MAN Cover Art

Jo Koutula had a lot of fantastic subjects to paint in the late '30s. Rapid development of aviation technology in both America and Europe then war in Spain with Italian, German, and Russian aircraft. Then War in Europe Germany, England, and France all had air forces with ambitious rearmament programs. Even Poland and Czechoslovakia and a few other smaller countries had budding air forces

The giant Sikorsky amphibian at the left was a typical Sikorsky sales job. No hint of a contract but lots of press and speculation.

Also on the left, an airplane that looked a lot better than it was, the Curtis XP-37. An attempt to improve the mediocre P-40 by cowling in the radial engine with an NACA daydream design. The extreme rearward position of the pilot made for an arty look. But looks weren't enough to pry the dowdy P-40 out of the ranks of the obsolescent.

Jo Kotula made it look like it was supersonic. You could buy the magazine for ten cents and study the cover, imagining yourself roaring up with streaks coming off the back of the airplane.

On the right, even the hopeless Brewster Buffalo looks zippy. Flying around in he middle of some imaginary naval battle with it's landing gear down for some reason. Brewster never made an operational aircraft for the US Navy in WWII and spent the conflict producing the designs of other firms.

Brewster collapsed immediately at the end of WWII. On the cover of MAN, however, Jo Kotula made it an aircraft in the middle of a great adventure, zooming up at a high angle. Just the thing for a young fellow's mind.