Wwii bomber art +download +pdf

These plane images match that scale. They are all in squadron format that show 4 to 7 planes on each image, with the exception of a few planes such as seaplanes that are shown as single plane images.

The digital file download link will be included in the email receipt of your purchase. Atlantic and Mediterranean Battle Synopses 2. Remember me Log in. Lost your password? The difference in the quantities stems from page layout restrictions for each scale. We tried to format the layouts to help minimize the number of sheets you will have to print and still get what you need in one printing. If you bought printed sets from us before, the aircraft in this scale pdf set are the same as those.

The smaller fighter and tactical bombing planes come in two ways. There is a single plane image to represent a single fighter or bomber, then there is a dual plane image to represent a squadron. The larger twin and four engine bombers come only as single image units. Peter Smith of the Calgary Sun newspaper.

Karl Kjarsgaard of Canadian Airlines. David S. Carter for permission to tell the story, along with the use of photographs and log-book entries of his father, Alfred Williams Carter. Creed, FlU W. Constable, E. McLeod, Edward A. Strunk, Victor E.

Wilkes, Kenneth D. Richard L. War artists deal with their visual images on the battle front or from a safe viewpoint. Their different styles in ink, paint or pencil varied just as much as their motive or purpose.

In the first World War the artist not only saw, but experienced the bloody battles, death and smell of combat. These artists had been or still were serving as frontline troops, often within sight and sound of the enemy. Their paintings recorded the ruined landscapes, gas attacks, rain, mud, the wounded and death on both sides.

This would all change in the second World War. The war artist in World War Two was a non-combatant. There were exceptions but, like their war correspondent colleagues, the artist also worked in an official capacity. They were formally commissioned to produce art to order. Today, museums around the world contain and display the works of official World War Two war artists.

During the early months of World War Two, another art form began to appear; artwork painted on aircraft, and by it had reached its creative peak. Many ofthe artists were unknown enlisted men whose fee ranged from pure enjoyment to a bottle of hard liquor. They painted on the skin of the aircraft, their studio the great outdoors in every corner of the world. Their art came in thousands of different shapes and sizes; a name two feet long or a Petty pin-up girl in almost billboard size.

They attempted to paint the art based on the attitudes of the pilot and or crew in virtually any subject that could be thought of. Although the s pin-up girl was the most popular, the characters of Walt Disney's cartoons came a very close second. When an aircraft was lost, either from an operation or an accident, any nose art carried by the aircraft was generally lost forever.

Only a photograph could record this lost art but, unfortunately, too many aircraft were gone before any photos could be taken. At the end of World War Two, thousands of aircraft were broken up along with their art, and few examples remain today.

As for the artist, he was not this lucky, his story and place in Canadian even less in RAF history was not even documented. During my thirty-three year period of research it became apparent that there was a need for an accurate reference source that would cover the subject of the nose art of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Some of the photographs that appear in this book have been published before, but in most cases, with scant ref- 6 erence to the artist or the story behind his painting. Hundreds of new photos have been obtained and reproduced from private collections.

These photographs, published here in combination with the old official ones, are included within the pages of this book in an attempt to convey the true story of this nose art. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only book that records the story of the nose art of both the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and the men that painted it.

Along with my work on this book my hobby is to recreate this art on genuine aircraft skin. This I do in as true a representation of the original as possible. Not only as a labour of love but also in dedication to the more than 17, RCAF aircrew who gave their lives in the cause of freedom during the period Clarence A.

It would subsequently appear in every war up to and including,the Gulf War of and the more recent NATO air campaign above eastern Europe. Man began decorating his instruments of war long before history was recorded. In school we learnt about battles with painted chariots, Roman standards, Viking longships, the Aztecs and Mayas, the woad-covered ancient Britons, the North American Indians, who would decorate themselves, their homes and their horses with a rudimentary artwork known as 'warpaint' and, later, the medieval armoured knights.

