditions which clearly contravened the Geneva Convention regulations concerning captured prisoners of war.
Thanks to that incredibly brave speech, early in 1945, (having survived a severe bout of pneumonia and a subsequent visit from a "Doctor Death" at the camp who was moments away from sending him to the gas chamber, and being caught in the full beam of a searchlight after curfew carrying a 5 liter bowl of steaming soup of the other inmates) he and the other captured military personnel where sent to a far more humane Luftwaffe prison camp elsewhere in German.
Viewing this image reminded me of this pilot's incredible story, because not only was a tale of courage and heroism in the face of unspeakable odds, it also showed the various sides of human personality from BOTH sides of the military divide. He had been betrayed by French nationals who he through he could trust, but was ultimately saved by the German Luftwaffe pilot who was clearly disturbed by the barbaric conditions that the "enemy" were being kept in.
Also what your picture perfectly illustrates is that despite the horrid regime they were fighting under, the majority of those fighting for German were just ordinary people doing their duty, who probably didn't support the Fuhrer's insane ideology of racial hatred but couldn't voice their oppositions to such views without losing their lives.
In fact the Luftwaffe were generally a more lenient, level headed part of the Nazi military machine, and certainly didn't share the same rabid enthusiasm to carry out Hitler's orders as the SS did.
All in all Baroncoon, this is a fabulous set of sketches dealing with a touchy subject and handled with upmost respect and care for the characters depicted. :)
I once worked with a former Luftwaffe pilot, (hard not to in the aerospace industry) and one of my friend's uncles worked with one of Germany's leading Jet aces (he flew out of SF for an airline after the war, United I think). The people in the Luftwaffe weren't Nazi's per se. Many were just military folks who were serving their country. Many were drafted as well (the guy I knew was at age 16).
And the Luftwaffe did have a better history than some of the other branches. All enemy flyers who were shot down went to special Luftwaffe run prison camps, not the the ones that regular soldiers went to (why Germany split things up like this I have no idea), and as a rule the Luftwaffe treated its prisoners of war a bit better than the other branches did.
Growing up when and where I did, I was exposed to a lot of WWII vets, America, English, Dutch, French, German and Italian. While sometimes there were words said, it was rarely that big of a deal. The war was over and no one really wanted to keep fighting it.
Note however that I left out the Japanese. I can not begin to explain the hard feelings that persisted there after the war.
And the Luftwaffe did have a better history than some of the other branches. All enemy flyers who were shot down went to special Luftwaffe run prison camps, not the the ones that regular soldiers went to (why Germany split things up like this I have no idea), and as a rule the Luftwaffe treated its prisoners of war a bit better than the other branches did.
Growing up when and where I did, I was exposed to a lot of WWII vets, America, English, Dutch, French, German and Italian. While sometimes there were words said, it was rarely that big of a deal. The war was over and no one really wanted to keep fighting it.
Note however that I left out the Japanese. I can not begin to explain the hard feelings that persisted there after the war.
Good luck with this. And very OT but something I'd like to see someday would be a take on the 'International' Waffen-SS units (the Norwegian units, the Dutch SS, the Wallonie/Flemish SS, the rench Charlemagne division...) that manages the hard line between sympathetic to the men involved while not shying away from the horrible things they often did.
Though really, if you want SS horrors, you need look no further than the Dirlewanger Brigade...
Though really, if you want SS horrors, you need look no further than the Dirlewanger Brigade...
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