Sopwith Snipe in a dogfight by Roland Davies

Roland Davies (1904-1993)
"An Epic Encounter"
A Sopwith Snipe shooting down his German adversary

gouache, signed

Overall size including frame: 59.8 cm x 66.2 cm

The Sopwith Snipe was a British single-seat bi-plane fighter of the Royal Air Force. It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the conflict, in late 1918. It was selected as the standard post-war single-seat RAF fighter and the last examples were not retired until 1926.

Roland Davies studied at Ipswich School of Art. He became an apprentice lithographer and then turned to illustration, starting with cinema posters and illustrations for the magazine Autocar and Motor Cycle.

During WWII he worked for the Ministry of Information on posters, etc. In 1970 he devoted his attention to painting period scenes, including military and aviation.