CAHS Toronto Chapter Meeting Saturday, December 8, :00 P.M.

Transcription

1 Volume 47 Number 3 Flypast December 2012 A D iv i si Ne n o o ws f lett he C T er of an C a AHS To dian Avi Ch His r cal to ron ation e apt tori S oc ie ty CAHS Toronto Chapter Meeting Saturday, December 8, :00 P.M. Meeting Info: Bob Winson (416) rwinson@sympatico.ca CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE 215 Yonge Blvd. at Wilson Ave. Toronto Lt.-Gen Guy Simonds Auditorium - Ground Floor Wilson Bus 96 from the York Mills TTC Subway Station (3 mins) A free parking lot is located adjacent to the college All members of CAHS, Guests and aviation history enthusiasts are very Welcome! A Landing Fee of $3.00 will be charged Annual Xmas Gift Exchange (Please do not exceed $10.00) Speaker: Mr. Patrick Keenan Topic: Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum The First Forty Years CWH 40th Anniversary Logo Credit: CWH

2 November Meeting Topic: The Nose Art of No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force Speaker: Caitlin McWilliams, CAHS National Vice President and editor of the CAHS e-newsletter Reporter: Gord McNulty Held on the eve of Remembrance Day, the meeting opened with former CAHS Toronto Chapter President Howard Malone paying respects to Canada's fallen airmen, soldiers and sailors. He displayed a front-page article in The National Post of Nov. 10, featuring an impressive illustration of the Vimy Memorial in France. The pixelated image of the soaring monument contained 107,162 dots in total. Each dot represented a single Canadian life lost in both world wars, the Korean War, peacekeeping operations and the conflict in Afghanistan. Howard then led the audience in a minute of silence to remember those who paid the supreme sacrifice and honour Canada's war veterans. Speakers: Caitlin McWilliams Photo Credit - Neil McGavock Toronto Chapter President Dr. George Topple introduced guest speaker Caitlin McWilliams. Caitlin became involved in aviation through her uncle, a pilot with the Canadian Historical Aviation Association based at Windsor airport. She took her very first flight in his 1941 Boeing Stearman and has been fascinated by vintage aircraft ever since. She began working the operations desk at the Windsor Flying Club until moving away for school. Caitlin completed a Bachelor of Arts in both History and English at the University of Windsor. She recently finished her Master's degree in History at Wilfrid Laurier University under the supervision of Dr. Roger Sarty. Her major research paper, Airfields, Airmen, and Airplanes: The Ideology of Air-Mindedness in Ontario during the Second World War, explored the RCAF's co-operation with the civilian community in Ontario during the war through public relations policy and fundraising initiatives. Caitlin's areas of historical interest focus mainly around Canadian aviation history, the RCAF during the Second World War, the growth of aviation in Ontario and the historical memory of the air war. Caitlin recently published an article in the August 2010, Vol. 19, No. 4 edition of Canadian Military History, published by the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies, entitled Camaradie, Morale, and Material Culture: Reflections on the Nose Art of No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force. She is currently working at the Laurier Centre as a research associate responsible for the library and archives. She is hoping to pursue a career in Public History and further research on the heritage of flight in Canada. To her credit, Caitlin has quickly shown a strong commitment to the CAHS. She was elected as the new CAHS National Vice President at the 2012 national AGM in Saint John, NB on Sept. 8. She is also making an excellent contribution as editor of the CAHS e-newsletter, where her address is cahs.newsletter@gmail.com 2

