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Looking for Nose Art

stovall

stovall

Administrator
Staff member
During WWII in the Pacific there was an A-20 Havoc flown out of Floridablanca, Luzon called Mischievous Mary II. Hopefully some of those who did the great work on Milton's A-20 Havoc may have seen the nose are for this aircraft. I am good friends of the 97 year old pilot.

Tom
 
The Squadron and Bomb Group info (and approximate date it was in service) would be helpful in trying to find a photo of it.


stovall said:
During WWII in the Pacific there was an A-20 Havoc flown out of Floridablanca, Luzon called Mischievous Mary II. Hopefully some of those who did the great work on Milton's A-20 Havoc may have seen the nose are for this aircraft. I am good friends of the 97 year old pilot.

Tom
Click to expand...
 
That would be the 312th Bombardier Group serving out of Floridablanca, Luzon. The years were 1944 and 1945. The aircraft is the A-20G Havoc.
 
Kevin, that nose art is the best I have seen yet. The only other one is in Bob's "Roaring 20" unit book. It has the lady half way cut off. I am in the process of making a video for 1st Lt. Robert Dicker of him flying his A-20 Havoc out of Floridablanca for his 97th birthday. RogerWilco66 is in the process of making the airfield. Bob is also known as "An Airplane Junkie Alcohol Buster." One of his raids on Formosa was to destroy and alcohol production plant. Bob said the plant was known for making ammunition.

There is a painting of his C.O. Major Belinske and then 2nd Lt. Robert Dicker bombing the alcohol plant. That is where the name came from. This guy is a treasure trove of information about the 312th BG in the Pacific 1944 and 1945. There were four B-32 Dominators at Floridablanca. I asked Bob today if he ever flew one of the giants. He said and I quote "hell no, it would be like flying an airliner." He also mentioned in referance to the B-32, flying the A-20 was to much fun. He said he loved tearing up things with the 50 cals in the nose. I also asked Bob today if he was ever attacked by a Zero? He said only once but before the Zero could get a beat on him, two Mustangs turned in behind the Zero and he simply disappeared in a ball of fire. Rest in peace.
 
Thanks, I will look there as well. Having the image above could allow me to remake the nose art from scratch as close as possible.
 
Tom,

From the book "Wreaking Havoc: A Year in an A-20" by Joseph W. Rutter I understand that most of (amazing) the nose from 312th BG was done by a talented sergeant for a bottle of whisky or gin. The nose art work was based on the "cartoon characters of sexy female from Esquire magazine". Which were of course drawn by Alberto Vargas.

Cheers,
Huub

I have reconstructed a few in the past. Especially when you are able to find the original Alberto Vargas or George Petty drawing, I found them not too difficult to reconstruct. (Memphis Belle was by George Petty). See below:
I you case I think the biggest challenge in to find the right colours


J2ODf8X.jpg


WaE5Tra.jpg


h8JMfdA.jpg
 
Huub, I was able to get the image off a black and white picture but as you say the coloring is the challenge. I checked Vargas site but couldn't find Mischievous Mary II. Any ideas would be very helpful. I don't know what color the banner is as well as the lettering.

Tom
 
stovall said:
Huub, I was able to get the image off a black and white picture but as you say the coloring is the challenge. I checked Vargas site but couldn't find Mischievous Mary II. Any ideas would be very helpful. I don't know what color the banner is as well as the lettering.

Tom
Click to expand...
You're not likely to succeed searching the name. Vargas will just have the art he did. The name came later after its use on the plane.

Withe the B and W image you can search by image rather than a name....Google has the feature....and also a plugin called 'Tineye' ...;)
 
Hello-
I wonder if the person who wrote that caption was mistaken- it's just that the engine cowling doesn't really resemble one from a Liberator, and I suspect that the engine of a B-24 should be further off the ground than the one in the picture... Of course, I could be whacked as well...:dizzy:

- Mike
 
Jafo said:
You're not likely to succeed searching the name. Vargas will just have the art he did. The name came later after its use on the plane.

Withe the B and W image you can search by image rather than a name....Google has the feature....and also a plugin called 'Tineye' ...;)
Click to expand...

No but perhaps you can just find the original drawing of the pin-up made by Vargas. Cut it and paste it on a background is easier than redrawing the nose art like I'm currently doing :banghead:

I think when you google on Vargas Esquire and/or pin-up, you have the best chance to find it...... AND DON'T DO THE SEARCH WHEN YOUR WIFE IS IN THE ROOM! Or you have something to explain :biggrin-new:

Cheers,
Huub

rINtkQ5.jpg
 
mikezola said:
Hello-
I wonder if the person who wrote that caption was mistaken- it's just that the engine cowling doesn't really resemble one from a Liberator, and I suspect that the engine of a B-24 should be further off the ground than the one in the picture... Of course, I could be whacked as well...:dizzy:

- Mike
Click to expand...
I concur, the engine cowling is wrong, the wing root is too thick (vertically) and both are much higher on a Liberator. Take a look at this photo of a Liberator and you will see the difference....

NASM-NASM-9A08990.jpg

Now compare the above to people standing around an A-20G ..........

869-gpr-66-6-416-4-nov-44-la-france-libre-resized-20-jpg.156982
 
Tom,

Is this usable for you? The colours are of course a guess. I think the girl looks quite nice, I'm less happy with the banners with text.

You are lucky as the sergeant normally asked a bottle of whiskey for the nose art, but I don't drink alcohol....

Cheers,
Huub

s1lifDI.jpg


And version 2

clgZz4k.jpg
 
Huub that is absolutely fantastic. I will print this out and show it to Bob to be sure the colors are right. I will see him again on Monday for coffee. Great job. I am totally impressed. Thank you so much. We had Bob's 97th birthday party today. It was a fantastic event.
 
I'd expect the dress to be a relatively strong colour...blue...red ...obviously 'dark' ...but I haven't search it as yet...;)
 
While looking through my reference material. I found this photo of the A-20G nose art in question. Unfortunately it's in B&W


Mischievous Mary II-3.jpg
 
Thanks Mal998, I have that one as well in Bob's Roaring 20s book. Huub has done an outstanding job of colorizing. I am going to take the colorized image to Bob on Monday to verify the colors. Thanks to all for the help. We had a 97th birthday party for him Friday. I even made the evening news here in Redding, CA.
 
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