Man next gave names to the machines that he created to give them a power and an identity with which to bring a specific image to mind. Our history books are full of the names of ships that bring a famous or infamous event or person to mind, names such as Mayflower, Victory, Titanic, Bismarck, Hood, Arizona or Missouri. Had these been just numbers, then the images would be neither as evocative or as memorable. This Macchi M. The zig-zag effect on the hull is the demarcation line between the glossy white underside paint and the uppersurface varnished plywood.

Location is somewhere in the Adriatic, possibly Porto Corsini Aviation rapidly acquired an aura of romanticism and by the outbreak of war in the exploits of the 'dashing young men in their flying machines' trying to kill one another in the name of patriotism soon led to World War One becaming a melting pot of aircraft camouflage, national and individual markings, and unit insignia.

France With the birth of aviation at the beginning of this century, just as with its maritime cousins, the aviation world was to produce some famous names and events. In , the United States of America became the cradle of powered aircraft flight. This was soon overtaken, however, as France became its nursery.

In the same year the words 'aileron', 'fuselage' and 'nacelle', were admitted into the Oxford English Dictionary. The first flying instruction under military control took place in France in , and other developments, too numerous to name here, followed. It is within the scope of this book, however, to look at three of these, relevant to aircraft markings. Then, during World War One, as French aviation aces were beginning to receive so much 7 publicity and were becoming national heroes, they too adopted distinctive individual artwork with which to decorate their aircraft.

This was done in a very similar fashion to that applied to motor vehicles. This was done as an aid for French ground troops to recognise the nationality of the aircraft. These new roundels were applied with the outer band in red, the inner in white and the centre portion blue. Each Escadrille was given a number that remained constant although it would be pre Germany Aviation in Germany had concerned itself primarily with the development of the airship and it was not until the arrival of the armed Fokker monoplane into service in that the German air service began to more fully realise the potential of heavier than air aircraft.

As the earliest dedicated fighter squadrons were formed, the young men attracted to this type of warfare were naturally some of the more dashing and bolder personalities, many of whom came from the Imperial cavalry regiments. Their elan soon led to the use of individual markings on their new mounts as the German propaganda machinery promoted these new heroes.

Not only this, but the German air service developed a more systematic approach to the use of large areas of colour and artwork on their aircraft to identify particular units-or men- than any other of the combatant nations. Who has not heard of the 'Red Baron'? This association with the cavalry was in a sense reinforced by the use of the black cross as a national identity marking, a device used by the Teutonic knights of old.

Italy Although aviation had advanced from the United States to Europe, it was Italy who first used aircraft in an operational war flight. This occurred when they were used for spotting troop movements in Libya on October 22, Then, during the following week, she became the first country to use an aircraft in anger by dropping bombs and by had organised squadrons, just as the French 8 had done.

Early Italian squadron markings usually consisted of the name of the unit in black lettering on clear varnished fuselages.

As the war progressed, more elaborate individual and unit markings along French lines appeared. In , however, the Italians introduced a novel form of national marking to their aircraft.

Instead of the roundels or crosses adopted by the other belligerents, the Italians chose to paint the outer sections of the undersides of the wings of their aircraft in the national colours of red and green.

These aircraft carried no markings other than small serial numbers and it was at first felt that there was no need for identification markings. When Royal Marines opened fire on British aircraft, however, it became obvious that some form of rapid identification for ground troops was needed. This marking took the form of a large Union Flag which was first applied to British aircraft on 23 August It was not long before it was discovered that this type of marking was unsuitable as it could often appear to look like the German cross.

So, on 11 December , the RFC adopted the French style of roundel with the colours reversed, blue for the outer ring and red for the centre. Although the Union flag often still appeared as a rudder marking until early , in May of that year the RFC and RNAS first applied stripes of equal width to the rudders of their aircraft.

Here again it was an adaptation of the French marking with a darker blue than that of the French. When RFC Squadron markings were introduced in April , they were applied to aircraft fuselages in simple lines or devices, usually in black or white. The Royal Naval Air Service, on the other hand, retained colourful flight and squadron markings based on ship's signal flags for some time.

Although initially RFC pilots had little use for individual markings, a scheme was adopted whereby public money could buy a name on an RFC aircraft, the donor being allowed to choose the inscription to be applied. By August a total of aircraft had been sponsored in this manner. If a named aircraft was lost or destroyed, the name would be applied to another aircraft, even if it were of different make.

