English: Watercolour

Sheet: 283 x 444 mm

"Signed and dated by the artist, lower right, this is a finished in-flight study of the White & Thompson No. 3 tractor biplane flying boat, serial 1198. She was built at Bognor Regis and completed in February 1915 but she crashed on landing on the 27th of that month and had to have a new hull built. She was finally delivered to Dover for service on 14 September 1915. Transferred to Calshot, the seaplane base and the entrance to Southampton Water, on 17 December 1915, she remained in service until deleted from service on 24 October 1916. This drawing is based on a preliminary study of the aircraft alone, also in the collection (PAE1284), The location added as background here is apparently the Solent looking toward the Isle of Wight, with warships heading in via the western passage towards Portsmouth. This suggests it is meant to represent the aircraft when based at Calshot. Wyllie, or possibly a printer, has put a ruled line round the drawing, which was probably for reproduction use. The artist has also skilfully evoked the flimsy nature of the fabric-covered wings and superstructure of the aircraft by showing how the number on the right side can be seen in reverse behind that more directly shown on the left."