Lacing the Valise of a New Balloon by Robert Austin, charcoal on paper

In this drawing, Robert Austin illustrates women placing a new barrage balloon into a bag for safe storage. It is one of several large-scale exhibition drawings he was commissioned to produce for the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC). with RAF Balloon Command.

Austin was a highly-regarded engraver who taught at the Royal College of Art. As the RCA relocated to the Lake District in the Second World War, Austin worked remotely on war art commissions. He requested to depict women’s contributions to the Services, noticing these were little represented in exhibited pictures. His series of RAF Balloon Command drawings recorded Women’s Auxiliary Air Force operatives at work. The WAAC commended the drawings' ‘considerable merit’ and ‘propagandist value’. From the Air Ministry allocation of works from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, 1947. Original accession number: LD1862. On loan from the RAF Air Historical Branch (MOD). Copyright: Crown (expired) / RAF Museum.