Canada On 4 August , Canada went to war with Germany but had neither a pilot nor an aircraft with which to join the air war over France.

Janny of Galt, Ontario and Lt W. Sharpe of Prescott, Ontario. Next, the Canadian government purchased a Burgess-Dunne float-equipped biplane from Marblehead, Massachusetts and shipped it to England.

This, the first Canadian military aircraft to arrive in Europe, received no markings and was placed in storage on arrival in England, later being scrapped. So, with no aircraft to fly, Capt Janny resigned and returned to Canada. One point that should not be overlooked is that, despite its short history, the Canadian Aviation Corps had a uniform and had designed and used a cap and collar badge featuring the Canadian Maple Leaf.

They were trained under the long standing regulations and traditions of the Royal Navy and had a deep-rooted pride in being a part of the Senior Service. Formed in July from the Naval Wing of the R. C and with less than aircraft on strength, these 'airborne sailors' left for France during August Many young Canadians eager to fly in France had been rejected by the RFC because they could not fly, but now these same young men were told that, having learnt to fly, they could be accepted into the RNAS.

All Canadian volunteers were first required to attend a civil flying school at their own expense and many of them opted to do this. Graduates from this training then continued on to England, again at their own expense. Here they were commissioned into the RNAS. After further training they were then posted to one of the new Naval Wings then being formed. In the spring of , No. Elder RN. Most of the pilots of this unit were Canadians.

In July , No. In this manner, many Canadians were gradually posted to the Naval squadrons on the Western Front. When 3 Wing was finally disbanded in May , over forty Canadians had served within the unit.

No 10 Naval Squadron was formed in February Among the aircrew of Naval 10 at Furnes was the newly promoted 'B' Flight Commander, Canadian Raymond Collishaw, who picked four other Canadians to join him in the flight.

The three Flig! S each selected a colounO'be applied to the forward fuselage, cowling and wheel covers of each of their aircraft. Having selected their respective colours, Collishaw then directed the pilots of his flight to pick names for each of their aircraft that began with the word 'Black'. These names were painted in white beneath the cockpit. This 'Black Flight' as it became known, soon became a familiar sight in the skies above Flanders, destroying 87 enemy aircraft during the months of June and July Although not a part of the soon to be famous Black flight, two other Canadians from Alberta became aces while with Naval 10 and deserve mention here.

The first was FIt Lt J. Manuel DSC from Edmonton, Alberta, who scored ten air to air victories before being killed in a mid-air collision on 10 June Ten of the twenty-seven leading aces in the RAF were from Canada with Collishaw ending the war with 68 confirmed kills. Nine days after the end of the First World War, No.

The forming of all-Canadian squadrons had been suggested by the British in but no authorisation was formally given until 5 August On 25 November , No. The Canadian government of the day subsequently decided not to maintain a peacetime air force and all were disbanded on 9 August For the second time in history, the Canadian Air Force was gone, but in their short period of life, both 1 and 2 9 squadrons managed to adorn the fuselage and tails of their aircraft with the distinctive maple leaf.

United States of America The American aviation volunteers of the First World War and their insignia still remain a misunderstood subject to this day. Early in , American volunteers for British air service were turned away because of their US citizenship.

As the US was neutral at that time, many Americans claimed Canadian birthright but this also failed. The American volunteers were advised to join the French Foreign Legion, where an oath of allegiance was sworn to the Legion and not to France. The French later transferred these volunteers to temporary duty in the French Air Service although several were killed while serving as infantry before the transfer could take effect.

American volunteers who served in the Air Service were collectively called the 'Lafayette Flying Corps' by the French government. Sixty-five of the volunteers were killed during World War One. In April , Escadrille N. They were first named 'Escadrille Americaine' but, because of protests by the German government and remembering that America was still officially a neutral, the name was changed to 'Escadrille du Voluntairs' and finally to 'Escadrille Lafayette'.

