About John Young

John Young - John Young was born in Bristol, England in 1930 and educated in Buckinghamshire, at the Royal Grammar School and the School of Art in High Wycombe. Inspired by the visit of Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day air display to a farmer's pasture near his home in Chesham, his love affair with flying machines began. Interest and historic knowledge was further developed by the operations of American Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s from nearby Bovingdon during WWII.

John has painted professionally since 1950 when employment in the studio of an advertising agency enabled him to translate an intense interest in aviation into a style which combines the portrayal of technical subjects with natural and atmospheric situations. His ten years with the firm set his trademark of vivid lighting and beautiful landscape.

Having established a career in illustration for many aviation manufacturers, airlines, air forces, and publishers, John went freelance in the early 1960s to expand his capabilities and move toward the world of fine art. To this end, he exhibited in the inaugural and subsequent exhibitions of the Society of Aviation Artists, later to become the Guild of Aviation Artist. John is a founder of the Guild and recently completed a term as its Chairman.

John has taken the opportunity to fly in over 60 different types of aircraft, military and civilian, giving his artwork an "I was there" flavor. His accuracy in painting aircraft is nearly flawless. He was awarded the Guild of Aviation Artist's Medal in 1983 and was the first member of the Guild to receive the Flight International Trophy for the Best Professional Aviation Artist three times. With countless other professional awards and tributes to his credit John's artwork remains as its own statement of his talent. In addition to numerous private and corporate collections in the U.S. and U.K., the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon displays forty-five of John's original paintings.

What is aviation art to John Young? "Aviation adds to the traditional landscape and seascape a third dimension - the sky. Nature has given the air a truly awesome beauty. The artist can only strive to capture a visual moment and preserve it as a memory for an airman, or perhaps fire the imagination of someone who has not flown, and give an insight into what is truly another world. Add to this the functional good looks of a flying machine and the painter has a challenge which can outlast a lifetime."

John lives with his wife Barbara in the English village of Chesham, the same small town where he grew up and where he first turned his eyes toward the sky.