3 Caitlin began by saying how she was fascinated with the reasons why airmen decided to paint nose art on military aircraft. She was intrigued when she saw the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum B-25 Mitchell on a visit to Windsor, with nose art featuring Grumpy, a name referring to the most ill-tempered of Snow White's companions. The design showcased the dwarf in a blue outfit with thick white beard and the fairy tale character's testy demeanour seemed fitting for the Mitchell's growly engines. Then, in May 2009, after years of being Grumpy, the art was changed to a more racy Hot Gen! well-endowed pin-up girl. Caitlin learned that the aircraft had actually spent a long period as Hot Gen! before adopting the Disney-inspired Grumpy. For the museum, returning to Hot Gen! was an ode to an aviation legacy, but for Caitlin, the discovery that Grumpy had not always been Grumpy was disheartening. Changing the nose art not only changed the look of the aircraft, it also seemed to give it an entirely new personality. Since then, Caitlin has tried to comprehend the appeal behind something that she describes as so temporary and ephemeral, yet so evocative. She decided to focus her Master's research around the concept of Canadian nose art and the bomber crew mentality of 6 Group RCAF, the contingent of 14 Canadian bomber squadrons formed to serve within RAF Bomber Command. The squadrons of 6 Group embraced nose art, painting a wide range of images and designs on their aircraft. In her video display, Caitlin reviewed some of the most popular motifs, which were often evocative and provocative. Grumpy vs Hot Gen Photo Credit - Caitlin McWilliams Aviation buffs, professional historians and amateur historians are fascinated by nose art. During the Second World War, popular choices among the young servicemen were sexuality, humour, pop culture, wishful thinking, nationality and relationships. Some nose art became legendary. A prime example is the famous shark mouth design on the P-40s flown by the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, to fight the Japanese from China. The B-17 Memphis Belle, featuring an Esquire magazine pin-up girl in a blue bathing suit, became the darling of the American propaganda machine during the war. Nose art, however, was anything but an American phenomenon. The military tradition of decorating and naming instruments of war was established in the First World War for practical reasons as a way to identify friendly aircraft. The exploits of the storied knights of the air soon led to the war becoming a melting pot of aviation camouflage, national and individual markings, and unit insignia. The French were the first to put roundels on their aircraft and the first to begin numbering squadrons or escadrilles. They encouraged squadrons to adopt their own insignia. The Germans used large areas of colour on aircraft to better identify units. For their part, the British first applied a large union flag to their aircraft, but it looked too much like a German cross, so they adopted the French practice with a roundel. During the Second World War, artistic activity 3

4 grew to such a degree that the era has been deemed the golden age of nose art. Air and ground crews emblazoned the noses of their aircraft with colourful figures and insignia. The ritual helped to boost morale, encouraging camaraderie and a bond between men and their aircraft. As early as September, 1939, the men of the RCAF started painting their heavy bombers. With the intensifying air war over Europe, the odds of Bomber Command crews surviving an operation safely were generally speaking about 50/50. Many aircrew felt that art would give their aircraft personality and maybe even help to bring them home. Nose art came in many shapes and sizes, helping to provide distinguishing marks for identification. Canadians tended to connect the name of their aircraft with a separate single-letter call sign within a squadron. CWH B-25J Mitchell Bomber Photo Credit - CWH Nose art invariably became part of the publicity effort on the homefront. Caitlin emphasized the morale aspect in particular. Different subjects and motifs included wartime songs, comics, girlfriends' or wives' names, movie stars, popular films, hometowns and nationalities among others. The wide range of designs reflected the fact that nose art was often a spontaneous and spur-of-themoment choice. Occasionally, the design was carefully conceived as something that the artist and crew thought would represent their crew well. More often than not, artwork reflected whatever crews were thinking about at the time. Some themes, topics and artists were much more popular than others in 6 Group. At least 23 known nose artists were Canadian. Of these, 20 served with the RCAF and the majority were actually groundcrew. The idea for art was often left to the artist, though sometimes the crew offered suggestions or made requests. It's difficult to determine colours as the majority of wartime photos are in black and white, and artists were limited to what was available on a base. Caitlin, however, was able to present a vivid overview nonetheless. Three motifs that distinguished Canadian bombers from other Bomber Command aircraft included the roundel emblem, tour wings, and bomb patches. The Canadian roundel emblem was not an official marker 4