The first emblem adopted by the unit was a painting of the head of a Seminole Indian, a tribe from Florida. This head was painted on the fuselage of the Nieuport aircraft and remained the unit emblem until April In all, ten volunteers were killed while serving in Escadrille Lafayette, nine in combat and one as the result of injuries sustained when falling off a horse.

At The first American national marking was adapted from the French roundel but with the colours in the order of the old imperial Russian markings, ie red outer, blue, and white centre. Post-war this was later superseded by a blue disc with a white star which in turn bore a red central disc.

Note his pilot's badge above his rank insignia on his cuff 5 Below: An early version of a 'sharkmouth' or should it be skullmouth? Shown as it appeared on 1mbros in the Aegean in summer , the machine was known familiarly as the Goo-Goo or the Bogeyman 1M. Leslie collection 10 6: Even the humble Corps reconnaissance aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps sometimes received nose art.

This is a 90 hp RAF-engined B. Curiously, the presentation name appears to have been modified from 'Tasmania' to 'Tasman' on the original print. Note the machine gun on a flexible mounting for the observer in the front cockpit and the manufacturers decal on the extreme nose 7: The Royal Navy was not as restrained as the RFC when it came to marking their aircraft.

Here Sopwith Camels of Naval 10 display their nose markings. Alexander 8: This unidentified crew displayed a sense ofhumour in their choice of markings for their reconnaissance Farman F A similar figure to that painted on the port side of the nacelle was also applied on the starboard side. The aircraft carries the Seminole Indian head insigne ofthe unit and is still wearing French camouflage I 12 A lineup ofsurrendered German aircraft from IG3 late in wearing brightly coloured stripes and allwhite tails.

The nearest machine is an Albatros D. Va with an unusually broad cross on the tail. The remaining aircraft are all Fokker D. VIIs, the nearest pair apparently being G.

While it is clearly impossible to determine the precise date when the first example of RAF nose art appeared in World War II, it probably occurred with Squadron in December By December three of these aircraft at least carried individual nose art and names. A third was 'Old Faithful'. The Battle was soon found to be no match for the modern German fighters but still contributed heroic 12 Above: A Lockheed Hudson prior to ferrying across the Atlantic from Gander in Canada direct to the RAp, most likely late in The picture shows 'Pappy' Ryan, a civilian delivery pilot, receiving the aircraft paperwork shortly before departure.

The Donald Duck artwork would have been applied by a Disney artist at the Lockheed works at Burbank, California, the inscription being added at Gander. Note the blanking plate over the dorsal turret position BR efforts to stop the German advance through France. Many of these early medium bombers carried Walt Disney or 'Popeye the Sailor' cartoon characters from the strip published in the Daily Mirror.

Such was the popularity of these cartoons that the Wellington even received its nickname, 'Wimpy', from the character J. Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye strip. Canadians were already serving in RAF units at the outbreak of war.

By the time of the Battle of Britain, 'maple leaf' or 'Canada' markings were officially permitted on aircraft. From these modest examples, 'personalisation' of aircraft became more and more common as the usefulness of the practice in contributing to enhanced morale gained greater, if unofficial, recognition. As the fortunes of war ebbed and flowed, the quantity and quality of the artwork applied to RAF and RCAF aircraft reflected these changes.

During times of pressure, much of the artwork was small and constrained, but as the cer- 13 tainty of ultimate victory grew, the artwork became larger and more exuberant. Certainly, as the numbers of Commonwealth crew members serving in the RAF grew, their less-restrained attitudes tended to influence the style of artwork.

The sources of inspiration for these were many and varied and can be seen in the pictures throughout this book. Some themes and topics-and artists-had, however, much greater influence than others and are examined in greater detail here. Walt Disney Walt Disney was born on 5 December in Chicago, Illinois but the family was soon to move to a farm near Marcelin, Missouri, where Walt spent his early childhood.

In , the family moved again; this time to Kansas City, Missouri. It was here that Walt and his brothers became delivery boys for their father's customer paper round. In August came the outbreak of the First World War. Each morning, as Walt began work at 4 am, he would always read about the situation in France in the papers delivered to his father.

