#biplanes

[crowgirll]

you're telling me... this plane fucks both men and women????

[sprintingowl]

Flying Circus

Flying Circus is a game that looks extremely normal on the surface.

Okay, sure, there are biplanes and dragons. But the overall cover aesthetic evokes red box D&D, and there's barely a hint of the wild design choices lurking beneath.

Flying Circus is also a pbta game. This means Powered By The Apocalypse---broadly, a group of ttrpgs that are more narrative-y and story-game-y and collaborative in play.

So the last thing you'd expect here would be pages and pages of highly detailed biplane aviation physics and moves that model the affect of G-strain on the pilot and fuel burning at different rates at different altitudes.

Right?

Flying Circus is a game about running a biplane company in a post-WWI Hayao Miyazaki aesthetic german countryside. And like a Miyazaki movie, it's not non-violent. There's conflict and dragons and and ancient technology and horrifying things beyond comprehension---but there's also rolling hills and swaying grain fields and the overbearing beauty of a world un-industrialized.

Every player plays a pilot, builds their own plane (out of a *lot* of different component parts,) manages their stress levels between sorties, and engages in highly technical, heavily researched biplane combat where altitude is a currency and there's a million ways your plane can stall out, crash, and explode.

To say that Flying Circus is audacious is underselling it.

This is a high crunch game wearing the shell of a zero crunch game like an octopus in a coconut.

But it's tightly built, *very* comprehensive in what it lets you do while flying a plane, and tricky to learn but fun to try and master.

I am not smart enough for it, but I think it might be one of my favorite games I've read this year.

[stone-cold-groove]

Dogfight!

[nocternalrandomness]

Paul Bennet Airshows Pitts performing during the Brisbane Airshow at Watts Bridge, CA

[spacenoirdetective]

Mort Kunstler, cover for Male magazine, Sept 1961

[1lifeinspired]

(via Pinterest)

[uwmspeccoll]

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

I found this publishers’ binding while browsing the stacks on the hunt for a good one. My eye was drawn to the bright green bookcloth and then I saw the nice font and sweet little biplane on the cover. Once I looked inside, I noticed the bright, orange-red endpapers and the illustrations that show so much action and movement, one of which has a caption that starts “Listen, big boy...” 

The book is Doomed Demons by Eustace L. Adams (1981-1963), an American author best known for writing aviation adventure stories for boys. Doomed Demons was published in 1935 by Grosset & Dunlap in New York and features a story about WWI fighter pilots. The illustrations were done by J. Clemens Gretter (1904-1988), an artist and illustrator from Indiana who also worked as a cartoonist for comic books and signed much of his work “Clem Gretta” or simply “Gretta.”

View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts. 

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[aviatrix-ash]

82 year old gal with the mixed matched,faded, fuel stained, scruffy fabric. She's beautiful and perfect, I would absolutely trust her with my life <3

Never any better plane to fly than a clapped out old biplane. <3

[dragonbabezee]

♥️The Ace of Her Heart♥️ - chapter 5 is posted!

Two lovers must part for now, and return to their parts in the war.

Froglady15 and dragonbabezee's entry to the

@vegebulocracy #vbtimeaftertime event!

[saddlebums]

Proper British Bikes at Bikes and Breakfast... ...and Proper British behavior at Van Sant Historic Airfield

It was all unofficial of course, but a plethora of British iron some how (cheeky!) made its way to Bikes & Breakfast in Palisades, New York this past Sunday. After that I rode my imitation Brit bike (Kawasaki W800 Cafe) to the Van Sant Historic Airfield in Erwinna, Pennsylvania. Still on a high from seeing British front drum brakes I channeled the naughty Benny Hill -- and got away with it without being given what for.

Music: God Save the King performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilary Davan Wetton, conductor, and Mr. Airplane Man by Howlin' Wolf (yes, I combined them indeed)

[oer4]

I just learned a key tactical technique for an aerial battle: If I'm ever in a #dogfight with several enemy #WW1 #biplanes, it's best for me to try to stay in the middle of them, because they can't shoot at each other or risk colliding. So, I've got that going for me. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpBgNywsdQ0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Grande Manifestation de Propagande Aérienne, c. 1926. by Halloween HJB

[stone-cold-groove]

Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds magazine - October 1934.

[carlo-varo-artistic-designs]

(via "Airplanes" Poster for Sale by Carlo Varo)

[yussi029]

Biplane Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Envie d'essayer quelque chose de nouveau pour cette année. Je pense que je posterai de manière complètement irrégulière ces illustrations, selon mon envie et mon moral aussi... #biplane #biplanes #planes #planesketch #planedrawing #urbansketch #digitaldrawing #art #illustration #draw #drawing #sketch #sketchbook #digitalsketchbook https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAK_ucK_im/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[robthepensioner]

A pair of biplanes with wingwalkers at the Blackpool Airshow 2022. You will have to use a bit of imagination to recognise the wingwalkers.