5 but it became common in 6 Group aircraft. As seen on two Lancasters shown by Caitlin, it was simpler than the traditional RCAF roundel and featured a red maple leaf on a light blue background. It was most often painted near the pilot's position. Tour wings, meanwhile, were displayed once an aircraft completed 30 operations. Artists drew bombs as markers to record the success of operations, keep track of day and night operations, and to indicate how many operations needed to be flown to complete a tour. The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa has 14 panels of original Halifax nose art on display and is one of the best places to see authentic items in original colours. It's the second largest collection of nose art in the world and the largest collection of original Halifax nose art in existence. At the end of the Second World War, the British government sent thousands of surplus aircraft to various disposal locations. These included 1,376 Halifax bombers along with all of their nose art. Luckily, an RCAF Operations Officer, Flight Lieutenant Harold Hunter Lindsay, stationed at High Wycombe, RAF, felt strongly that samples of nose art should be preserved. He managed to save at least 14 panels and brought them to Canada, where they are now at the museum. One of the panels from a Halifax, Archie the Archer, of 415 Sqdn. shows a significant bomb tally. Outer white circles on bomb tally roundels show day operations, while orange outer circles designate night ops. Another panel, Veni, Vedi, Veci, on a Halifax of 426 Sqdn., features a girl drum major and a V for Victory. It is thought that the girl was based on a comic strip character who appeared with the fictitious Canadian band leader Drummy Young. The 'V for Victory' reflected the EQ-V call letters of the Halifax. The art was first painted on fabric and then, using aircraft dope, applied to the nose of EQ-V. The tally of operations was marked by 17 miniature bombs. EQ-V was also especially noteworthy as the names of the crews were identified by colourful nicknames such as Dirty Old Man, the pilot, Blood and Guts, the wireless operator, Careless Joe, the mid-upper gunner, and so on. All kinds of symbols were used to the mark missions, ranging from mugs and beer to tiny dogs. Crews often tried to blend their need to lighten the mood with humour while at the same time delivering a message to the enemy. A Lancaster, Spook 'n' Droop, exemplified the conflicting emotions by evoking a sense of looming death. Some nose art bordered on the absurd but it was, at least, an abstraction from the fact that the risk of death was a reality for every combat aircraft crew. When people think of nose art, they often think of pin-ups. Images such as women who were scantily-clad or in revealing dresses, Betty Grable-esque movie gals, or female trapeze artists, were in fact the most common designs for nose art. The most popular images were created by artists George Petty and Alberto Vargas. Petty created the pin-up girls, beginning in Esquire magazine's Petty girl, was a big hit with the BCATP crews that trained in Canada and soon became Second World War nose art. Vargas became the king of Esquire from 1942 onward and drew with a similar style. The flying ladies appeared in calendars, magazines, and especially in matchbox covers. Today, one-cent matchbox covers sell for $5 to $10 each. They were familiar figures on the bombers. For example, A Lancaster, Sugar's Blues, of 428 Sqdn., featured a Vargas figure taken from the August, 1944 Vargas calendar. The same design could be used on different aircraft. Crews made changes according to their preferences. A Lancaster, Madam X, also of 428 Sqdn., featured Miss Lace. She was a provocative, kind-spirited, but not very bright brunette, drawn by Milton Caniff whose work appeared in the U.S. Army comic strip Male Call. The second most popular nose art designs were those inspired by Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Starting in 1942, Disney created a team to design emblems for the Allied war effort. It created more than 200 original designs in its first year. While Disney created official insignia, crews inevitably created unofficial designs based on Disney characters, and Bambi appeared on a 424 Sqdn. Halifax. Restrictions in mind, Disney demanded that no government department could use Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, or Donald Duck. Hence, some individual crew makeovers didn't exactly look like Disney designs. 5