On 8 June , he read that General Pershing had landed with his staff at Liverpool, England, enroute to France in preparation for the organising of the American Expeditionary Force. Now Walt saw young Americans were joining up to fight in France. During the summer of , the Disney family returned to Chicago where Walt enrolled into the Academy of Fine Arts and in the evenings, took up a correspondence course on cartooning.

He had many ideas, but his one desire was to join the AEF and head to France. At 15 years of age he was too young to enlist but learnt in that he could join the American Red Cross and work in France. On November 18, , just seven days after the Armistice, Walt arrived in France. For the next nine months he drove every vehicle from a small ambulance right up to a five ton truck. It will always be open to speculation as to what effect the artwork carried on French wagons had on him.

It must have had some effect because it is known that he painted his own cartoon art on one of the ambulances which he drove. On returning to the United States, he was employed as a commercial artist in Kansas City, and then, during the period from to. It was during this period that his films and artistic expertise reached a peak which many believed he never bettered.

It is believed the aircraft is K, which was lost over Luxembourg on 10 May 14 Left: Battles from Squadron at Rheims, the nearest carrying a peculiar emblem and the name 'Madam Harpy'. This presumably indicates that the machine is coded 'MQ-H'.

Aircraft 'K' in the background is thought to be K 14 tion to wide-ranging acclaim, in he was awarded a special Oscar, presented to him by film star Shirley Temple, for his classic, full length animated film, Snow White and the Se en Dwar es.

When he opened his new studios at Burbank, California it was bounded by the Griffith park Airport, Grand Central Air Terminal which operated as a primary aviation training school for the U.

Army Air Corps, and by Lockheed airport and air-testing terminal. Thus, surrounded by u. Navy to spur on the creation of Disney artwork for W. II combat insignia. Stanley had written to suggest that, as the Navy lacked any imaginative insignia similar to that used in the Army Air Corps in W.

Thinking back to his ambulance days in France, Disney at once realized what the young cadet was asking. Deciding to give it a try, he handed the job over to artist Henry Porter, better known as 'Hank', who immediately gave the job his full attention. The result of his work was a belligerent wasp, standing in an aggressive stance and wearing four boxing gloves.

It did not take long for the new design to be adopted and it was soon decorating everything from flight jackets to the letterhead on writing paper. As word of this design began to spread, a second request was sent to Disney in early Lt Earl S. Photos of these new ships with their new artwork began to appear in Popular Mechanics, Life and Mechanix Illustrated.

What had started out as an individual suggestion now turned into a flood of requests to the Disney studio. Undismayed, Walt told Hank Porter to create as many designs as he could and organise his own department within the studio. In their first year of operation, Hank and his new team produced over individual designs for the Army, Navy, Marines and various other government bodies. Walt made it very clear, however, that no commercial use could be made from the family of Disney cartoon characters.

He also made sure that no government department could advertise Mickey, Minnie, Pluto or Donald Duck. Soon requests began to arrive from British Commonwealth forces and French, Polish and other European troops exiled to England and many of these were given Disney characters who appeared in fighting uniform for the first time. It seems that they were dissatisfied with lay-offs, working conditions and communication problems between themselves and Disney and the management.

What effect the strike and loss of top artists had on Disney films is impossible to say, but Walt did turn to Canada for his first war contract. For some obscure reason, these four, made for Canada films, were not declassified until when they were shown in a week-long film festival called 'Forsaken Films' in Taormina, Italy on 31 July They are now part of the War Museum collection in Ottawa.

On 8 December , Disney was offered a film contract by the American government to make twenty training films for US troops. By the end of the war, Disney artists had created over 1, military insignia, many of which were supplied to Canada's armed forces. The first priority for new aircraft was given to Eastern Command due to the threat from UBoats to shipping in the eastern Atlantic and eastern coastal regions of Canada.

The majority of those squadrons that served exclusively in Canada received no official unit badge but took a title or nickname. It won the unofficial title of 'North Atlantic Squadron' with a record of twenty-two attacks on U-boats and three sinkings. Their unofficial badge and unit insignia of 'Dumbo' came from Disney, as did their nickname. The baby elephant, 'Dumbo', was the first of the Disney family of cartoon characters allowed to appear on wartime insignia.

