Uplifting: Paintings of Northrop Lifting Bodies

Dear Curator

Earlier in the year you kindly identified a space painting of a Dyna Soar for me as that of Warren Mcallister, for which I am very grateful.

I wondered if you might be able to help me again, this time with Northrop lifting body paintings. I have attached two pictures - M2 F2 with 'NASA' on its wings and HL-10 fin numbered '804'. I am particularly keen to identify the artist of the M2 F2 'NASA'. The '804' has a signature in the left bottom

corner but I just can't make it out.

There is one well-known Lifting Body painting I'm aware of, the 1966 'Flying Bathtub' by Charles Hubbell, which I've included [top picture] in case it helps with the other two.

Thank you for your time and hope you have a great day at the Museum,

Sincerely,

Paul Woods, England, Project SWORD space toys blog

Dear Mr. Woods,

Back on 10 November, you sent two illustrations of lifting bodies and asked if we could identify the artists who painted them. I apologize for having taken so long to reply, but it took a while for our various experts to reply. Also, we are in the midst of building our Space Gallery, a major construction project that has forced us to close our Research Center until sometime in January.

We believe that the painting showing the lifting body with its landing gear retracted [bottom picture] was done by Stan Stokes. This information comes from Steven R. Cox, to whom the images were sent by one of our in-house experts.

The artist of the other painting, which depicts the lifting body with its landing gear extended [middle picture], remains a mystery. Our best-known local aviation artist here in Seattle, Jim Dietz, guesses that the painting might have been done by an anonymous artist in Northrop’s Art Department, an opinion seconded by one of our archivists here at the Museum. If I had to guess, I would guess the late Dick Locher, who was an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune newspaper from the 1950s through the 1970s. He also painted much of the box-top art for Monogram model kits in those same years. Monogram then was headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago. I’m no art expert, but as an avid model-builder who grew up in the Chicago area in the 1960s and 1970s, I became very familiar with the work of Dick Locher. I hope that I’m not slandering Mr. Locher, because the painting (especially the background) shows many signs of having been done in great haste.

I have exhausted our local resources, and that’s the best that we can do.

Sincerely,

John L. Little

Assistant Curator & Research Team Leader

The Museum of Flight, Seattle, U.S.A.