01 Work, The Art of War, Stuart Reid's Deraa: The Arab Welcome to the First Handley Page Machine to Arrive in Palestine, with footnotes

Stuart Reid (1883–1971)

Deraa: The Arab Welcome to the First Handley Page Machine to Arrive in Palestine, 22 September 1918

Oil on panel

H 76.2 x W 91.4 cm

IWM (Imperial War Museums)

 A Handley Page bomber aircraft has landed in a desert. It is surrounded by a group of Sherifan mounted troops; those in the foreground gallop past to celebrate its arrival.

The Handley Page bombing biplane, which had flown out from England, was ordered to proceed to the Sherifan HQ with supplies of petrol for two Bristol Fighter biplanes which had been attached to the Sherifan forces.

The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. 

The aircraft were used in France for tactical night attacks on targets in German-occupied France and Belgium and for strategic bombing of industrial and transport targets in the Rhineland. Some aircraft were temporarily diverted to anti-submarine reconnaissance and bombing in the Tees estuary in 1917 and two aircraft operated in the eastern Mediterranean. The Type O made such an impression that for many years after the war any large aircraft in Britain was referred to as a "Handley Page", even getting a dictionary entry, More on Handley Page bomber

Deraa is a city in southwestern Syria, located about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate, historically part of the ancient Hauran region. The city is located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, and is used as a stopping station for travelers. More on Deraa

Stuart Reid (NZ/British/Aust., 1883-1971). In 1909 Reid went to London to study art. During WWI he served in Gallipoli and Sinai with the Scottish Light Horse before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in Palestine. He continued to sketch and paint, and was a friend of Colonel T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia. During this time Reid was commissioned to paint a number of works for the British Imperial War Museum. In 1922 he returned to New Zealand. He later settled in Sydney. More on Stuart Reid

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