He was not a permanent Disney figure like Donald Duck or Pluto, and had just been released in in a short animated film. As the squadron insignia requests becan to flow into the studio, Dumbo quickly became a favourite, ranking seventh in the top requested Disney characters for aircraft insignia. Again, Disney created a Dumbo insignia for the squadron. The emblem was superseded by a squadron-originated design featuring a half-wolf, half-fish, after July when the unit was redesignated as a Bomber Reconnaissance squadron.

Although most of this art was applied to the rear fuselage side, much of it was also applied as nose art. II is believed to have been twenty-eight, but many more were simply just copied and used by other Canadian squadrons. In reality, hundreds of RCAF aircraft adopted unofficial Disney type artwork, inspired by the movies and cartoons which Disney created during the war years.

The following is a list of Canadian home and overseas based squadrons that used a Disney designed insignia at some stage during the war.

Butch the Falcon design. Monkey design. Dragon design. Seven Dwarves in 'V' formation design. Donald Duck design. Pluto design. Knightmares design featuring a knight riding a part horse, part plane. Black tomcat with sword design, the 'Flying Lancers'. Wolf design. Bulldog design. Lion with wings design; 'Fury with Balance'. Sea-wolf design. Thumper the rabbit design. N for the Nut Brothers The s saw a variety of unique and diverse comic artists create several humourous features in both single panel and strip form.

He also created a topper strip for the panel called 'The Squirrel Cage. Each week saw the little old man attempting to hitch-hike to the city of Swolz but, despite his best efforts, always ended up back where he had started from.

He became known simply as the 'little old man' who spoke no English, however, all of the other strip characters did, two of whom were Ches and Wal, the Nut brothers. By , this strip had become more popular than the main 'Room and Board' feature. Ches and Wal Back Again. Early on, his first and last names were shortened and he became known to all as Al Cappo At the age of 12, he lost his left leg in a streetcar accident, but this did not deter him from going on and fulfilling his dreams of becoming a cartoon illustrator.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Boston and by had become an assistant on the Joe Palooka cartoon strip. In , at the age of 24, he had a new idea and launched a strip called 'Li'l Abner' featuring hillbilly dialect and the social satire in similar fashion to that of Mark Twain.

Capp had the ability to create an extraordinary collection of characters, and named each in accordance with their social habits and attitudes.

When the US entered the war, the characters of this famous cartoon strip became instant hits as nose art subjects along with other of Capp's creations such as 'Kickapoo Joy Juice', 'Skonk Works' and the famous 'Dogpatch' institution of 'Sadie Hawkins Day'. The female characters that he created were courageous and supremely endowed, boasting names such as 'Moonbeam McSwine', 'Stupefyin' Jones' and 'Appasionata von Climax.

Captain A. British newspaper strips are virtually synonymous with The Daily Mirror and even during the dark days of World War II, the paper printed a full page and a half of comic strips. In the mid 's, the home-grown british material began to replace the syndicated American imports like 'Mutt and Jeff', 'Blondie' and 'Popeye.

The strip became a hit with Jake saying 'dood' instead of 'did' and he became something of a cult during the war when artist Bernard Graddon switched the focus from hero Jake to the cigarchomping villain, 'Captain A. In his 'Terry and The Pirates' comic strip, artist Milton Caniff would often introduce real-life characters, based upon servicemen he had met while touring various bases.

Well-known personalities were also included such as Claire Chennault and Joseph Stillwell. Cochrane who had served as a fighter pilot in both Africa and the Far East.

From this meeting on, 'Tote' Bonney remained in the strip until 10 January , appearing as one of the regular characters in over fifty strips. Jerry Bricker was a well-established publisher running his own business when war broke out in Shortly afterwards he joined the RCAF where his publishing background was to greatly benefit Canadian servicemen.

He became the first Canadian to apply for and introduce the free features of the American Camp Newspaper Service to Canadian forces publications. As Canada had been involved in the war since the beginning, Jerry Bricker decided that it was time for a Canadian to join the American newspaper war. He wrote to Caniff about this with the result that, over the next two months, the artist and the publisher collaborated to produce a Canadian fighter pilot to join in the fight against the Japanese.

