Norman Clifford profile drawing - Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8, A4397 "Sylvia"

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Norman Clifford

Overview

Greyscale profile drawing of a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 with the serial number A4397 produced by renowned Australian aviation artist, Norman Clifford.
The biplane has a tri-coloured roundel, a white 'D' containing a depiction of a kewpie doll on the fuselage, and the serial number on the tail, in front of three vertical stripes. Although the profile is in black and white, these would have been red, white and blue. A Lewis gun is mounted to the rear fuselage.

The drawing is signed in black pen by the artist.

Norman Clifford was writing a book about the history of the Australian Flying Corps. which this drawing may have been intended to feature in.

Historical information

Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8, serial number A4397 was built by the Austin Motor Co. Ltd., Birmingham,
It served as aircraft 'D' with No.3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps and was most regularly flown by Captain Reginald Francis.
This aircraft, known as 'Sylvia", set a record for British Forces on the Western Front by completing 440 hours of service flying including 147 flights over enemy lines.

A4397 was later shipped to Australia where it was placed on display in the aircraft exhibition held in Melbourne in June 1920. It was destroyed (while crated for transport) in an accidental fire just outside the Melbourne Exhibition Building in 1925.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00135

Item type

Artworks

Themes

Art and Design
Transport
War and Conflict > World War 1

Material