I just stumbled on this thread. These are some pictures from my Grandpa who flew on B-25's in Africa during WWII. My aunt actually found a bunch of film that had never been developed after he died and these were some of the pics on them.
funny this thread popped up again i didnt c it the first time , i saw diamond lil at a air show during the ww2 weekender in reading pa not to common to see a b-24's around so it stuck out for me, visted texas the summer of 09 and went to a air museum and there was a b-24 which i was pretty sure was diamond lil, asked the tour guide about it and he insisted it wasnt then i asked a elderly tour guy and he confirmed it was the same plane i saw in pa during the ww2 weekend that they had it re-painted , great job on the paint job must of been fun painting a piece of history
I really enjoyed checking out the progress from the layout to the incredible final result !! Thanks for sharing this experience. Ron p.s. I was just wondering maybe............nah
Thanks Frank. As long as we're here, I do have some updates. The B-24 is doing well after engine problems with #3 multiple times. They have that squared away, and she has been flying quite a bit. She is in Dallas now at the Cavanagh Flight Museum, so stop in and tell them hi! Other Projects... I designed some nose art for the Grissom Air Museum B-17 in Indiana. They're pulling the aircraft inside permanently, doing a restoration, and hopefully this spring they'll be ready for me to paint this on the side. This B-17 is painted up as Miss Liberty Belle but no photos exist of the port side. The existing artwork was nice but didn't look period correct really. So they asked me if I could help out with something that looked more period correct. I had already started some brand new period correct nose art for the plane when a log book sketch turned up from one of the original crewman. It had a sketch of a girl on a bell with wings, with Miss Liberty Belle next to it. No one knows if that sketch ever made it to the aircraft or not, but obviously that was their intention. At that point, there was only one way to go! So I started over. I traced the sketch so the proportions would be exact and went from there. In the sketch, she was nude, and the museum was more comfortable with a swimsuit. So I designed a '40s swimsuit. All I could tell from the mess of hair in the sketch was that it was blowing behind her. So I gave her some curls and had them starting to straighten out in the wind. The bell in the sketch looked like they had found an old engraving. Rather than have that engraving, I took the opportunity to use the bell to highlight the War Bond contribution that purchased this aircraft from the City of Philedelphia. That is the biggest digression from the sketch apart from the nudity, but I think it is ok and there is precedent for that type of recognition on other aircraft. The lettering is based off of other group aircraft. Whenever I work on a project like this where I have to "invent" history, it is very important to me that all elements of the art have a cohesive look to aircraft in the rest of the group/squadron. I especially can't stand post-war typography on the side of a WWII aircraft! In this case, another B-17, "Liberty Run" gave me a pretty good starting off point to design the lettering. It's a pretty exciting project, and I'm thrilled to be involved! Also looks like I will be painting some nose art on the CAF Dixie Wing P-51 Mustang this winter too. Still working out the details and design. Can't wait!
That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing them. Those B-24s are not from Africa. Cabin in the Sky and Blind Date were from the 10th AF, 7th BG in the China/Burma/India (CBI) theater. Briefed for Action and Armoured Angel were from the 14th AF, 308th BG in the CBI. So he must have transferred there after Africa. Love the shot of him on the bike!!
Wish I could find the nose art pix from brother in laws B-25 when he flew 57 missions in South Pacific islands WWII. All I know it was the 5th Air Force & their group had a black panther figure in a snarling pose, teeth showing!!!!----------Don
Hey anybody got photos of thier relatives leather jackets with art/patches on them that they could post???????????? I make the leather Squadron/Group patches myself for veterans and collectors/re-enactors and love doing them , my favorite pastime !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Johnny P.S. My UTMOST thanks to ALL the veterans who flew/crewed and maintained the warbirds during WW-2 , you're all "The GREATEST generation '!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found a nice book titled " Aircraft Nose Art, 80 years of aviation Artwork" By J.P. Wood. Covers everything from WWI to the Gulf war. Has about 250 color photos. Don't remember what I paid for it but it was cheap. Nice book. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Like I told the kid, "Your musics not too loud, its just like OKC, it sucks!"
The Art of the Flight Jacket is a good book for the patches and back paintings. The best nose art books in my collection are Fighting Colors by Gary Velasco Classic Vintage Nose Art by Gary Valant For the Boys: The Racy Pinups of WWII Talisman by John and Donna Campbell WWII Nose Art in Color I've got a couple more, but when I'm doing research, I hit those in that order. Gary Velasco paints nose art as well and is very talented.
So here is an update on the B-24, that I'm sad to pass along. The CAF B-24/B-29 Squadron has decided to strip off the nose art that we did from the B-24, and go with the large Neutrality flag on the starboard side, and Diamond Lil artwork on the port side. I was asked to submit designs, which were rejected. And so my involvement with the project has ended. First, let me say congrats to Gary Velasco for getting the project. He's a great artist and I know he will do a great job with the new Diamond Lil artwork. I would be lying if I said I wasn't extremely saddened by this, as are my Dad, Sean and Mikey. As I said before in the other thread though, we will always have that weekend together, working with the late Gary Austin, enjoying his hospitality and his friendship and the B-24 will always have a place in our hearts. I'm really proud of what we did. I was really no one in the Warbird arena, and Gary (and the CAF) took a chance on me. For that I am forever grateful. It gave me a chance to prove myself and started me down the path I'm on today with a C-47 under my belt, and a P-51 up next. I learned A LOT, made lots of friends, and discovered that because I am a graphic designer by day, I am completely obsessed with period correct typography and artwork on Warbirds today. At this point having studied the books, like Fighting Colors (written by Gary Velasco) for years now, I have a style that is mine but still completely period correct too. In the museum at Midland, Flamin' Mamie was always one of my favorites, which should be obvious to anyone that is really paying attention. I think I am going to find a big piece of aluminum or a scrapped out chunk of airplane and repaint the Ol 927 art for myself and slap a RAI (Gary Austin Memorial) sticker on it. Squadron crew chief Dave Miller told me about the return to Diamond Lil and asked me to submit some concepts. It certainly was going to take the sting out of the repaint if I could redesign Diamond Lil how I thought she should be done, in a more period correct style than prior. I submitted 5 sketches based on a couple Petty girls, and some others which I don't remember the artist at the moment. All of which were from the war years. For non-historial nose art, I am very adamant that if the aircraft is depicted in markings from say Aug '44, then you simply can't use a pin up girl that came out in Feb '45 for your reference photo. It wouldn't make sense. For this case though, since it's all made up anyway, I just kept the restriction to girls from the war years. The 5th concept was based on the very first Diamond Lil as I always liked that one better than the second version. I did some research and the wartime pose was done by Alberto Vargas originally, and which he repurposed years later by adding the fur in Playboy circa 1969. Which is of course what ended up on the plane, and why it always looked like something out of a Sixties Playboy. It was! So I combined the original wartime version with the '60s fur and came up with a good compromise. Dave asked me to work up concept #5 because the squadron wanted it to be the same as before basically, in color so I did. As a nod to the original artwork, my lettering (which I designed from scratch) was desert tan. He and others loved it. So I was hopeful. But it was not to be. If you click on the link below to my Facebook page (which is open to anyone whether you are on FB or not) you can see my design. There's no point in it being top secret at this point I guess and the secret it out amongst the warbird folks. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Django-Studios/112907612120651 So if you're near Dallas, and want to see it before the repaint, better head over there quick! Me with Diamond Lil in 2005...
The Jalopy Journal
