Who remembers Speed & Power ?

Back in 1974 a new weekly magazine emerged, aimed clearly at boys with an interest in all things mechanical. IPC comic 'Speed & Power' was the Top Gear comic of its day and doubtless read by Clarkson, May and Hammond. Every week it featured planes, bikes, hot rods, spaceships and all manner of things transporty and I loved every issue. It ran for 87 issues until - to my utter disgust and chagrin, it was merged with the stultifyingly tedious and formal 'Look and Learn'.

The first issue included a cool poster 'Fighting Aircraft of the World', which was immediately pasted on to my wall and hung there for several years, until the advent of Star Wars in 1977 and it was probably displaced with space and sci-fi material. While I was sifting through some boxes in the loft, sorting out my dads catalogues, I discovered it, neatly folded away - albeit dog eared and covered in gaffer tape - where he had obviously reclaimed it from the bedroom floor as Darth Vader moved in, and secreted it in his cupboard on the landing, where everything displaced, invariably ended up. Thanks Dad!

It was always fascinating to me, as it included (the then) radical new russian fighters such as the Foxbat and Flogger designations, which I had never heard of and the wonderful A-10 Warthog which had recently arrived on the scene and would grace the cover of the second Speed & Power annual in spectacular fashion.

The other big draw for me were the regular instalments of classic Arthur C. Clarke science fiction stories, with wonderful illustrations, such as 'Journey to Jupiter' and 'Sunjammer'.

Some of the info was a little less interesting to me as a space fan, such as the ships and biplanes, but looking back on it now, it was a great resource, with some brilliant photography and illustrations.
 

It also had some cool adverts in - such as this Airfix Thunderstreak model - which I went out and bought!