[DMC]

I recently got the ARAH comics compendium volume 1, and started reading through from the beginning. I?ve been on a Cobra aircraft kick lately, so I have been paying attention to the vehicles depicted. Since the early comics were written before a lot of the toys came out, they had to ?fill in the blanks? for the Cobra aircraft. I have found the choices interesting.



On the front page of issue 1, the good guys have some F-105?s flying. They?re not in the rest of the issue, however. The next interesting aircraft is a small cobra helicopter that helps the Baroness and her prisoner escape. This one looks like it is a Mil Mi-2, an older Soviet helicopter.





I will hopefully post some more tomorrow.

[J James]

Neat! I've never thought to identify the early vehicles.

[DMC]

At the cobra base, the Joes come across a couple fighters and a transport plane.



The fighters look like MiG 21s. This makes sense since the Soviets exported this airplane widely.




The cargo plane is an American C-130. I?m guessing Cobra stole it at some point.

[ShadowNinja]

Couldn't they just have been drawn quick to fit a panel and really are not nothing?

[Bryon]

These aircraft identifications are great! Keep posting!

[SnowCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowNinja

Couldn't they just have been drawn quick to fit a panel and really are not nothing?

Nah, artist Herb Trimpe was an aircraft enthusiast (and a pilot himself), so it's very logical that these are all intentionally specific aircraft.

[DMC]

That?s really interesting about Herb Trimpe, I didn?t know that.

[SnowCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnowCat

Nah, artist Herb Trimpe was an aircraft enthusiast (and a pilot himself), so it's very logical that these are all intentionally specific aircraft.

I should clarify that by pilot, I mean civilian pilot. I believe he did serve in the USAF, but I think it was a ground role IIRC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMC

That?s really interesting about Herb Trimpe, I didn?t know that.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

[CapBritain]

Yeah, Larry Hama admitted in an interview years back that one of the things he did with Special Missions - since it didn't have to tie in to the toyline so much - was to give Herb Trimpe a bunch of aircraft stories to draw since he knew Herb loved drawing them. Hence Air Show, Showdown and Condor that are all aircraft-centric stories.

[DMC]

There are a couple more in the first issue. First, there is Combra commander?s getaway helicopter.




This is a Westland Sea King.



The last plane in this issue is really interesting. It is a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch. This was a light single engine monoplane made in Germany before and during the Second World War. It was used for VIP transport and observation. The Storch is unique because if its very low stall speed. It could take off and land in very short distances, especially if there was some wind. You might recall that this was the plane used to rescue Mussolini. It was also the last plane able to get in and out of Berlin at the end of the war, as it could land in a park. It seems fitting; Cobra Commander and the Baroness use it to escape at the end of the story.