Such is the pathway to the stars...

RCAF enthusiast and WWII fiction writer. Official page for Adversity to the Stars

[thruadversitytothestars]

So, who are you?

So you've made it to this page. Congratulations! This is the official blog for Adversity to the Stars, a story following Flight Lieutenant Lewis MacCallum as he traverses the French countryside in order to escape the claws of the Nazi occupants.

The characters in this piece are the main focus of this blog. You will see quite a bit of art of them being posted here as I move away from Instagram.

The inspiration for my writing stems from the thousands of hours in literature, video, and media that portrays the realities of the Second World War. I spend a lot of time in museums, libraries, and reading online about these sort of things.

My favourite historical blog at the moment is RCAF 403 Squadron, which is dedicated to identifying the pilots and documenting events that the unit participated in. You can also read their Operational Record Book (ORB) on the RCAF Association website.

Besides the 403rd, ATTS was also inspired by various different modern media, including the Dear Canada/I Am Canada books, The Long Long Holiday/Les Grandes Grandes Vacances, as well as Live in Infamy/The Only Thing to Fear.

Feel free to leave me an ask!

[thruadversitytothestars]

Tales from the Front - Discord Server

Check out the Tales from the Front community on Discord – hang out with 30 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

Recently made a discord so I can meet more people from the historical fiction community. Please join, and invite some friends! I'd love to talk to more people ^^

It's mostly focused on wartime fiction, but any kind of history is great and surely there are people who'd love to discuss with you :)

[thruadversitytothestars]

Louise

A byproduct of a stream I did last night. Was talking about all the goonerbait that exists on the internet, so we wifed up F/L MacCallum and debated whether she would be named Lois or Louise. We settled on Louise, but personally, I think Lois would have been better.

"Peetah. The spitfyah is in the house."

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1942 RAF Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXC G-BRRA MK912 DU-V 312 Czech Squadron by Chris Murkin Via Flickr: 1942 RAF Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXC G-BRRA MK912 DU-V 312 Czech Squadron Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Festvial of Flight Air Show 28th June 2025 HAC_3455

[nocternalrandomness]

A Supermarine Seafire of No 807 Sqn Fleet Air Arm above the British cruiser HMS Royalist - 1945

[thruadversitytothestars]

Airmen Like Him

I drew this about 4 months ago? I don't quite remember why it wasn't posted here, but it's been up on my Instagram since May.

I found out my boyfriend doesn't really like planes. He did mention his love for mathematics, however. He joined a math club and started raving about how much he loves doing math for fun. Math for fun? I could never understand what goes on in that man's brain.

There is a Girls und Panzer version of this drawing. I had to run the gif through the washing machine a couple times to compress it enough for Tumblr. I actually like the GuP version better than the RCAF one. Lewis just looks better with the square glasses.

[thruadversitytothestars]

Stir Me a Hurricane

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

This piece was written for the Battle of Britain 2024, but I never finished it. My friends have described it as an... isekai? This might be the only original work that Lewis McCallum is actually featured in.

Some character bios that are related to the story that I couldn't fit in:

BADLANDS - A young dreamer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in hopes of becoming either a helicopter pilot or an armour officer, following the footsteps of her veteran father, who had passed away in Iraq. Her mother was unenthusiastic about her wanting to carry her father’s legacy as a tank commander. In turn, she ended up applying to become a fighter pilot through the Royal Military College Kingston, and was accepted. She has a degree in military science, which she’s very proud of. Badlands’ callsign is a telltale of her pilotage when taking off and landing.

SNAPSHOT | BLUE 2 - A former Air Cadet from Langley, British Columbia, who completed the Power Pilot program with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets when he was in his second last year of high school. Snapshot graduated university with a degree in structural engineering, only to realise that wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life. Intending to become a flight engineer, he jokingly applied to be a pilot. He gained his callsign after an embarrassing photo of him was circulated online.

BLUE LEADER - A gleeful pilot from Moncton, New Brunswick, Fundy is the commander of Snapshot’s flight. A wonderful Flying Officer long due for a promotion, Fundy always dreamt of touching the clouded heaven. An ace at his trade, Fundy helps teach Snapshot how to employ dogfight tactics and get used to the Hurricane he’s flying. He doesn’t mind his rambling about missiles and ‘locking on the enemy’ (he thinks that he’s talking about wing-mounted rockets).

Couple notes:

"Rifle" is a statement given when missiles are launched. Snapshot says "rifle" three times because he is disconnected with the fact that his aircraft doesn't actually have missiles.

I intend to rewrite this in more detail later. I am not happy with how it has come out, but I don't want to keep this in my drafts any longer.

Snapshot is based off of the inspiration for Lewis MacCallum's roommate.

[thruadversitytothestars]

Artyom and Lewis

For the last couple of months, my Discord stream has been randomly disconnecting with a 3004 error code. I finally updated my computer yesterday, and for the first time ran a stream for more than 30 minutes without error. Success!

