Tintins Airplane!

[Diesel8]

Yes, I do realize that this may be the wrong forum, but then again, I do need some smart heads to figure this one out and it certainly does involve a rather interesting airplane.

In on of the Tintin books, which I must admit I read many years ago, some one is flying an airplane which very much resembles a Hughes H-1 racer, although it does have a fixed landing gear and a different cockpit enclosure.

I am not sure, but I do believe it was a real airplane of the period, but I must admit, that I am not sure.

Any takers?

[Notso Fantastic]

No. How much of an aeroplane enthusiast do you think Herge's artist was? It's a comic!

[Wings]

My son's school has the complete collection of Titin comics. if you have any idea which Tintin Adventure it was I will be happy to do some hunting around for you.
Cheers

[Philthy]

As it happens, Herge usually modelled his aeroplanes on photographs of the real thing. There are aeroplanes in many of the Tintin comics so you would need to know which title exactly to identify the particular one you're after.

[JDK]

Hmm, not quite, Notsofantastic.

Herge (George Remi) drew the original Tintins himself, and the aircraft depicted were very mich in the Mickey Mouse cartoon style. When he got to redrawing the strips, they had technical details contracted out, and identifiable aircraft in some of the adventures are as follows:

The Black Island:
P-47,
Chipmunk,
Prentice,
Tiger Moth,
Trident

Tintin in Tibet
DC-3

The Red Sea Sharks
Spitfire
Mosquito (mythical FB version)
DC-3

The earlier version of the Red Sea Sharks had a Hawker Hart family biplane instead of the Spitfire. Technically, these later strips were actually very accurate. The only original one avaliable today is 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets' where Tintin carves a prop for his plane! The planes are cartoon, but one of the cars is clearly a Bugatti.

I don't recall an a/c fitting the discription in one of the Tintin books, but there were some other strips by Herge Studioes, including one about a transatlantic race, which I think were Jo Zette & Jocko (SP?). Try some French websites.

Cheers!

James K

[No comment]

Nice sensible answer JDK, I often wondered about Herge's aircraft myself.

[spagiola]

As was already noted, Herge often based vehicles in his comic books on photographs, and the accuracy of this depiction improved markedly over time. Many of the Tintin stories have also been redrawn over the years, often with changes. This can lead to many apparently anachronistic events, with Tintin flying on a BEA Trident in one story, for example, and in a SABENA Savoia Marchetti S-76 in a supposedly later story.

[MLS-12D]

Not an airplane, but you left one out James:

Destination Moon
V2 rocket (http://www.v2rocket.com/start/makeup/design.html) (enlarged)

[eal401]

Don't forget the supersonic jet in "Flight 714"

:)

[The Claw]

If you want to read about the "facts" behind the work of Herge, then read "Tintin, The Complete Companion" by Michael Farr. It mentions some of the aircraft types, but not the one you mention.

JDK You can also still get the original Tintin in the Congo, although not very easily due to the un-PC content!

[Fris B. Fairing]

Wasn't it "Flight 714" which featured a very realistic Qantas B707 V-Jet. I seem to recall Qantas entering into some sort of contra deal when the book was launched.

Cheers

[The Claw]

Wasn't it "Flight 714" which featured a very realistic Qantas B707 V-Jet.

That would be Qantas Flight 714 to Sydney then:E


Interesting to also note that the character Carreidas, was based on Marcel Dassault!

[JDK]

Thanks for the feedback chaps!

My post wasn't intended to be a complete list (that would be a LOT) but a few 'off the top of my head'.

George Remi (pen name Herge from his initials, reversed) was indeed a Belgian, not French (a useful person to remember along with Magritte and Jackie Ixx when naming famous Belgians).

Not seen the Bruxelles comic museum (first call was a rather good aircraft museum, then I ran out of time!) but some of my refs came from a limited edition book on Tintin I got at an exhibition in Chelsea, though I do believe the Farr book is also very good. There's a lot out there if you look!

There's a Trident at the end of The Black Island in BEA colours - it wasn't just Qantas!

The Flight 714 jet was ficticious (though credible?) and reapeared in a Biggles comic strip later... There was a US Grumman Albatross which rescued our heros at the end of that one...

I'm not entirely convinced by the V-2 - moon rocket connection, though it's reasonable. When it was written, the V-2 shape was 'the' rocket shape. In the story 'Destination Moon', there is also a book in the scientist's study about German wartime rockets...

Enough! Back to reality.

[Sturmvogel]

Talking of Herge coming from Belgium, can I remind anybody who is stuck n Brussels to make time to see the aviation museum. Its in a building near the Atomium and stuffed with artefacts including a Caravelle.