Tommies' World War I Wonder
by
Darryl Legg

Featuring a Sopwith Camel of No.148 Squadron duelling with a German Fokker DVII over northern France in 1918.

[The two signatures are matted together with the print.}

Sir Tommy Sopwith

Born in 1888, Thomas Sopwith taught himself to fly in 1910 when he bought a 40 hp aircraft from the Wright Brothers. It was the beginning of one of the most remarkable careers in the history of aviation.
During the First World War he produced the Sopwith Pup, the Triplane, the Snipe, Dolphin, Salamander, and what was ultimately classed the best fighter of the war, the Sopwith Camel. Sopwith Camel's pilots shot down 1294 enemy aircraft - mostly German - more than any other in the Great War. Between the wars, after joining forces with Harry Hawker, they developed the Fury, the Hart, Nimrod and Audex, and in 1936 the Hurricane, a new monoplane which was to become the fighter that won the Battle of Britain. During WWII the group produced no fewer than 40,000 aircraft, including the Typhoon, Tempest, Sea Fury, and Meteor - the first British jet used operationally during the war.
After the war Spowith's company brought into service many more legendary aircraft including the Hunter - still thought by many to be the most beautiful jet fighter ever built - the Sea Hawk, the Javelin, and the massive Vulcan bomber.
Just a few weeks after his 101st birthday, Sir Tommy Sopwith, the last of the world's great pioneers of powered flight, passed away, bequeathing an aviation legacy of such magnitude it is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
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Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell

A Canadian, Henry Botterell volunteered for flying training and arrived in England in 1916, joining the Royal Naval Air Service as a pilot in May 1917 aged just 20. On 18 September he crash-landed his Sopwith Pup at Dunkirk receiving injuries that put him in hospital for six months and ended his short career as a navy pilot.
After recuperation and about to return to Canada, Botterell ran into a number of his old No. 8 Naval Squadron colleagues in London who arranged for him to be re-enlisted and he made his way to Manston in Kent for a pilot refresher course. After 10 hours flying he re-qualified and was promptly dispatched to France to rejoin his old No. 8 Naval Squadron which, in his absence had been renamed No .208 Squadron and attached to the Royal Flying Corps.
Back in France in the immediate aftermath of the great German spring advance, Henry Botterell flew an assortment of hazardous missions, piloting a variety of different aircraft on patrols and artillery spotting during which he reported "he was constantly shot at". In the 60 days between June and August 1918 he flew almost 100 missions in his Sopwith Camel, on 29 August bringing down a heavily defended German observation balloon near Arras. The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa now houses a fence post that was caught in the wing of Botterell's Sopwith Camel during one of his low-level sorties.
When Henry Botterell died in January 2003 aged 106, the last of the First World War pilots passed into history.
Edition Size: 4 Giclee'S
Size: 19¾" X 15¾"

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