I have gotten back into digital art, and decided to test new painting/drawing styles. It'll take a while until I'm used to it again (after a very long 2 month break), but for now, enjoy Artyom and Lewis.

Artyom is a character I wrote half a decade ago for a project I scrapped called "Night of the Patriots." He was meant to be the main character, where he would find context clues and work around his boss in order to oust him as a spy. Maybe one day I'll go back to that. Oh well!

[callizinc]

I do not "render." I do not "shade." I do not "paint," I do not "detail" and i do not draw "Backgrounds." I draw BLAND CHARACTERS standing in WHITE VOIDS And if it doesn't look good i GIVE UP.

[that0nebaguette]

Nemám slov -teda mám. Bolí mě záda a zápěstí. Děkuji.

AF Attack na @raventrop @neptunes-blue @toppyflygon @verothewise @wingsofhistory @duckwithadream @sunnynightsartist @sealkuza a VÍC

[thruadversitytothestars]

wow ! yes, it is... quite weird .

[thruadversitytothestars]

Hillsborough, New Brunswick (and a few other places)

Sorry I haven't been posting much in the past little bit. I was recently in Moncton for two weeks, visiting some family. We went on a day trip to Fundy National Park, where I got to watch the famous tides that the Bay of Fundy's known for. Above is the CF-101 Voodoo (serial 101028), which was placed recently in Hillsborough, New Brunswick, about 45 minutes from Moncton. It's apparently been there since 2023.

Above is a view from the Fundy National Park Observation Deck, located up the hill from HQ. It wasn't as windy as it was near the ocean, which was a great change. I tried to observe the skies and the general fall weather that this area of New Brunswick was having so I could get an idea of what to stick in the flashback parts of this story.

I have a few photos of Hopewell Rocks too, which I might mention as well. The flowerpots are very pretty.

[neptunes-blue]

Heeehyy guys 😍 still alive. Barely…. I know I’m not very active on tumblr but I am looking and lurking!! Still Das boot brain rotting so here’s more art I’ve made for it

[thruadversitytothestars]

Lewis and Tess

I recently watched the ENTIRE 8 PART SERIES of Postman Pat thanks to the similarities that were pulled between Lewis Callum and the beloved children's show character, Pat Clifton.

So, I think this is a good time to introduce Lewis' cat. Drawn in the first photo is Tess. Entrusted to Lewis, Tessie was given to him in 1942, after a villager in the town he was based out of asked him to take care of the cat while he was deployed.

Now, the squadron pet, Tessie walks around and makes himself comfortable wherever he feels like it. Sometimes it's Lewis' hat, other times it's the squadron leader's boots... Tess is well loved by the squadron.

I should mention, Lewis was designed long ago to have a black and white cat. As Lewis is based off of a real person who owns a black and white cat, this was always planned to be a thing. I just never had a name for Lewis' cat. Now, thanks to Postman Pat, I decided to name him Tessie.

Tessie is based after Stinky, my boyfriend's cat. Below, the one and only Stinky, compared to Jess from Postman Pat.

That being said, I love Postman Pat. Such a good series. Thank you internet randoms on Discord for pointing this out.

[thruadversitytothestars]

Name Change!

On Wings of History will be getting yet another name change... On theme with the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the decision was made to change On Wings of History to:

Adversity to the Stars!

This is in reference to the Royal Canadian Air Force's (extended from the Royal Air Force) motto during the Second World War, Per Ardua ad Astra - Through Adversity, to the Stars! Sadly, the name Pathway to the Stars (in tune with the current RCAF motto) has already been used with a book title in regards to the Royal Canadian Air Force Centennial, so we couldn't use it.

Don't worry! We will be keeping the wingsofhistory handle here on Tumblr for the time being, so we're not going anywhere :)

Please enjoy this drawing of our favourite F/L Callum!

[thruadversitytothestars]

Shimmering Skies

Over the shimmering skies of the night Our wings soar high in the clouds Grounded lights below Bright stars above Rumbling engines rust their sound Up, up, higher, gracious hand of God Wrestle each other, on earth as his sons I touched the face of an enemy near And held the soul of a brother Never once, could one have danced With evil in the skies Drunk off despair Forgotten of prayer Yet hope was seen in their eyes Though bullets called, shriek and shrill I could never know his name Flown high in the sky Through the dark of the night Never blessed with the laurels of fame.

This is the poem that's used to open up Callum's story. Written in the story as one of Lewis' creations, he gains inspiration to write this piece some time in 1942. Shimmering Skies is meant to talk about Callum's war experience, and what he thinks about those pilots he fights against.

[thruadversitytothestars]

Portrait photo thingies of Lewis and Feliks?

[thruadversitytothestars]

Long day?

This was drawn for Art Fight! Sharing it here because it includes Kowalczyk, Callum, and a side character, Šlesingr.

Mad shoutout to @neptunes-blue, who's featured here with their character SqnCom Procházka.

https://artfight.net/attack/7941500.slow-day