How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
Sergeant Peter Sanders was an instructor at the night gunnery school set up by the USAAF at the Harrington Airfield, Northamptonshire, during the Second World War. The school was housed in an empty hanger and, Sergeant Sanders later explained, “Our Officer asked me if I could come up with a design or a spot of colour on the open area wall that might brighten up the place – something appropriate”. He made a colour sketch to scale, placed it in a projector and focussed it onto plywood fixed to the wall, then traced the image with charcoal. Unable to get oil paint in Kettering, he had to settle for poster paint. He said, “The poster paint, of course, would not blend on the board so I painted it poster style.” The central figure represents the Spirit of Aerial Combat.
Clipston Endowed VC Primary School
Clipston
Title
American Air Force Mural Featuring the Spirit of Aerial Combat
Date
1945
Medium
poster paint on board
Measurements
H 213.5 x W 315.5 cm
Accession number
1
Acquisition method
gift from the artist, 1945
Work type
Painting
