Filter Room by Elva Blacker, watercolour on paper

This scene is contrived from numerous portrait studies of RAF personnel. They are represented busy at work in the Filter Room at RAF Biggin Hill, a station that played a key role in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Blacker completed her studies at the Slade School of Fine Art the year the Second World War was declared and she continued her creative work while supporting the war effort. In 1942, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and served at RAF Biggin Hill. Integral to the Dowding System, filter rooms received information from the Observer Corps and radar stations, passing data to RAF Fighter Command at Bentley Priory. Purchased from the artist in 1974. Copyright: the artist's estate / RAF Museum.