Underground Bomb Store by David Bomberg, charcoal on paper.

In April 1942, for his Official War Artist commission, David Bomberg spent a fortnight 90 feet underground in the vast bomb store of RAF Fauld, Burton-on-Trent, where he saw bombs being loaded on to racks, ready for use.

His drawings evoked the unsettling atmosphere of this hazardous environment. However, nobody expected the catastrophic explosion - so far, the largest recorded in Britain - that occurred there two years later, killing 68 people and leaving a 100ft deep crater which remains there today. Although three drawings were accepted, Bomberg’s finished painting (later acquired for the Tate collection in 1993) was rejected by the War Artists' Advisory Committee, which regarded his non-figurative style inappropriate for making a clear record of war which the public, as exhibition audiences, could easily read. Bomberg's Bomb Store works are now highly regarded following reappraisal of his career. From the Air Ministry allocation of works from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, 1947. Original accession number: LD2120. On loan from the RAF Air Historical Branch. Copyright: Crown (expired) / RAF Museum.