UPDATE: Sure enough, over on Facebook, Star Kid Glen Mullaly identified the source as the UK magazine Sci-Fi Monthly. I'd never heard of it. Thanks, Glen!
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Bionic Pin-Ups by Jeff Cummins
UPDATE: Sure enough, over on Facebook, Star Kid Glen Mullaly identified the source as the UK magazine Sci-Fi Monthly. I'd never heard of it. Thanks, Glen!
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I still have the magazine with the Six Million Dollar Man poster, unfortunately, all the others are long since lost. :(
ReplyDeleteThese are indeed really cool. Thanks for sharing them. I, to, was unfamiliar with the British zine Sci-Fi Monthly before this.
ReplyDeletei don't know if this is common knowledge among fans of the Six Million Dollar Man, but the actual aircraft that is seen crashing during the opening credits of the show is on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum on the Mall in Washington DC. I discovered this fact quite by accident on my visit to the museum several years ago.
The plane -- designated the M2-F2 -- was part of NASA's experimental "lifting body" program; i.e. planes that glided and flew without wings. The crash of the M2-F2 that was viewed over and over on the TV series actually occurred on May 10, 1967 on the dry lakebed at the NASA Flight Research Center in California.
Amazingly, pilot Bruce Peterson survived the crash, and even more amazingly, the plane flew again! It was repaired, a third tail stabilizer was added, and the aircraft was designated the M2-F3. It is this incarnation that is on display in our nation's capital.
The lifting body program was instrumental in the development of the space shuttle, making the M2-F3 a unique artifact; one that is of great value to both science and science fiction.
Wasn't his right arm the bionic one?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
DeleteGood catch! That inaccuracy slipped right past me...
Actually, that lifting body plane is on display at The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It is paired side-by-side with another lifting body plane (there was two of them) that looks exactly like the one in the crash scene. You can see both planes on their web site.
ReplyDeleteThe two lifting body aircraft on display in Dayton are unmanned Martin SV-5D Prime vehicles, similar in design but smaller that the Northrop M2-F2 -- a one of a kind manned aircraft that has been part of the Smithsonian collection since 1975.
DeleteAs an addendum to my above comments:
DeleteFans might want to go to YouTube and check out the episode of the Vintage Space series titled "Bruce Peterson: the Real Six Million Dollar Man" for the true story of the now famous crash of the M2-F2.
Hi Christopher,
ReplyDeleteThanks for displaying my very early Bionic artworks! Just getting published back then and on a mighty learning curve!
Best, Jeff C.
The Bionic artworks were produced back in the mid 70s for Felix Dennis. They, along with covers for his KFM (Kung Fu Monthly) mag, were my very first commissions when I started out. My technique improved very quickly after these. I went on to design covers for Doctor Who Target books and album covers for; Paul McCartney, Whitesnake and Ted Nugent etc.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the artist was using the original novel as the source material for the Steve portrait - in the original book Steve's left arm was the bionic one.
ReplyDelete