SUMMER OF SWORD: DYNA SOAR BOEING ARTIST IDENTIFIED

As you know I am keenly interested in the origins of Project SWORD box art. A while back I blogged progress on a possible source for the Dyna Soar box image, the 'McCallister' painting above [supplied and identified by reader Darth]. The artists's first name and biography have eluded me until now. I recently contacted the US Museum of Flight and recieved these two fascinating responses:

"Dear Mr. Woods,

Yes, Warren McCallister was a Boeing Company artist for years and this piece appears to be one of the many he did for the company. He was not affiliated with the museum and while we couldn't find an obituary for him, he is believed to have passed away in 1992. He appears in this book: "The Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters". It is available at this online book seller: The Seattle Public Library also has a reference copy at the main branch. You could try contacting them to see if they could copy any biographical information for you.Go here and use "The First Fifty Years" in the title block. Since this was work that he did for the Boeing Company as an employee, they retain all copyrights and trademarks associated with the material and the words Dyna-Soar.

Regards,

The Curatorial Staff

The Museum of Flight"

and the following response to my more specific questions [in italics]

1. Was it Mr. McAllister's painting, which appeared in so many black and white Boeing Dyna Soar ads in the early Sixties [Newsweek etc]? - see http://epizodsspace.testpilot.ru/bibl/spaceflight/23/3.jpg

1. Probably, all of the photographs of the pieces we've seen for the Dyna-Soar program that are signed have been his work. In order to keep the look and feel the same for an entire program there was generally one artist of record assigned.

2. Do you think that Boeing would have been aware of the McAllister image being used for a British toy box picture and name in the 1960's, the Century 21 Dyna Soar Space Glider? [do you agree it's similar to Mr. M's painting?]. There are very few Dyna Soar toys from the Sixties - might Boeing have restricted licensing for some reason?

2. It doesn't really look like McCallister's work and since the toy has only a passing resemblance to the X-20, the cover art was obviously done by an artist contracted by the toy company. Remember all the public ever saw of the thing was the artwork. Boeing was just finishing the proto-type when the government pulled the plug on the project. (Dates were 1958 to 1963) And that is probably the answer to your second question. The program didn't even last 10 years and in the meantime, the Gemini program was gearing up for the first launch in 1965 and getting all of the press.

3. Do you know where the original McAllister Dyna Soar colour painting is now?

3. No, I spoke with the Boeing Company archivist and they don't have it either. It appears that the artists took the best of their work with them and the rest was probably thrown away.

4. Do you think that Mr. McAllister ever worked with other 50's/60's space artists Robert McAll and Ed Valigursky?

4. All, we know about is the work he did for Boeing.

The Curatorial Staff

The Museum of Flight"