Hermitage Tennessee, Spring 1923
Blackwood Army Air Field

by Warren Kirbo
 

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Hermitage Tennessee, spring 1923 ... Blackwood Army Air Field had four Curtiss JN-4 "Jennys" and one DeHavilland DH-4 "Osprey" as its station aircraft. At the time of this drawing, a visiting bomber was there promoting the Army. It was one of the type used by Billy Mitchell to "sink a battleship." a Martin MB-2B. The MB-2 was the first bomber bought in quantity by the Air Corps (50) and is considered the first B-1.

The scene depicts the final moments before the gate is opened and the public could enter to see these marvels of early aviation. The two photographs I used were on the website ABANDONED AND LITTLE KNOWN AIRFIELDS http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TN/Airfields_TN_C.html#blackwood I took the liberty of putting the two photos on that page into one panoramic shot. The idea came to be because in both photographs, the grass appeared to be "early spring lush" hence the predominance of green and yellow.

The two yellow Jennys are US MAIL airplanes, signifying that Blackwood Field was the airport used for the first air mail flights from Nashville.

The airfield was literally a pasture which was adjacent to THE HERMITAGE. A historical marker on Shutes Lane a few hundred yards north of Lebanon Pike signifies its location. The airfield was closed in 1928 for two listed reasons, 1. that the Hermitage was in danger should one of the flying machines crash and burn, and 2. that there were no paved roads to this distant location.

The original ink drawing is 37 inches wide not counting margins.. It is scanned at 300 dpi so that it can be printed any size to 50 inches, not counting margins. The image on this note is 300 dpi at 8 inches overall, about 1/28th the resolution of the original.

P.S. More of my art can be seen on the website www.panamaliving.com Go down to Inkdrawings by Warren on the index page. That site is one fine site for anyone interested in the Panama Canal.

Image and Text Copyright © 2008 by Warren Kirbo
Page Created 27 May, 2008
Last Updated 27 May, 2008

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