The following is an extract from the book ‘Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume IV’ by Charles Walker and Robert Taylor, published in 2000, in which Robert Taylor describes his own painting ‘Balloon Buster’.
The opportunities to get first-
Born in 1896, Flight Lieutenant Henry J L Botterell was recruited by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in Canada and, not yet twenty years old, he arrived in England in 1916 to train as a fighter pilot. Within a year he joined an operational squadron in France on the Western Front, but an engine failure on his second take-
Henry Botterell was sent back to England, where he spent several months recovering in hospital; following convalescing he was demobilised. A chance meeting with pilots on leave in England with whom he had trained persuaded Henry that there was still plenty of fight left him and the idea of rejoining his friends on the Front became all too tempting. He rejoined, requalified as a fighter pilot, and early in 1918 returned to operational flying with RFC Squadron 208 in France. Flying the Sopwith Camel, Henry Botterell saw active service for the remainder of the War until the Armistice in November.
At the time of my painting, completed in 1997, Henry was in great shape for someone born over a century earlier, and his active memory, together with his meticulously preserved flying log book, provided all I needed to paint the scene I had chosen.
Just before 8:00am on the morning of 29 August 1918, Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell climbed his 208 Squadron Sopwith Camel out of a forward airfield at Tramecourt in northern France. Carrying four bombs , he headed west-
‘Balloon Buster’ -