I was having lunch with my great grandfather one day, and was listening to some of his stories about his service as a aircraft mechanic with the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force, for the military jargon iliterate) in North Afrcia, WWII....later that night, I was reading an aircraft magazine, and came across a picture of some WWII mechanics servicing a P-40 Warhawk, which was one of the types of planes my great grandfather serviced.......seeing this picture made me think of my great grandfather back then as a mechanic....and throw in the desire to draw something, and this picture is the result.

Like I say in the picture, modern history tends to focus on the actual soldiers, and unless it's a specialized book, tends to forget the men behind the lines, like my great grandfather...

Men like mechanics, medics, logistics, cooks etc... all played a part in WWII, and other wars, so they should be given as much credit as the men who fought.

I'm not saying we shouldn't focus so much on the men that fought.....just that most people should stop, and reflect about the men behind the lines, that in some cases (like aircraft mechanics) enable the soldiers and pilots and sailors to fight.

For the most part, I took inspiration for this picture from the one in the magazine....added in my own background, the flying P-40, a couple of other touches here and there, and the caption "think about it...if people like my great grandfather weren't there to do their job, the pilots wouldn't be flying their planes for long!".

One of my earliest pictures where I delved into the arts of shadowing....and I'm quite impressed with the turn out. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do...