6 Even so, considerable nose art was inspired by the most popular characters --- Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. In all, 1,200 unit wartime insignia were created for all branches of the U.S. armed forces by Disney Studios. Walt Disney was always involved in advising his artists, working closely with people like artist and entertainer Roy Williams in designing insignia. At least 1,200 original insignia are in a vault at Disney Studios. It isn't open to the public, so it's difficult to determine which nose art was actually designed by Disney. Today, a signed Disney nose art insignia sells for $300,000 to $400,000. Cats, dogs, wolves, birds, and dragons were popular motifs. Artists felt that animals seemed to embody many feelings, from humour to self-reflection. They would often be portrayed as carrying or decorating bombs. The wolf pack idea appealed to RCAF airmen who imagined themselves as wolves pursuing the enemy or perhaps the British ladies. Willie the Wolf, a comic strip created by an American in 1943, became a huge hit among the airmen and a devious double entendre. The largest original nose art panel at the Canadian War Museum features Willie the Wolf on a Halifax of 432 Sqdn., showing a wolf tearing the clothes from a fleeing blonde. In the 1943 movie, Riding High, starring Dorothy Lamour, the song Willie the Wolf of the West, was sung by Johnny Mercer. The tune inspired Willie the Wolf from the West nose art on Halifax of 426 Sqdn., also displayed at the Canadian War Museum. It was apparent that aircraft seemed to take on a personality of their own --- or even more than one personality --- as defined by their nose art. In many ways, Caitlin said, nose art became more than just an excuse to paint pretty ladies and fly them around. After reviewing many different examples of nose art, Caitlin concluded that it was valuable in terms of camaraderie, the promotion of crew bonding, forging a connection between man and machine, and the practicality of distinguishing marks by identification. All of these factors, she suggested, can be summed up in one word: morale. Caitlin strongly feels that nose art is one way we can gain insight into the value of morale for crews whose chances of returning home were only 50/50. While the art was ephemeral and temporary, it really meant something to the crews and airmen. In the words of Flying Officer Jack McIntosh of 419 Moose Sqdn., who named his Halifax Medicine Hat in honour of his hometown, the name and nose art made it feel she was 'our' aircraft and would always bring us home. In a final observation, Caitlin noted that nose art is still an informal practice in the RCAF. Warrant Officer Ed Story, a war diarist with the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Headquarters, recently wrote two articles on contemporary nose art on CH-147D Chinook helicopters flown in Afghanistan. One article, published by Canadian Military History, Vol. 21, Number 2, (summer 2012), was illustrated with six photos. Caitlin's presentation was lively, well-documented and certainly well-timed. Everyone in the audience enjoyed learning more about this colourful subject and looking forward to hearing more about the continuing role of nose art in today's air force. In appreciation of Caitlin's presentation, Programs Co-ordinator Bob Winson presented our speaker with a gift on behalf of the Chapter members, directors and guests. *** Note to members: th Remember that the December 8 Meeting is also our Annual Xmas Gift Exchange. Those members wishing to participate should bring a wrapped gift with a value not exceeding $ To all members the Chapter extends the warmest wishes for the holiday season! 6

7 Chapter Members Commemorating Remembrance Day Photo Credit - Neil McGavock 7

8 The Snowbirds flying the Speedbird formation on Sept. 1 at the CNE Air Show Photo Credit - Gord McNulty President: Dr. George Topple st 1 Vice-President, Membership Secretary: Sheldon Benner nd 2 Vice-President, Secretary, & Archivist, Historian: Neil McGavock Directors: President: Nassy Fesharaki Richard Goette Scott Maclagan george.topple@gmail.com Programs / Meetings Information: (416) rwinson@sympatico.ca Websites: CAHS Toronto Chapter Executive Contacts Flypast Reporter: Flypast Editor-in-Chief: Volunteers: Gord McNulty Matt Clark Ken Churm - Liaison Bill Killough - A-V Services Bob Winson - Programs Mailing Address: Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Toronto Chapter 65 Sussex Avenue Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J8 8