William Barker Sopwith Snipe Combination

Kirk R. Lowry · 18 August 2008, 08:37 PM

Bonjour mes amis!

Following a suggestion made by Greg ... Barker's Snipe by Bob Bradford ...

Barker's Snipe as published on the cover of The C.A.H.S. Journal, Volume 2, Number 3, Fall, 1964.

The depiction of the battle on October 27, 1918 as published on the cover of Sopwith Snipe Described by Shennan ... published in 1967.

Notice the difference between the images on the two covers?

Bob Bradford was prepared to make corrections ...

I must admit to always having found the image of the pilot of the Fokker D.VII trying to evade the flames haunting.

We all know that there are several other depictions of the famous combat so let us seem them ...

Salut!
Kirk

Gregvan · 18 August 2008, 09:29 PM

Bonjour Kirk,

I'm glad you took my suggestion and ran with it!

For those who didn't see it on the book cover thread, here's Phil Ronfor's take on the VC fight from a Cavalier magazine from about 50 years ago. Not much had been published about the Snipe then- thus the red nose and lack of white stripes on the fuselage. He did put the white "victory notches" on the wing strut, which we know Barker had on his Camel.

Gregvan · 18 August 2008, 09:51 PM

Hi,

Here's an iconic early representation from the late Merv Corning. It's part of the "Heritage of the Air" series of prints by Corning published by the Leach Corporation:

Corning's series of WWI aces scenes were incredibly influential to generations of artists. He sort of solidified the pantheon of ace scenes/encounters that would be visited again and again by many different artists. Many painters/illustrators have aped his painting of Luke's SPAD balloon-busting over time, down to the incorrect post-war version of the 27th Aero's eagle insignia; but that's for another thread.

Gregvan · 18 August 2008, 10:02 PM

Hello,

I find this recent rendering for a Hi-Tech model kit particularly uninspiring and bland. What's up with that prop?:

Albatros_Ace · 19 August 2008, 12:00 AM

that last pic is also one of Barkers last fight if you look close enough at the serial #

During "Billy" barker's last fight one of barkers opponents Fokker D.VII's caught on fire (his third kill in this fight)after a short burst(he had already had one leg an an arm disabled from another fight moments earlier) and Barker saw him jump out and deploy a parachute witch he thought was a wonderful idea but while he was observing this his other leg was shot he managed to shoot down one more aircraft before crashing nearby allied lines

sorry kinda too much info there

lol

Gregvan · 19 August 2008, 05:50 PM

Hi,

Here is Keith Woodcock's fine and very precise rendering of the Barker VC combat for the cover of Osprey's British and Empire Aces of World War 1. It's beautifully composed and detailed, but it seems too 'calm' to me (though this may be exactly what parts of the combat looked like). It almost seems that the Snipe and Fokkers are partaking in some sort of bloodless aerial ballet:

Now, contrast that with THIS:

Now THAT's how the Barker combat of legend should look! A lone, badly riddled Snipe jinking around the sky, guns yammering against a rainbow medley of surrounding Flying Circus Fokkers, with blazing D.VII's raining down like a meteor shower.

This comes from another marvelous book written for young readers, The Wonderful World of Aircraft, by John Heritage (Octopus Books Ltd, London, 1980). Thanks to Kirk for supplying the name of the artist, Hardy. Great stuff.

Greg

Gregvan · 19 August 2008, 06:38 PM

Then there's the Squadron/Signal's house artist Don Greer's cover for Sopwith Fighters in Action. I presume this is supposed to show the VC combat. This cover became somewhat famous as Greer depicted a perfectly stationary Bentley engine just behind that spinning prop (he repeated this gaffe on his Sop Tripe painting on the back cover). Maybe Barker won the VC for being able to fly with a non-rotating rotary engine!

Kirk R. Lowry · 19 August 2008, 08:29 PM

Bonjour tous!

Quite a variety of depictions!

The art on the cover of the box of the Hi-Tech kit is certainly lacking in drama.

Yes the cover of Sopwith Fighters includes one of the more obvious Squadron/Signal errors which rivals that on the cover of Nieuport Fighters.

The illustration of the "Barker combat of legend" was by an artist of the name Hardy who was an illustrator for Look and Learn magazine and long had a regular feature under the title Into The Blue.

Here are a couple of depictions of Barker battling the odds from Canadian publications -

An illustration by William Wheeler from Knights of the Air published in 1958 which may be the only image of Barker observing the the descent of the German pilot by parachute. Thank you Greg ... you would have been posting this one were it not for the gift ...

A drawing by Claude Rousseau from ... of Men and Planes published in 1968 which offers an original depiction ... note the presence of several Fokker D.VI ... perhaps we have been searching amongst the wrong units all togehter, maybe, Jasta 75 or Jasta 80b were involved in the combat. Note the Aviatik D.I which must have stalked Barker all the way from the front in Italy ...

Salut mes amis
Kirk

Gregvan · 19 August 2008, 08:59 PM

Thanks for the info on Hardy, Kirk. I've amended my comments above. I do believe I've heard that name before, now that you mention it. I've heard wonderful things about the "Look and Learn" series. I wish I'd had access to it when I was a kid (or even now!).

Thanks again.

Albatros_Ace · 19 August 2008, 10:14 PM

great pics ppl and the one of him observing the parachute is new to me thanks