Gremlins Gremlins are one of those clans of 'little people' found in fables, legends and fairy stories. They can, however, become a huge problem for pilots' and air forces all over the world. Seldom taller than twelve inches, they can only be seen by aircrew and can look like Brownies, Elves, Goblins or Pixies. For some unknown reason, Gremlins love aircraft and airfields. There is no doubt that they have been around, unseen, since man first flew but it was not until at Kelly Field, Texas that the first recorded sighting took place.

Then in , they began to become visible to pilots of the RAF, often being seen sitting on the compass, the tailor the wings. Gremlins always seem to appear in greater numbers during time of war and will infiltrate their way into air forces of all nations, on every fighting front. They always seem to choose new pilots and will flatten tyres, steal or hide maps, hole or block fuel lines and poke tree branches through fabric covered wings. Then, not satisfied with that, they will often cause the compass to point the wrong way, move airfields from where the pilot thought they were and, especially when a senior officer or instructor is watching, cause a landing aircraft to bounce up and down in a strange manner.

Unfortunately, Gremlins are only visible to pilots and not to people on the ground In early , the RAF was be infested with another, much smaller branch of the Gremlin family known as Widgets and the groundcrews with yet another: ground dwelling members of the family which became known as Whistling Wiffenpoofs. American aviation too received the attentions of other Gremlin family members.

This one was usually found above heights of 35,OOOft and loved the ice and cold. They particularly liked the new B bomber and were known to drink large quantities of oil, play with the radios and antennae and warm their fingers on the spark plugs and cause engines to fail. With the establishment of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Gremlin families found many new homes in Canada, and soon the RCAF was full of these mischeavous folk who were often found ready, willing and able to add to the trials of new pilots under training there.

Not all members of the Gremlin family were bad, however, all pilots agree that the bad far outnumber the good and it is therefore not suprising that, when a pilot or crew of an aircraft found Gremlins on board, they had good reason to become nervous. Disney acquired the rights to the story and produced a feature film based on Dahls' Gremlin story. Walt Disney became so caught up with the Gremlin film that he illustrated a special, one-page article which appeared in the RAF Journal.

Unfortunately, due to costs and problems with producing an acceptable Gremlin image, the film was abandoned in Steven Spielberg was eventually the first to produce a film Gremlin which appeared in his three-part, post-war film The Twilight Zone in which a Gremlin is seen creating damage to a jet airliner in flight.

As far as is known, this was the only film to come close to the earlier Disney idea. Although not placed on film during World War II, the Disney art team created at least 28 insignia that featured a Gremlin for good luck. Initially frowned upon, a programme to use women to ferry American military aircraft was finally established 25 Left: Gremlin art pr.

During a cold spell Schwab claimed to have seen the same pixy again, this time wearing a beaver cap, fur coat and ear muffs 20 in the US in late This was only brought about, however, after American aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran and twenty-five of her contemporaries had gone to England, at the invitation of the British authorities, to help form the Air Transport Auxiliary there, which had no qualms about female ferry pilots.

One of the early trainees for this programme, a former Disney artist, had been killed in a flying accident and for this lady and the whole WASP programme, the Disney team created a special insignia featuring a little lady Gremlin coming in for a landing.

She was given the name 'Fifinella' or 'Fifi' for short and the insignia was worn as a leather badge on the coveralls and jackets until The art was unofficial when the unit disbanded on 1 Jan and was never approved 28 Below right: Anne Armstrong McClellan, an American WASp, wearing the Disney-designed 'Fifinella' badge in June 21 r Pin-ups Jane One of the most popular wartime cartoons featured the naive but voluptuous 'Jane'.

First appearing in the Daily Mirror in December , she brought a whole new meaning to the term 'comic strip'. Always accompanied by her Dachshund dog she got herself involved in various escapades which inevitably ended with her minus all her clothes. Milton Caniff began to draw sexy girls in while cover artist for Ohio State's freshman magazine. In October , he created a popular newspaper strip called Terry and the Pirates which, by , was read by an audience of over 20 million in Canada and the US.

