Cross was born in
Camberwell, London on 23 April 1924. He was mainly self-taught, learning his craft at the
Camberwell School of Art and as a
technical illustrator for training manuals for
Fairey Aviation during the
Second World War. He progressed from there to producing advertising art for the aircraft industry and other companies. He illustrated for
The Aeroplane and the
Eagle comic. In 1952 he joined the
Society of Aviation Artists, but it is for his work at Airfix which he is best known. He started in 1964 with box art for Airfix's
Do 217 and his last work for them was the box art for the German heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen (1974). He went into marine paintings. Much of the Airfix artwork was destroyed but the lids of many millions of boxes remain. Cross was interviewed by
James May in ''
James May's Top Toys'', discussing the changing tastes in box art and the airbrushing out of bombs and explosions from his pictures. Cross died after a short illness on 24 April 2024, one day after his 100th birthday. ==Notes==