Posted on 05/08/2002 3:01:00 AM PDT by Snow Bunny
Submerged within the 20th Century's mass armies and enmeshed in its relentless mechanized wars, American fighting men have jealously preserved at least a measure of their individuality and independence. A definite indication of this spirit is the widespread practice of naming and personally decorating the machines taken into battle: vehicles, artillery pieces, and especially aircraft. World War II witnessed an explosion of this humorous, garish, and often irreverent art form. Although easily recognized, this type of "war art" is not always appreciated as an important facet of American folk art. Within the military it seems the combat aircrews of the Army Air Forces enjoyed the best opportunities and widest latitude to display such war art, mainly on the noses of their airplanes and on the backs of their brown leather flying jackets. Indeed, that particular garment became a coveted status symbol, indicating the wearer's membership in the nation's wartime elite.
The Milwaukee Public Museum received as a donation from the original owner a rare surviving example of a World War II 8th Air Force painted flying jacket. Between December 1944 and April 1945, Byron Taylor. Jr., of Milwaukee, an Army Air Forces staff sergeant, flew 39 combat missions over Germany. He was a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress ball turret gunner and later bombardier serving with the 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) operating out of Ridgewell, England. He wore his painted Type A-2 leather flying jacket on all of his missions, including one on which, as sole survivor of his ten-man crew, he bailed out over western Germany and had to evade capture for several days before reaching friendly troops.
First standardized in 1931, the Type A-2 summer flying jacket was fashioned from seal-brown horsehide leather and featured a zippered front, leather collar and light brown silk lining, and brown knitted cuffs and waistband. In the Army Air Corps it became enormously popular both as a flying garment for moderate weather conditions and as casual wear. Heavy bomber crewmen like Byron Taylor liked to wear their A-2's underneath their regular cold weather flight gear as additional protection against the frigid temperatures encountered at high altitude, especially in winter. Mindful of the need for leather in a host of military products, the Army tried unsuccessfully to supplant the A-2 with a lighter pattern in 1942. Even today reproduction A-2 jackets are made in great numbers for those who are nostalgic of the look of the 1940's aviators.
Byron Taylor's A-2 jacket is marked generally in accordance with the styles prevailing at the time in the 8th Air Force. Certainly there were no set rules. Some airmen embellished their jackets more than the norm; others did not decorate their jackets at all. It all depended on personal taste and in some instances what they thought they could get away with. Almost invariably sewn on the left breast, however, was a circular unit patch. In Taylor's case it is the insignia of the 532nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), which with twelve bombers on strength was one of four squadrons making up the 381st Group. The vast majority of squadrons selected a particular design created either by one of their personnel or an outside agency, such as Walt Disney Studios. Once approved by the Army, the design became part of the squadron's lineage. The 532nd's insignia featured a white flying Trojan Horse sporting B-17 wings and lightning bolts issuing from its nostrils. It was approved on 4 October 1943. Most squadron emblems were likewise whimsical or comical with a great variety of flying creatures or some such other theme which had taken the fancy of squadron members. The 532nd's patch was constructed with knitted colored cloth on a leather base. Other units also had pieces of painted leather sewn together to make up the designs. Squadron patches were the most common, but some flying personnel wore their group emblems instead.
Either on the upper left or right breast of the flying jacket the owner often put his name and sometimes the wings for which he qualified, such as pilot, bombardier, navigator, aircrew, or air gunner. Taylor was content to have his nickname "By" painted on the right breast. Another common practice was to wear on one shoulder the standard Army Air Forces patch (a winged roundel containing a white star with a red ball in the center) or the patch of the particular numbered air force in which the flyer served. Officers frequently wore their rank insignia on the shoulder straps of their jackets, but the sergeants did not bother with their stripes.
It was the paintings on the backs of the flying jackets which make them so colorful and distinctive. Bomber crews especially preferred to wear a replica of the insignia which they had placed on the nose of their own aircraft. These markings comprised the name given the airplane (a short, catchy phrase) and related design which ranged from pinup girls (clad, unclad, or all variations in between), the sweet-heart of one of the crew (usually the pilot), all sorts of mythical creatures, or even a patriotic scene of some type (such as on the B-17 dubbed "General Ike"). Taylor's original crew chose the name "Dresden Doll" and represented her with a girl decked out in an abbreviated Santa Clause suit, the same design they caused to be painted on their flying jackets, but with one variation. The face of the woman painted on each flight jacket was different, a feminized caricature of that individual crewman, an unusual touch.
Taylor's artist was a flyer in another bomber in his group. More often these anonymous Michelangelo were ground crewmen, either professional artists back home or aspiring to that field. Museum sculptor Syl Sowinski served in 1944-45 as an ordnance sergeant with the 15th Air Force's 459th Bombardment Group operating out of Italy. His talents were tapped to paint aircraft noses, flying jackets, patches, and recreational clubs among other things. He utilized any type of paint he could find, from government issue to local house paints. For various tasks, the bomber crews either took him out to dinner or paid him a small sum for his work. As subject matter Sowinski, as did most other practitioners, modeled his female paintings after the pinups of famous artists such as Vargas, McPherson, and the Petty girls so popular in magazines like 'Esquire'. Indeed, it is claimed the idea of nose art on the airplanes originated early in World War II when bomber crewmen started pasting pinups in the interior of their planes. Sometimes the paintings became so risque that the base commanders had to crack down, but it was said the flyers "skirted regulation rather than their ladies." One of the biggest controversies regarding the theme of nose are and flying jackets broke out in December 1943 after the Germans captured the crew of the B-17 named "Murder Incorporated" after the famous gangster assassins of the 1930s. German newspapers widely featured photographs of a crew member's flying jacket emblazoned "Murder Inc." and falsely told their readers that a whole American bomb group was similarly named. Air Force commanders directed their groups carefully to check for any nose/jacket are which might aid German propaganda should the crew be forced down over enemy lines.
Another feature of the designs on the reverse of flying jackets was to serve as a summary of the war career of the wearer. As with Byron Taylor's jacket, little bombs were stenciled on after each mission to record the tally of combat flights. Victories over enemy aircraft were often added as well, and sometimes other symbols as well denoted various types of combat missions. Taylor's jacket shows only 32 of his 39 missions because his artist was killed on a mission over Germany, and no one took his place.
These days a surprisingly low number of painted flight jackets appear to have survived from World War II. Many enlisted personnel were required to turn in their jackets as government property when discharged after the war. Others have suffered from the passing of the years. Byron Taylor's jacket, "worn on dangerous combat missions, through thick and thin," provides a tangible reminder of the valor and sacrifice, spirit and morale of the Army Air Forces' combat aviators of World War II, as well as preserving an example of a distinctly American form of folk art.
...any ideas on nose art will be appreciated here
But see if you can't find some fitting ideas in here....
I can't imagine why. In any event, there are other possibilities besides Vargas prints....
But you'll really need a larger aircraft to get the effect right:
...Or maybe not ;)
This is my favorite. :-)
My dad was in the 8th Air Force during WWII, and flew in B17s and 24s both, and didn't care a great deal for either. His photo recon unit also got rides in A20s and British Mosquitos, which he preferred, but still wasn't all that thrilled about.
And then she came into his life, and he fell in love.
[And, yes, I still have his old jacket]
This pinup is a funny one. Watch out! Lol
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