Somme Contact Patrol

Online Catalogue | Aviation Art | Aviation Art by Graham Turner GAvA | Aviation Giclée Prints by Graham Turner | Somme Contact Patrol

Somme Contact Patrol Ref: Gic-G249

British troops signal their position to a BE2c flying overhead as they struggle to advance across no-mans land on July 1st 1916, the first day of the battle of the Somme. (Scroll down for more information about what is shown in this painting)

Giclée Print published from an oil painting by Graham Turner.

Each print individually printed to order on very high quality heavyweight paper, and then signed on the border by the artist.

click on image to enlarge

CLICK HERE for close up detail images.

Available in two alternative sizes (includes border), and on canvas (see below) - select size required below -

Print Size

17"x 20" (43cm x 51cm) £79.00

12"x 16" (30cm x 40cm) £59.00

Somme Contact Patrol canvas print Ref: G249-LC

This painting is also available reproduced on good quality canvas, individually printed before being stretched on wooden stretcher bars - just like the original oil painting - and then varnished for protection.

Overall canvas size 16"x 20" (41cm x 51cm)

Note that canvas prints have no white border - this is the overall size of the canvas on its wooden stretcher bars and the image extends to the edge.

Each canvas is individually signed (on the reverse, as there is no border) by the artist, Graham Turner.

Canvas orders going to an overseas address should email us at info@studio88.co.uk for a shipping price - our usual shipping rates do not apply.

Price: £149.00

Sheltering from the murderous artillery and machine gun fire in the meagre cover provided by a shell hole, these soldiers are from the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, veterans of Gallipoli, and part of the VIII corps attack in the area near the village of Beaumont Hamel. In this region alone, 14,000 men were lost on this one day for no gain at all, the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers recording 483 casualties without capturing a single section of enemy trench.

The infantry were issued with red flares, to be lit when their contact patrol aircraft signalled by firing a white Very light (later replaced by an audible klaxon signal). The aircraft would then in theory be able to plot the limit of the advance and report back to headquarters. However, smoke from the flares was felt by some soldiers to also risk revealing their position to the enemy, hence the practice of lighting them in the bottom of a trench or shell hole.

(above) Troops of the 29th division (of which the Lancashire Fusiliers were part) also carried a tin triangle on their backpack at the Somme to aid identification from the air.

(left) RFC aircraft involved in infantry co-operation carried some form of temporary identification linking them to a particular unit on the ground; one or two dark flags on either or both wing trailing edges was typical.

Images are cropped details from 'Somme Contact Patrol'. CLICK HERE to see these detail images at a larger size.

CLICK HERE for more information about Giclée Prints.

First World War Art

Studio 88 also publish several other giclée prints from First World War aviation paintings by Graham Turner, such as the award winning 'Into the Hands of Fate'. For details of these CLICK HERE.

Medieval and Military Art

Also available are a wide range of prints and cards from Graham Turner's historical and military paintings. For details of the full range (prices from £6.50 for a set of five cards) - and currently available original paintings - CLICK HERE.