1983 Floyd Stubbs Drawing KC-135 Stratotanker Presented to Vietnam Bomber Pilot

Description

manbarrel
1983 Floyd B. Stubbs Drawing
KC-135 Stratotanker
Presented to Vietnam Bomber Pilot
Don "Tiny" Malm
Ships Worldwide
From Estate of career bomber pilot (particularly B-47s, B-52s, and KC-135 Stratotankers)
Don "Tiny" Malm
...
Malm had a long career as a pilot. After his military service, he served, until his retirement, as a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines
Here we have a spectacular, professionally framed drawing of a KC-135 Stratotanker by noted artist Floyd B. Stubbs.
The drawing is inscribed in pencil "To Don Malm From the Breakfast Group"
I am guessing this was a group who got together for breakfast at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas.
The best clue lies in information about the artist
.
I was honored to have had a recent correspondence the artist's son, Floyd A. Stubbs.
He generously provided me with a short biography of his father that is included below.
Stubbs lived in Abilene, Texas, the location of Dyess Air Force Base where Malm was stationed.
Floyd said that his Dad often took on commissions, and that sometimes a few prints accompany
the original when presented to the person who commissioned the drawing.,
He adds that, undeniably, the inscription is in his father's hand. It's pretty likely that Malm knew Stubbs personally.
Floyd writes of this drawing: "As for its authenticity as an original, I can't see Malm being presented with a framed reproduction.
If it were, I think my dad would have signed it cursive. I would bet it is the original. My dad may have had about
50 prints made which he would have given to the Breakfast group to distribute as they saw fit but none of those
would have had the inscription."
Without removing the drawing from the frame, I cannot tell for sure if it is indeed an original drawing.
However, I can see that it was framed professionally, and it jibes with other original drawings of
aircraft that were presented to Malm. They were by different artists and none were copies or prints.
(I have another drawing presented to Malm in another listing... see my store).
Biography of the artist, Floyd B. Stubbs:
Floyd B. Stubbs, born in Acme, Texas on George Washington's birthday, February 22, 1924, moved to Abilene,
Texas along with his family at the age of two. Floyd says his facination with art began "before he could walk"
and by the age of ten he was drawing cowboys among other images. Art class was always his favorite subject.
In 1942, Floyd joined the Navy and became a medic assigned to the Marines in the South Pacific. There he
served from Guadalcanal to Saipan, including duty on islands with some well known men, specifically,
John F. Kennedy and the famous pilot Pappy Boyington. While there, he also met a man he recognized
immediately as a natural leader of men, Admiral William Halsey. When World War II ended, Floyd returned
to Abilene and enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University to study and improve upon his artistic ability. It was
there he met Rose Marie Scott. In July of 1947 he quit school to go to work in the West Texas oilfields and
one month later he and Rose were married.
1947 was also the year when he first saw his drawings in print. He drew safety posters in his spare time
that demonstrated solutions to dangerous situations that occur on and around drilling rigs. These drawings
were published in oil industry magazines which were mailed to subscribers located around the world.
Floyd and Rose were blessed with a son and a daughter in March of 1949 and March 1954, respectively.
In 1957, Floyd began publishing his booklet, Safer Drilling. It was a monthly publication comprised of his
posters and cartoons that portrayed oilfield safety issues. During that same time, he created his trademark
cartoon character, Weevil Willie. The oilfield politics and safety situtions depicted in the Weevil Willie cartoons,
though subtly humorous, were still serious in nature. He continued to publish Safer Drilling for approximately
five years.
In the Spring of 1976, Floyd left the oilfields to concentrate on his art work full time. Although he still drew safety
posters for the oil industry, his artistic interests were turning more toward his own personal expression and
away from the commercial aspect of the profession. With this new direction, his drawing style changed from
the hard edged, pen and ink style he used to quickly convey "the message" in his safety posters and cartoons
to softer techniques, such as "stippling", which he taught himself. Stippling consists of creating images using
only dots, no lines, laid down one at a time. He began drawing images of the East and West Texas oilfields
from memory, from photographs taken personally and from old photographs he'd collected through the years.
Many of his new images were landscapes, however, he also created very detailed renderings of antique oilfield
exploratory equipment. Floyd did extensive research on Texas and Oklahoma oilfields, to be sure his drawings
were accurate and historically correct. His interests included many other large pieces of equipment including
steam locomotives and from his wartime experience, military aircraft.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Floyd developed a close relationship with the command personnel at
Dyess Air Force Base through his meticulously crafted depictions of the modern day aircraft. He was
frequently commissioned to draw specific planes based there and he often made additional prints that
he presented to the base's top dignitaries along with the originals. The drawings he produced and his
generosity was his way of saying "thank you" to those men in uniform who serve our country.
In 1980, Floyd created a stippled rendition of a historic photograph taken on September 5, 1930 in the
piney woods of Rusk County. The image depicted the bumper-to-bumper autos at the site of
"Dad" Joiner's No. 3 Daisy Bradford well. Less than a month later, on October 3, 1930, the photograph
became famous when to oilwell aroused the "Black Giant," The East Texas Oil Field, for many years the
largest in the world. Floyd, also being a stamp collector, wanted the United States Postal Service to issue
a stamp using his rendering to commemorate and honor America's Wildcatters. His Congressman at the time,
Charles Stenhold from Jones County, submitted the postage stamp proposal to Congress at Floyd's request.
Floyd had plans for a series of Wildcatter stamps had the Daisy Bradford No. 3 image been accepted and
printed as a postal stamp.
The weekend of October 3, 1980, Floyd attended the East Texas Oil Museum opening in Kilgore, TX, that
commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the oil strike. Floyd's original Daisy Bradford No. 3 and other works
of his were on display there. Also that weekend, he had a booth at the Rusk Arts and Crafts Show. It was
during that weekend that he and Rose rode on the Texas Railroad train pulled by engine No. 200. and he
also made sketches and took photographs from which he produced several images of that historic engine.
It is with regret that the Stubbs family must report that the world lost a very talented artist -- Floyd B. Stubbs --
on December 17, 2003. It is in his honor, knowing he would have done the same, that the Estate of Floyd B.
Stubbs has granted the use of his "steaming" image of Engine No. 200 to promote the Maydelle Iron Horse
Celebration.
.
Dimensions:
Frame-- 20" x 24"
Image window: 12" x 18.25"
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Please pardon any dust, soil, fingerprints, or glare seen on the item in the photos below...
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