The strip was full of action and heavy in dialogue but also featured many alluring ladies such as 'April Kane', 'Sgt Jane Allen', 'The Dragon Lady', 'Rouge' and, most importantly, 'Burma'.

Burma was drawn with an alluring and excellent figure which made her a special part of the strip. With the entry of the US into the war, training camps were constructed at all points of the country, and with them came the Army Camp Newspapers.

In January , Caniff joined into the war effort by drawing a special strip called Terry which only appeared in the Army newspapers. This strip was done by him in his spare time and, since he now had a more lustful audience, he made Burma the main focus and displayed more of her charms.

The Army loved it but the newspaper syndicate feared that a mix-up would develop between the civilian newspaper and the military. As the syndicate were paying Caniff good money for his work on Terry and the Pirates, Caniff now created an entirely new strip called Male Call and the Terry and the Pirates characters were all eliminated, including Burma. He drew a special strip that informed his readers that Burma had returned to the funny papers and, at the same time, introduced the new figure called 'Miss Lace'.

He was flooded with complaints but soon, the new girl had made everybody forget about Burma. It was probably there she acquired her 'Jane' nose art. The slogan possibly indicates that the aircraft was coded C8-U. Following an accident on 21 August she was repaired and returned nine days later.

She never appeared nude as England's 'Jane' often did, but she was a true sexy pin- up figure and millions of GIs enjoyed the exposure of a kind not seen in family newspapers. She was painted on hundreds of Allied aircraft, such as Lancaster X, KB, as copies of this pose were signed and sent to various units by Caniff himself. This in itself was not new but the style of the illustrator responsible, George Petty, was. Demand was immediately so great that Esquire became a monthly with issue number two in January The Petty girl cartoon at long last put good taste in the American pinup by giving her the style and elegance of the American upper class.

This cartoon lady soon began to appear as a true pinup and became an American family enterprise. George Petty was the master of airbrush techniques and improved on previous pinup girls by making her legs longer, her torso shorter and her head smaller. This unreal lady with her vivid female anatomy suited the fantasies of American men of all ages. Petty's wife produced catch phrases that appeared with the pictures, while daughter Marjorie was in fact the living 'Petty Girl', spending hours holding a pose for her father to sketch.

Even son George Jm appeared as the bronzed escort in two advertisements. The Princeton University class of voted him favourite 34 Top left: Marjorie Petty at nineteen years of age as a student at Northwestern University in 35 Below left: George Petty and daughter Marjorie alighting from the train in Los Angeles in Each holds a white telephone ready to take calls from admirers of the artist and his work Reid Austin collection 36 Top right: The Petty girl, 'Bashful', from 'Esquire' magazine, March The original caption read "No, it isn't that 1 have anything else on, Mrs Van Gilder.

C:O,1l: C:A! Enter Alberto Varga In response, Esquire went on a quiet search for another artist and found Alberto Vargas, who had identical watercolour and airbrush techniques. The January issue of the magazine marked the first appearance of a 'Petty Girl' with a 'Varga Girl'.

Vargas had by now dropped the final's' from his name. December was the last appearance of Petty art as the gatefold in Esquire. As the USA entered World War Two, it was the Varga girl that appeared alone for the troops, becoming the top pinup on all fronts of the war. The Varga pinup girl was to bring its own very American approach to nose art in Britain and around the world. The numbers of American aircraft that carried some form of Varga girl, dressed or undressed, ran into thousands and by the quality of such nose art within the USAAF had reached a standard unmatched in any other air force.

Only that on the Canadian bombers of. George Petty had very little work showcased in the war years but the popularity of his , and gatefolds maintained his work as the inspiration for nose 46 Below: This is the Varga pin-up from the January edition of Esquire.

It was an immediate hit with squadron painters and crews and wall paintings until Post-war the Petty girl continued to appear in her own calendar and True magazine, the most popular mens' magazine of the s.

Today male fantasies are fuelled by photos and videos but the creations of George Petty are still to be found in enthusiasts' collections. Canadian 'Whites' With the passing of the War Exchange Act on 6 December , certain 'non-essential' goods were banned from being imported into Canada.