Some year later, I was coming to the end of a very busy tour in the Directorate of Corporate Communications (RAF) in the Ministry of Defence Main Building, and had just received the extremely exciting news that I was to take command of No 208 (Reserve) Squadron at RAF Valley in Anglesey the following Spring.

In October 2000, Framecraft of Bath organised an evening with the artist Robert Taylor, at which he would unveil his latest work and sign his latest book for those lucky enough to be invited, which I was. Coincidentally, the evening was also due to be my last day in the Ministry of Defence prior to my posting to 208 Squadron. It was also a pig of a day. An RAF Jaguar aircraft had crashed that day (fortunately with no fatalities) but, as the only aircrew in the Directorate of Corporate Communications, I had spent one of the busiest days of my life fielding urgent press, television and radio enquiries. I managed to leave at about 7:00pm and sprinted from Main Building, via Embankment and the Bakerloo line to Paddington and thence on a train to Bath. The event was due to finish at 9:00pm, and I arrived at Framecraft, still at a sprint, at 8:55!  , All is well that ends well, however: Robert was still there and I was delighted to meet him, to discuss various aspect of his art and, of course, obtain my signed and personally dedicated copy of his book.

At the end of the event, after Robert Taylor had left, I took the opportunity to look through the proprietor’s stock of limited-edition prints, that had been brought in for the event, to see if they had a copy of ‘The Dambusters’, which I was still trying to locate. Unfortunately, he did not have a copy, but there were several other prints that I had not seen before, so I set about taking notes for a potential future acquisition. One that caught my eye that evening was a striking painting of a Sopwith Camel shooting down a German observation balloon, entitled ‘Balloon Buster’. Being a fast-jet pilot, this was not my usual subject and I would otherwise have put it down. However, I was immediately intrigued to read the caption below the picture, which read:‘

‘Flying a Sopwith Camel with R.F.C Squadron 208,
Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell brings down a German observation balloon
near Arras, northern France, August 29, 1918.
Botterell acknowledges the observer with a chivalrous salute as he departs the scene.’

Balloon Buster 100 - 02

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