Communications Room by Elva Blacker, watercolour on paper

This watercolour shows personnel at work in the Communications Room at RAF Biggin Hill, a station that played a key role in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Blacker initially struggled to develop an artistic career. Expected to take on her parents’ photographic studio, she was discouraged from training as a painter. After her parents’ deaths she became a mature student at the Slade School of Fine Art, qualifying aged 31, shortly before the Second World War was declared. She continued practising while supporting the war effort, serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force at RAF Biggin Hill where she made portraits of personnel. Purchased from the artist in 1974. Copyright: the artist's estate / RAF Museum.