<em>Air raid</em> was inspired by Cyril Power’s memory of aerial dogfights – close combat between fighter aircraft – during World War I. The artist served in the Royal Flying Corps.
Power first trained as an architect, practising until 1922. He went on to become a founding lecturer in architectural drawing and history at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art, London, in 1925. It was there that Claude Flight taught him the art of linocutting.