Bow river, Banff

Royal Australian Air Force trainees in Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme on leave at Banff, going canoeing on the Bow River. Portion of the Canadian Rockies can be seen in the background. Ralph Malcolm Warner was appointed Official War Artist in 1943, covering the activities of the RAAF in Canada, United States and the Bahamas. His first mission was in Papua New Guinea recording Australian operation against the Japanese. In 1945 Warner continued to work as a war artist recording civil and industrial war efforts and food production in areas of New South Wales and Victoria. After the war he returned to commercial art, designing posters, murals and postage stamps and illustrating books.