Motorway Trials

SEPECAT Jaguar S2/GR.1, XX109, landing on the M55, 26th April 1975.
30 x 20 inches oil on canvas.
Private collection.

Inspired by a grainy video this painting depicts the moment that BAC test-pilot Tim Ferguson dropped his pre-production Jaguar onto a newly-built stretch of the M55 motorway near Blackpool to demonstrate the aircraft’s rough field capabilities.

The aircraft was fitted with a 1,200-litre centre-line fuel tank for the landing and was then  ‘bombed up’ before taking off to demonstrate a full tactical weapons load.

The original painting was part of the 2019 Guild of Aviation Artists’ annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London and now in the private collection of the Ferguson family.