Early Stealth Poster

[Sculpher]

Picture it... early 80s - UK- boy buys one of those magazines that explains how things work and the history of the Incas or similar (I'm thinking 'Look and Learn' but my search of their on line database makes me think not....) Inside is a large pull-out poster of a strange new (hypothetical) aircraft - called a 'Stealth' aircraft. The poster stays on his wall for 5 years - one day he comes home from school to find his parents repainting his room - all the posters are gone. He spends the next 23 years trying to find the poster - or even the name of the magazine. Anybody...DYR???

[sixtyten]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

World of knowledge??

[Sculpher]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

Possibly.... although I remember it (possibly) being the first issue of this particular magazine - and it was fairly modern (even in the 80's 'Look and Learn' and 'World of Knowledge' has a particularly 50's look...)

[Derekflint]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

Doubt this is the one, but Science Now was a how things work job - they had all kinds of articles. Not sure if I still have my first issue, but if my memory is working, it had articles on the A-10 Warthog and the science of bowling a cricket ball. In the same one, or a later ish was an article on oil rigs and other such seabound structures.

As I say, I doubt it, since the Stealth rumours would have been later on.

[glam_racket]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

I think I remember this.

The magazine was called 'Insight' and was one of them buy the first issue for 99p with free binder affairs.

It ran for a few years with facts, figures and articles on Military, Nature, Medicine, Transport and so on, a few pages for each subject.

I could be wrong!

[rugga]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

i remember that poster! i had it on my bedroom wall as well. although the name of the magazine escapes me. the only other info i can remember was one other issues main poster was of madness, the pop group

i was lucky at that time because an uncle of mine owned a newsagents and rather than send unsold magazines and comics back he would give them to us

[Sculpher]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

I'm contemplating hypnosis or inventing a time machine. Gagh. Well - we're a step closer - please rack your brains!

[rossobantam]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

I think I remember this.

The magazine was called 'Insight' and was one of them buy the first issue for 99p with free binder affairs.

It ran for a few years with facts, figures and articles on Military, Nature, Medicine, Transport and so on, a few pages for each subject.

I could be wrong!

Did you see GR's post above , Sculpher? Any good?

Dave

[Sculpher]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

Did you see GR's post above , Sculpher? Any good?

Dave

I did not - thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'd like to say it rings a bell - but sadly it doesn't. I've has a search through google - there's plenty of insight magazines but I can't find this one. That's not to say it isn't the one - or I wouldn't be here! Also - thanks GR - I'll look into that - as it's as good a lead as any. I'm currently looking through old photos of my bedroom!

[Sculpher]

I found the poster! (Well - a fuzzy photo-scan of it). This'll hopefully jog some memories!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40305917@N00/3650250142/

Edit - it's not me in the photo. Further analysis seems to reveal 'Look Alive' magazine.

Edit2 - With this information it was a short journey to find this. Yaaaaay! Now - can anyone help me with a scan or a copy for sale?

[Jacqueline]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

Congratulations on your find Sculpher! Sorry I can't help.

[Sculpher]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

Thanks Jaqueline!

Just for you - http://ddahlia.tripod.com/day.html

[vanhelsing]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

I had an AH-64 Apache poster on mine.

[Sculpher]

Re: Early Stealth Poster

The full story...

The Power of Persistence : A short story


1982 was a great year.


It brought what, to me , are possibly the best movies of all time - E.T. , Blade Runner, Tron, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan... It bought me my beloved Commodore 64 - the real birth of my love of computers. It introduced me to a new fiction genre - the ‘Technothriller’ in the form of the re-release of ‘Firefox’ to coincide with the release of the Clint Eastwood movie.


And, in October - it bought to me issue 4 of a certain magazine. I’d heard of it before- seen the rabidly over-promising TV ad campaign but never purchased it. I bought this one specifically because it had Darth Vader on the front - and I was hoping for insider news or hints on the next year’s hot property- ‘The Revenge of the Jedi’ (as it was being called at that point) - and all for 40p.


I got it home - and realized that it came with a poster depicting a concept I had only recently become aware of in aviation technology- the ‘Stealth Aircraft’ (qv ‘Firefox’).


I hung it on my wall - and fell in love.


Fast forward to 1985. My Commodore 64 has a coffee ring on it. A stereo sits where my Star Wars action figures previously inhabited. I’ve discovered girls - and my parents are repainting my bedroom. I get home to the smell of emulsion and wallpaper paste.


My walls are devoid of all posters.


‘We made room for new things - and those old ones were so tatty...’


The search starts. Firstly - asking friends. Visiting newsagents. Then comic shops. Then magazine shops. Then book shops. Then comic conventions. After a couple of years - I give up.


The name of the magazine fades from my mind - however the the image of that majestic green aircraft- silently thundering over a moonlit snowscape to deliver its unexpected payload of destruction on an unsuspecting target - and the excitement and mystery, and all the feelings and dreams and questions and... all stayed with me.


20 years pass. I discover the internet holds answers to questions of nostalgia. There are communities dedicated to answering the question ‘do YOU remember..?’


I join - and post my question. 2 years later (while myself constantly searching and re-searching and refining my list of terms) I get a hit - from a photo website. Someone has a photograph of themselves standing in front of the poster - an image scan of a photo from 1982...


The magazine name is clearly visible in the corner.


‘Look Alive’.


My fire is rekindled. I have a specific set of terms to search with.


I search probably once a month - often hours into the night.


For 10 years.


And we find ourselves- tonight.


Add back pain. Add insomnia. Add a dream where I remember, vividly, details I’d completely forgotten about. The smell of the print. The feel of the wood chip wallpaper as I pressed my hand gently to the glossy surface. The fine brushstrokes of the artists hand. The artists name - at eye-level as I sat on the sofa in my old bedroom in my family home listening in bliss to Jarre’s ‘Oxygene...


It began with ‘H’


Har....Harm... Hark....


Hardy.


It’s past midnight now -and I can hear Kelly’s soft breathing from the next room.


My hand - shaking with a mixture of excitement, fatigue and pain - starts to type.


No luck on the first try. All the old familiar pages I’ve seen night after night, year after year.


I try a different tack. I search for the magazine name - and the last name of the artist.


No hits... but a number of mentions in a document charting the history of the publication ‘Look Alive’ was designed to replace (the legendary ‘Look and Learn’).


There. A list of artists featured in that magazine- with a brief note that some of them went on to write for its ill-fated successor.


And the name.


Wilf Hardy.


A quick image search reveals hundreds of pieces of artwork- mainly fictional and historical- but a major proportion of them... aviation art. And in an eerily familiar style.


It takes me approximately 2 more minutes to locate an archive of images and download the poster.

https://flic.kr/p/MRygRD

https://flic.kr/p/MRygRD