Mobile Officers' Mess by Denis Barnham, ink on paper

Inscribed: '1944. Mobile Officers' Mess'.

This is one of a suite of drawings made by Denis Barnham who served as a fighter pilot and later a training instructor in the Second World War. Joining the RAF in October 1939, after completing training Barnham was posted to 65 Squadron in April 1941, followed by 601 and 154 Squadrons, and returned to 601 Squadron in April 1942, in Malta, in the role of Flight Commander and rank of Flight Lieutenant. Barnham guided the squadron of mostly inexperienced pilots during some of the most intense months of the Siege of Malta, spending 10 weeks on the island until late June before returning to England when his tour expired. He documented his experiences in a diary, letters and drawings, later publishing an illustrated account of his service in Malta, ‘One Man’s Widow’ (1956). Barnham, who enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in June 1937, found his artistic training interrupted by wartime service. However, he continued to practise in sketchbooks, becoming a fluent and expressive draughtsman during the course of the conflict. On his journey to Malta, he reflected: ‘I am astonished to find myself here, just twenty-two years old, a married man, an Officer in charge of a Flight of twelve Spitfires and their pilots, on a carrier that is steaming into action in WAR – I expected to be an artist, a painter.’ Unfortunately, few of Barnham’s Malta drawings survived the war as most were seized by the Maltese police when a civilian accused him of being an enemy spy. The Museum's suite of drawings dates to later in the war, across the months of February to November 1944, when Barnham served as an instructor at 57 OTU (Operational Training Unit, a Fighter Command facility). From May to early June he prepared pilots for air operations over Normandy for the D-Day landings (Operation Overlord, 6 June 1944). The situational circumstances of each sketch – made at moments of rest, depicting servicemen, landscapes, airfields and mess rooms – require further investigation. However, one explicitly references ‘The Day Before’ D-Day (FA01012) and four date from between 30 May and 4 June, likely forming a body of drawings on the theme. One (FA01010) is described as a scene in Sussex, the county known for being a large staging camp for Operation Overlord where RAF squadrons and Allied airborne units received final mission briefings and training. Another (FA01015) bears the inscription ‘Redhill’, in Surrey, whose aerodrome was the base for 2nd Tactical Airforce, known for providing close air support and reconnaissance for the invasion. After his wartime service, Barnham taught fine art at Epsom College. Donated by Denis Barnham, 1974. Artist copyright: the artist’s estate. Image copyright: RAF Museum.