First World War WWI 1914-1918 Aviation Art Print of the Handley Page O/400 Heavy Bomber from an Original Aviation Art Painting by Roger H. Middlebrook GAvA

The heavy bomber was one of the new inventions facing military strategists during the First World War. Of all the designs produced those of Handley Page in Britain and Gotha in Germany were without doubt the most successful with both building aircraft that could bomb the enemy’s heartland.

Having delivered and flown in combat the model O/100, Handley Page embarked on the production of the larger and improved O/400. Though impeded by the power of the engines available, the aircraft showed the future. When it entered service with the RNAS in March 1918 it was also, by some margin, the largest aircraft available in the British inventory. Five squadrons would be equipped with the aircraft by wars end.

In Roger H. Middlebrook’s painting an O/400 is seen on a bombing mission to Germany’s Ruhr valley industrial complex.