Book Title: HERGÉ, TINTIN et les Avions
Author: Jose Miguel de la Viuda Sainz
ISBN: 9782874243967
Category: Reference
Format: Hardback
Summary: Presentation
From the Polikarpov (1929), a soviet fighter plane, to the American 747 (1976), The Adventures of Tintin retraces the fascinating epic of aviation. No less than fifty planes are presented to us.
Under the pen of Hergé, the plane is more than a means of transportation. It becomes a real protagonist of the action, like the Stratonef in Jo and Zette’s Aventures, or the Carreidas, the supersonic business plane in Flight 714 to Sydney.
Autour José Miguel de la Viuda Sainz, an aeronautical engineer, examines Hergé’s choices and analyzes his unique talent for using reality to create an imaginary work.
Personal opinion
Although I have been a long time reader of Tintin’s comics book, I had never noticed how planes had such a central part in these albums.
I really enjoy this book for its presentation, as it includes the pictures involving planes in every album, with technical datas, a summary and an explanation of the plane model in the album, completed with an analysis of the author about how Hergé could modify the aspect of a few planes to increase their supposed performance in the albums.
I also find this book is great because it shows the visionary of Hergé for engineering matters and his skills to include the importance of technics without making it annoying.
As a fan of fighter planes and Tintin’s adventures, we spontaneously think about the Mosquito from the album Coke in Stock.
But many other planes of WW2 (and some interwar period) appear in several albums :
WW1 Bristol Scout - Savoia Marchetti SM.73 (Black Island 1st edition)
Hawker Hart (Cigars of Pharaoh)
Messerschmitt Bf.109 (Ottokar’s Sceptre)
Spitfire (In the land of black gold)
Mosquito - Douglas DC-3 - Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk (Coke in Stock)
Arado 196 (The mysterious star)
Short Sunderland (The 7 Crystal balls)
Fairey Battle (Jo and Zette : Destination New York)
V2 rocket (Target Moon)
And not to mention the multitude of more or less famous tourist and civil transport planes :
Wibaut - Lioré and Olivier - DC-6 - Super Constellation - Boeing 707 and 747 …
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