Double Escape
date: label: date made
content: 1918
label: associated date
content: 1917 - 1918
name: label: associated person
content: War Department
label: associated person
content: Townsend, Harry
label: artist
content: Townsend, Harry
notes: label: Description
content: Oil painting on canvas shows an American balloon flying over a small village. Two airplanes, one American and one German, are engaged in combat around the balloon. The American plane has red, blue, and white roundels on its wings. The German plane, with German insignia on the wings, has been shot and is plummeting to the ground. The plane is in pieces and smoke and flames rise into the air.
label: Description
content: The slow-moving observation balloons were easy prey for enemy fighter planes and had to be protected by allied planes. If a balloon was hit in battle, the gas in the balloon would catch fire and the balloon pilot would be forced to jump out of the balloon with his parachute. The descending pilot would then have to avoid two dangers: being hit by the burning balloon as it fell to the ground, or being hit by enemy fire from the enemy airplane. Thus, by shooting down the German plane before it could hit the balloon, the American plane gave the balloon pilot a "double escape."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France
topic: label: related event
content: World War I
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Official Art from the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I
label: See more items in
content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.26130
label: catalog number
content: 26130
label: accession number
content: 64592
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: oil (overall production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: oil paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 31 1/2 in x 26 in; 80.01 cm x 66.04 cm