"Wings Through Time" by Robert Emerson Bell

A graphic look down" view of virtually every airplane type from the Wright Flyer to the F-22, ever in the Air Force and its predecessor Army organizations inventory. All are depicted in relative scale and positioned approximately when they came into service along a 1 to the year timeline. Visually, the depiction shows buildups and drawdowns up to, during, and after conflicts, technology advances, and color reflections of the times (colorful during "Roaring Twenties", drabness during the "Depression", etc.). The background is "brown-shoe" during the Army years and Air Force blue thereafter. Copy in the background (enhanced by matt varnish) identifies relative organizational elements. the design was conceived as a continuous graphic which could be divided into four equal segments, which could be reduced to 50% and printed as the four end sheets in the two volume history of the Air Force hardbound book set. Each segment is subtitled: from let to right--"The Beginning", "The Corp", "Autonomy", and "Global Reach". The vortical center of the painting is 1947, the year the Air FORCE became a separate service.