John Arthur Marsden – one of most talented artists to have worked for Flight – has passed away at the age of 94, following a fall. He was one of the cutaway artists of the “golden years”: a term conjured up by technical editor Bill Gunston covering the 1950s and early 1960s.
Born in January 1929, Marsden went to Leggett’s Way school in Watford, and had a passion for modelling and drawing aircraft from an early age. He later went to Watford College of Art then, in 1945, to the de Havilland Engine Company in Stag Lane, where he worked in the Technical Publications Department.
Conscripted into the Royal Air Force at 18, he passed out after training at St Athan as a flight mechanic. During service he was based at Scampton and Wyton, working on Avro Lincoln bombers. He then returned to the de Havilland Engine Company, before being taken on by Max Millar in Iliffes studio in 1950.
EARLY WORKS
Marsden’s first piece of artwork was of a farm tractor, and in those early years he worked on motorcycles and even farming equipment like milking parlours and cow sheds.
It was on Autocar that he began to make a name for himself, working alongside John Ferguson and Vic Berris. He loved drawing Formula One racing cars and on one trip to Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari came onto the shop floor and came over. Putting his hand on Marsden’s shoulder, he said: “magnifico”.
It was also at Ferrari that he experienced his first car ride at more than 120mph, with the chief road tester.
He produced his first cutaway – of the Percival Pembroke – for Flight’s 26 March 1954 issue. Drawing a cutaway from underneath is a difficult task at the best of times, but it is a real challenge on your first job. The drawing was completed on board in pencil and taken back to the office to finish.
In 1962 Flight became Flight International. By that time Marsden was one of the magazine’s top artists. He also was its second artist to visit the USA, following Arthur Bowbeer.
On that trip he went with Neil Harrison to Piper, and then on to Lockheed in Atlanta and Beech, Cessna, and Lear in Wichita. While there, founder Bill Lear asked him to do a sketch amending the design of the windshield for the prototype Learjet; it can still be seen to this day.
They also visited Douglas, Rockwell, Lockheed Burbank, and Boeing, where he glimpsed the four manufacturers’ supersonic transport mock-ups.
It was his visits to Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas that launched his reputation for large aircraft cutaways. He went on to draw most of the large commercial aircraft that appeared in Flight International.
On his many visits to Boeing, the company’s engineers were constantly amazed that he could, on one trip, go to Douglas and then Boeing, study two large airliners in two weeks and still comprehend it all.
His ‘Magnum Opus’ cutaway was without doubt the Boeing 747-100, which appeared in the 12 December 1968 issue. Originally printed as a gatefold, and with additional detail sketches, the iconic image most recently appeared in our March 2023 edition, as the airframer delivered its final jumbo jet.
One of the interesting things about this first 747 drawing was the fact that on the starboard outer spoilers he made a mistake and put in five instead of four. A lot of people copied his drawing, replicating the error.
DEEP UNDERSTANDING
Several stories tell of Marsden’s abilities to produce a drawing from only limited information.
At the Paris air show in 1966, a Saab exhibit was showing slides of its JAS 37 Viggen fighter in build. Marsden sat on the floor and watched the slides repeatedly, making sketches at the same time, and a cutaway appeared in the magazine in April 1967.
At Farnborough later that year, Saab sent Marsden an invitation for lunch at its chalet. Seated on either side of him were two Swedish security men, who quizzed him on how he had got hold of the information for the drawing.
Some years later Saab sent an invitation to Flight International for one of its staff to visit Linkoping to see the Viggen. The magazine asked if Marsden could accompany the journalist – but the answer came back no.
SOVIET SKETCHES
On a trip to the USSR in 1991 with journalist Guy Norris, Tupolev provided very little information about its Tu-204: just a publicity brochure and a glimpse of the fuselage.
Marsden went into the fuselage and counted frames, and also managed to see the fin and rudder in a test rig, and while Norris was worried that there was insufficient information to complete a feature article, the artist produced what looked like a convincing drawing.
Author Bill Sweetman is quoted as saying that 90% of what he learnt about how aircraft were built came from hanging around in the artists’ studio.
During another US trip, Marsden was at Boeing Philadelphia when the company was developing the tandem rotor XCH-62 Heavy Lift Helicopter and also competing in the utility tactical transport aircraft system (UTTAS) contest – a requirement ultimately met using Sikorsky’s UH-60 Black Hawk.
Looking at some conceptual drawings of modifications needed for a naval version of the UTTAS platform, Marsden looked at the folding tail-boom and said: “That won’t work”. Boeing employees also looked, and sure enough saw that something would get tangled if it was folded it that way. There were no doubt some red faces, but the feature was redesigned.
Other notable works included producing a cutaway drawing of the Space Shuttle for publication in December 1975, having viewed a plywood mock-up in Downey, California.
Marsden’s last cutaway as a staff member – the Pratt & Whitney PW901A auxiliary power unit – was printed on 12 January 1994, as he retired.
During his career he drew more than 160 aviation cutaways, ships’ diesel engines for Motorship, and the Eurostar and Shuttle trains for Railway Gazette. His last large aircraft cutaway, the Airbus A340-600, was completed five years after he retired from Flight.
To mark his retirement, then-editor Allan Winn asked if British Airways could offer Marsden an experience flight on Concorde. In recognition of his contribution to the aviation industry throughout his career, the carrier provided him with a VIP return ticket to Washington or New York.
John Marsden – 12 January 1929-14 March 2023
