Raymond Sheppard and Picture Post (Part Three)

Picture Post 24 October 1953 p20

John Bull steps into the soft drink era by Brian Dowling
It's difficult to tell if Sheppard created the photo/illustration montage or the background was dropped in by an editor, but the topic "John Bull steps into the soft drink era" describes how at the end of sugar rationing the war of soft drinks in the UK was about to hot up. The article's author Brian Dowling doubts that we are looking at a 'Coca-colonisation' - an early use of the phrase, I'm sure,  but "Four of America's biggest firms have consolidated their bridgeheads over here. But the British soft industry, with over 1,200 manufacturers is well established over here as it wasn't in other countries". Little did he know!

The Execution of Private Slovik by William Bradford Huie

This sweet image of Princess Anne belies
a terrible story mentioned on the cover!

Wikipedia tells us that Eddie Slovik's story is unique as "Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including forty-nine death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out" - for purely military reasons (as opposed to rape, or murder).

Picture Post 19 June 1954 p16

Sheppard depicts this by showing 12 American soldiers aiming at their target on the 31 January 1945. This four page article shows photos of Slovik's marriage and shows his older brother who 2 years after Slovik's death married his widow. Wikipedia now tells us the conclusion of this story, where the widow fought till her death in 1979 for a pardon and for the remains to be shipped back to the USA. The latter happened under Ronald Regan's term as President but the former have never happened.

The man with a scar by Somerset Maugham

Picture Post 14 August 1954 p31

This story by Maugham reads rather like a Hemingway short story. It tells of a Nicaraguan exile who begs at the bar in the Palace Hotel at Guatemala City. A fellow drinker with our narrator tells the story of how the beggar was lined up for the firing squad for being on the opposing side in a Nicaraguan coup and how he escaped that death. When asked, at the end of this exciting story, just how he came by the enormous scar on his face, the man explains "Oh, that was due to a bottle that burst when he has opening it. A bottle of ginger ale."

That brings us to end of Sheppard's illustrations for articles in the Picture Post. I've looked through every edition and the only other illustrations are shown in the next blog article.

Raymond Sheppard and Picture Post (Part Two)

Picture Post 12 September 1953 pp. 32-33

In Part One of my look at Raymond Sheppard's work for the Picture Post magazine we looked at some of the Cold War stories, and today we're looking at two flyers and their war and post-war exploits - Neville Duke and Leonard Cheshire.

Cover of Picture Post 5 Sept 1953 showing Mara Lane

Firstly this lovely double page spread from Picture Post 5 September 1953 showing Neville Duke narrowly avoiding barrage balloons in his Miles Master (a training two-seater first flown in 1939). Duke became a famous test pilot and achieved the world air speed record in 1953, the year we read his story in Picture Post.

Picture Post 5 September 1953 pp24-25

The second double-page spread is unusual in that the editor (in my opinion) has chosen to extend the parachute straps across the left hand page. It might be on the original so I could be wrong! Anyway we see Duke and two of his crash landings!

Picture Post 5 September 1953 pp26-27

Picture Post 5 September 1953 p26

In the following issue Duke continues his story and we see him test flying his Hawker Hunter skidding to a halt and a fire engine racing towards him.

Picture Post 12 September 1953 pp.32-33

The next image drawn by Sheppard shows "at the time of my first supersonic bang, one country policeman was feeding his chickens" and we can see the results!

Picture Post 12 September 1953 pp.34

The 19 September issue has the third part of his story and shows Duke's admission that "I learned a sharp lesson", when he flew his Hawker N7/46, the prototype Seahawk at the 1949 Farnborough Air Show and relexed his guard a little too much nearly stalling the sircraft whilst inverted!

Picture Post 19 September 1953 p38-39

Now I'm skipping a few issues (saving the odds and ends for the next article in this series) and we're now looking at another famous post-war flyer. I quote Wikipedia:

Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a highly decorated Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and group captain during the Second World War, and a philanthropist.
Among the honours Cheshire received as a pilot was the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the youngest group captain in the RAF and one of the most highly decorated pilots of the war.
After the war he founded a hospice that grew into the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability. He became known for his work in conflict resolution. In 1991 he was created a life peer in recognition of his charitable work

Reading the Wikipedia page is quite amazing, how much of a life he lived!  The first two parts of his story are not illustrated by Sheppard so I'm concentrating on parts three and four here. Part Three entitled "How he won his first D.S.O." is written by Russell Braddon and he tells us:

Pilot Officer Cheshire was at the controls of a crippled bomber. A grotesque figure, uniform in flames, screamed at him: "Fire! The tank's on fire." "Well, put it out then", snapped  Cheshire, who took the plane onto bomb Cologne and win the first of his three D.S.Os.

Picture Post 22 May 1954 p36-37

As if the story of his turning the plane round and hitting his original target on return was not enough, Cheshire was also involved in observing the Nagasaki bomb drop. "Destroyer becomes a crusader" is the title of part 4 of his story by Braddon and the full page black and white wash hits you in the face on turning the page!

Picture Post 29 May 1954 p33

The caption for this image states: "From the rear gunner's turret of a Flying Fortress, Cheshire watched the destruction of Nagasaki".  In an interview (on Youtube) Cheshire admits that the pilot of his aircraft should have been at 30,000 - not 39,000 feet, and should have been 10 miles away from the drop zone - not 50 miles. Yet he describes how the bomb had symmetry and thus showed it had 'controlled power' unlike other explosives he encountered which were 'ragged'. The whole interview is astounding and one of the reasons I like blogging - the many "rabbit holes" I go down as well as extraordianry art.

Next time: Picture Post and advertising