Trench art German biplane : Driver C S Barton, 1 Divisional Ammunition Column

Model biplane made from brass (wings, tail, forward fuselage, engine, wheels and struts) and copper (propellor, tyres and axle and rear fuselage). The fuselage is realised from a .303 cartridge with a copper bullet, with a small cockpit cut-out. The remaining items have been shaped from brass and copper recovered from a German 77 mm shell case. The propellor rotates.

Made by 31078 Driver Clarence Stanmore Barton, a shunter from Sydney, NSW, born Mudgee, who enlisted on 15 September 1916 aged 26. Barton served with 1 Field Artillery Brigade as a driver for 1 Divisional Column. Barton embarked for overseas service from Sydney aboard RMS Orontes on 19 December 1916, disembarking at Plymouth on 17 February 1917. After a short period of illness and training, Barton entrained for France, joining his unit on 24 May. He returned to Australia aboard the Euripides on 7 September 1919, and was discharged on 8 December.

Barton collected the materials to make this plane during his service on the Western Front. The German brass 77 mm shell case and its copper driving band were collected in front of Zillebeke, Menin Road on 30 July 1917. By early the following year Barton had completed the plane and took it with him when he embarked for England on leave on 22 February 1918.