News

Anyone who grew up with Airfix model kits in their childhood will rember the wonderful artwork that adorned the kit boxes. They were created by Roy Cross who passed away earlier this year having just celebrated his 100^th birthdya.

During the Second World War, he had worked as a technical illustrator for Fairey Aviation. As Britain’s aviation industry declined, Cross reinvented himself as an  artist.In 1962, he created a series of motoring covers for the boys’ comic Eagle and aviation covers for another title, Swift.

In 1963, after spotting Airfix’s bagged kits in Woolworth’s and confident he could improve them, Roy Cross proposed his services to the company. His first commission from Airfix was artwork for a Dornier Do 217 and he went on to produce more than two hundered Airfix illustrations – for aircraft, cars, tanks and more – with a style that captured the imagination of a generations of young boys (and their fathers!)

As tribute to Roy, here is a selection of Airfix illustrations of Bomber Command aircraft. What young boy didn’t want to spend their pocket money on a kit with these box design?