Our Gallery: Jon Hall’s Air Power

We are proud to present the creations of Jon Hall, an outstanding dieselpunk aircraft designer who builds amazing flying machines using LEGO plastic bricks. His work is highly acclaimed by both LEGO enthusiasts and dieselheads all over the world.

Mr. Hall wrote in his Flickr profile:

“I’m a thirtysomething graphic designer ( and ex- computer game artist, and ex- film and tv animator, and all round geek ). I live in London with my girlfriend and my 2 sons. I’m currently working at book publisher Dorling Kindersley’s Licensing department where I work with companies such as Pixar, Lego, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Disney to produce books based on their films and comics etc.”

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo Da Vinci

Here is a small selection of his aircraft, created in 2009-2012, with some comments from the author:

Savoia S-21
A Lego model I made of Porco’s seaplane from the Studio Ghibli film ‘Porco Rosso’

Curtiss Seaplane
After making a model of Porco Rosso’s iconic red seaplane the next obvious choice was his arch-rival’s dark blue seaplane. So here it is.

Eclipse Fighter

A-20 Red Zephyr
Ace pilot Aaron McCloud in his legendary fighter the “Red Zephyr”

Arcadian Gunship

V-22 Phoenix
Captain Gail Storm and her V-22 Phoenix Fighter-Bomber

Blue Lightning
The H-44 tactical bomber of the Heliconian Royal Air Force nicknamed the “Blue Lightning” for its speed and ability to inflict massive damage on the ground

Skyhammer
The P-72A gunship, codenamed “Skyhammer” was developed by Arcadia Aeronautics for the Kovlakian Airborn Artillery. It was devised as a counter measure to the threat of the new armoured Zeppelins, and proved extremely effective against them. It also saw extensive use in the Battle of Syrrah where squadrons flew low in night attacks to destroy the city’s heavily fortified walls. The plane here is painted in night camo colours and is piloted by Lt Colonel Dirk Salvo. It is armed with two 20mm front–firing machine guns and a 400mm artillery cannon which carries a maximum of six shells.

Iron Condor
The B-414 Stratobomber the “Iron Condor” is armed with four forward facing 18mm machine guns and a payload of six 3000lb bombs. Unusually for a bomber of this size, the crew consists of a single pilot.

V-30 Warhawk
The V-30 Warhawk was developed by Blackshaw Avionics as a long-range fighter and was primarily used by the Arcadian Air Force for escort duties. The plane pictured is the “Spirit of Freedom” and was one of the four planes that escorted the Arcadian Royal Airship during and after the Great War. The three other fighters were the “Spirit of Hope”, the ” Spirit of Justice” and the “Spirit of Destiny”. All pilots were hand-picked by the Head of Airborne Forces and included some of the very finest pilots in the Kingdom. The crew consisted of one pilot and one gunner although both cabins were fitted so that if either crew member was killed the other could take over their duties. Each Warhawk was fitted with four Haverlock “Banshee” engines and four 24mm machine guns. Here we see the pilots, Colonel Septimus Grey and Lt. Colonel Axel Tomas.

Vanessa Grun with her custom-built skybike. The bike is built around a V8 Haverlock “Banshee” engine salvaged from a downed V-30 Warhawk.

E-73 Wyvern
The E-73 Wyvern was developed by Laputa Skyyards for the Keshian Republic in the last year of the Eastern Secession War. Designed for close ground support, its 35mm rotating “Hellfire” cannon could pierce all but the heaviest armour. Wyverns were usually only sent on short hit and run sorties as they rapidly ran out of ammunition due to the Hellfire’s rapid fire rate.

Captain Rodrigo Da Silva in front of his F-26 Tempest
The F-26 Tempest became the backbone of the Heliconian Royal Air Force fighter squadrons during the First Great War. Replacing the outdated Zephyr fighters the Tempest boasted four 15mm front facing wing fixed cannons and three of the new A-2 Hellion engines, making it the fastest plane in the skies at the time. Its manoeverability was a vast improvement on the Zephyr and it rapidly became a favourite among Heliconian fighter pilots.

The Q-15 Whirlwind was an experimental aircraft that was primarily used for reconnaissance duties although it was also occasionally used for light air support (like the version we see here, the Q-15E, which had a 22mm machine gun fitted to the underside). The radical design of the craft was the result of a need for a small vertical take off and landing vehicle and was the brainchild of legendary engineer Ernst Varga. To counter the torque problems associated with the rotor engine, its exhausts doubled as stabilizing jets, providing thrust counter clockwise to the rotor’s clockwise movement. The crew usually consisted of two – a pilot and a gunner/spotter. Although other craft went into production from the Q program the Whirlwind was the most successful, and in all over 5,000 were produced.

The S-113 Viper, a high speed interceptor of the Heliconian Royal Air Force

Scarlet Fury
Scarlett McCloud, daughter of the famed flying ace Aaron McCloud with her fighter, the Scarlet Fury. A formidable pilot at age 19, she took to the skies after the death of her father, to find the man who shot him down and exact her revenge. An experienced engineer, after years of helping repair and rebuild her father’s plane, she built the appropriately named Scarlet Fury based on the design of her father’s famous fighter, the Red Zephyr. After she eventually succeeded in her mission she briefly became a hired gun, or “freelancer” flying escort for various airships and skyliners before retiring to become a successful aircraft engineer. The Fury is fitted with two 1450 horsepower McGarrow D-5 Radial Engines and four fixed forward-facing “Brimstone” B2 machine guns.

Valley Gunship
The gunship from the Hayao Miyazaki film “Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind”.

The T-160 Thunderbird (pictured here with pilot Capt Penny Bowman) was an experimental fighter developed by the Palladite Republic. The Palladites, renowned for their inventive but impractical ideas fitted the fighter with twin Arc guns, each one housed in an electrically insulated nacelle at the front of the plane. Each Arc gun was powered by its own generator capable of creating 12,000,000 volts. Although the gun had a range of well over a mile, the weapons were very difficult to aim and pilots eventually resorted to dive-bombing their targets at high speed and firing their weapons when in close proximity to ensure a hit. When they did hit, the Arc guns would cripple their target’s electronics, sometimes electrocute the crew, and occasionally ignite the fuel tanks. The guns would often short circuit so eventually a 12mm machine gun was fitted beneath each Arc gun in case the main weapon failed.
Although feared for their unpredictable nature, Thunderbirds did little to effect the outcome of the war and only 252 were made.

All images are linked to their respective pages @ JonHall18 Flickr photostream

© 2009-2012 Jon Hall. All rights reserved