Visual Memory

I was working on an illustration of N83FA following some other research this afternoon, and happened to cover the GIMP window I was using with my web browser.  Something else clicked in my mind as a result.

Here’s what I saw:

My desktop with the nose of a Carvair poking out from underneath the web browser

It was the size of the nose and position of the cockpit. I knew I’d seen it before.

And I had – back in my collection of paperbacks.  It was the cover illustration of Adam Hall’s spy adventure The Tango Briefing (London: Collins, 1973 – my paperback is Fontana, 1975).  The Tango Briefing is one of the “Quiller” series of novels about the eponymous British spy. In this case he must examine a missing British commercial transport aircraft which has just been located in the North African desert.

Cover of The Tango Briefing by Adam Hall – Illustration by Chris Foss, from goodreads.com for purpose of illustration / identification.

Adam Hall was another pseudonym of the prolific British author Trevor Dudley-Smith (1920-1995). also known as Elleston Trevor, (author of Flight of the Phoenix).  The paperback cover illustration is the work of British artist and illustrator Chris Foss, who illustrated a number of paperbacks in my collection.  Chris Foss might not have used a Carvair for a reference in this case, but you can see how my mind worked.