Retro Car!: Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1943, featuring “Swimming Lesson”, by Raymond F. Jones [William Timmins]

There are two qualities about “bedsheet” format issues of Astounding Science Fiction (published as such from January, 1942, through April, 1943) that, apart from size alone, make them so distinctive.

First, the size and appearance of the very title, which utilizes distinctly different fonts for the words “ASTOUNDING” and “Science Fiction”: the former bold, capitalized, and elongated; the latter italicized and “flowing”. This connotes a melding of adventure, boldness, and modernity, with aspirations towards “highbrow” literature.

Second, a bedsheet format allows cover art larger than that featured by (then) standard-size contemporary pulps. Though only three artists (Hubert Rogers, Modest Stein, and William Timmins) created works featured on the covers of these sixteen issues of Astounding, and these illustrations greatly vary in quality and impact, they have a solid association with stories and authors from the magazine’s “Golden Age”.

However – ! – William Timmins’ cover art for the April, 1943 issue of Astounding might be a little bit less memorable for its association with Raymond F. Jones’ tale “Swimming Lesson”, for Jones’ story only appeared once, in this issue; it’s never been anthologized. (? – !) (Paul Fraser’s review of the story can be found at SFMagazines.) But, this issue is brightly distinctive in being the only bedsheet issue of Astounding featuring a cover background in red, as other covers are in shades of gray, blue, basic black, and a really-ugly-mustardy-looking-off-yellow.

A close-up of Timmins’ art…

Like other early 40s issues of Astounding, the April ’43 issue features its own retro (well, retro from the vantage point of 2021!) interior illustrations.

This cool looking flying car by Paul Orban appears in the story “Escape”, by Joseph Gilbert and Fred W. Fischer. The craft is a hybrid of an airplane (fin, rudder, and horizontal stabilizer) and railroad engine (wrap-around windshield with single headlight in front), all combined in the overall shape of a vastly-improved, streamlined Buck Rogers style space flyer.

It seems like the cops – angrily waving below – and the hero and heroine – above – are both using the same model vehicle…

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