For my latest painting, I have turned away from Concorde briefly because of terrible events in the wider world.
Very early on 24 February 2022, Russian forces launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine. Several cities have been pounded by artillery, and other major sites, including the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, have been attacked. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured, and so far (10 March) more than 2 million people have fled the country.
In addition to the human victims, one further casualty was the world’s only operational Antonov An-225, known as “Mriya” (“dream” in Ukrainian). Built in Ukraine in the 1980s, this was the world’s largest freight aircraft; in fact, with a wingspan of 88 m (289 ft) and a cargo hold volume of 1,300 m3 (46,000 cu ft), it was the world’s largest aeroplane. Mriya carried the Soviet space shuttle Buran on her back – the structures to support the shuttle could still be seen on the top of the fuselage. More recently, the aircraft was used to carry humanitarian aid to the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti (2010) and Japan (2011), and in the last couple of years she delivered medical supplies from China to other countries to bring relief in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the people who built and operated Mriya need help themselves.
Mriya was undergoing maintenance at the airport at Hostomel when the airport came under attack. By 27 February it was confirmed that the aircraft had been destroyed. This news was a shock to aviation enthusiasts across the world – including me. It is not clear whether Mriya can ever be rebuilt, and with the relentless assault on Ukraine’s human population, she has to be left as she is for now.
Yet I still have one last humanitarian mission for Mriya. I produced the painting shown below in just 2 weeks, as a way to make sense of the destruction. I am offering the original for sale. Fred Finn, a good friend of mine in the Concorde community, has family connections in Ukraine as his wife is Ukrainian. Fred’s wife is collecting funds to give the Ukrainian Embassy in UK for protective equipment and medical supplies. I have put my painting up for auction on eBay to raise funds for them; details can be found here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325094044493
If there is sufficient interest I can also produce prints of the painting, again with profits going to Fred and his wife to provide aid for Ukraine.
In this way I hope to help Ukrainians in danger and distress, and to bring something of benefit out of Mriya’s sad demise.
