In 1942, Davis was sent by Life Magazine to England to cover the war. When he arrived at the American Eighth Air Force Bomber Command Post he found the troops engaged in preparations for a raid on Hamburg. The World War I veteran received permission from Life Magazine and the Defense Department to fly in the raid as a war correspondent. On the morning of July 25, 1943 Floyd Davis flew in the Raid on Hamburg and painted the raid from the sky. It became one of his most famous paintings.