Alcohol-related WWII Nose Art

Matt Poole, great photos. They’ve been paying a lot of attention to alcohol names, and as I know there were a lot of cider specific names as well. Talking of which, what do you usually drink, if we consider about apple cider? After I’ve tried this cider box which was given to me by my relatives, I’ve started drinking Worleys Cider time to time, because it has the best taste among other cider beverages.

And three more…or at least two with a certain alcohol theme, and a third which has a name which is a major U.S. whiskey…but there is no alcoholic content. All pinched from the Internet.

>>Stirling LJ514 of 199 Sqn is seen in the Australian War Memorial photo P01238.001. No painted name, just artwork.

>>A B-17 of the U.S. 305th Bomb Group was named SOUTHERN COMFORT, but I don’t have the serial number. The whiskey Southern Comfort has killed a few more humans than bombs from SOUTHERN COMFORT, I’d guess.

>>An unidentified U.S. B-24 was named OLD TAYLOR.

Excuse me while I sneak off for a pint…of beer, not whiskey.

Matt

Here’s a nice shot of Dry Martini 4th.

Capt. Allen V. Martini, pilot of San Francisco, California, looks up at his Boeing B-17 “Dry Martini 4th, The Cocktail Kids” of the 305th Bomb Group based in England . 20 May 1943.

Here’s one from the 1990s version of the Collings Foundation’s restored/flying B-24 Liberator (a former RAF Lib from late in the war in South East Asia Command). For a stretch of time after the major restoration, this Liberator’s starboard-side nose art included a woman holding a beer, atop a globe with the word SCHLITZ across it. This is a brand of American beer, so I presume there was a sponsorship deal in place.

The bomber now flies as “Witchcraft”, honoring a veteran B-24 which flew a great number of missions.

I recently visited the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Museum annex, where veteran B-26 is slowly being restored, with its original paint and “FLAK BAIT” nose art. One day it will be back in one piece, on display, looking somewhat like “MILD AND BITTER” with it’s heavily-weathered exterior.

That’s great to hear Matt, I haven’t been to the U-H annex in a few years, but hope to make a trip this summer. I’ve been following “FLAK-BAIT” for a while now and the museum has posted some great pictures and stories about the ongoing preservation process. I think it’s the best looking and most interesting B-26 in existence. Glad you got to see it in progress.

Thanks for the info. Are you aware of any photos of the G&J or your dad’s crew?

Sadly, no photos of the a.c.. My grandmother had some snapshots he took at the time, but my aunt threw them out when my grandmother died.

Loved that video, DC Page! What a shape on that B-26. I recently visited the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Museum annex, where a veteran B-26 is slowly being restored, with its original paint and “FLAK BAIT” nose art. One day it will be back in one piece, on display, looking somewhat like “MILD AND BITTER” with it’s heavily-weathered exterior (but not the names & hometowns).

Here is some interesting footage of B-26 “Mild and Bitter” and her crew before, during, and after completing the 100th mission on May 8th, 1944.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVo6G05UgNU

These new additions to the thread are all great! Thanks!

Don’t forget the IX(B) Squadron Lancasters – W4964, WS-J that carried the nose art of the ‘Johnnie Walker’ whiskey company and Lancaster WS-Y, ‘Younger’ with the beer company motif.

The book “RAF & RCAF Aircraft Nose Art in World War II” by Clarence Simonsen has photos of at least seven aircraft with alcohol-related nose art:

BEER BAR BUNNY – KB995, a Lancaster of 408 Sqn

BLOCK BUZZTER – LK765, a Halifax of 432 Sqn. Each op was signified by a beer mug.

BEER IS BEST – HX284, a Halifax of 433 Sqn

GROG’S The SHOT – LM739, a Lancaster of 100 Sqn

ED905, a Lancaster of 550 Sqn. It carried the text “PRESS ON – REGARDLESS”, and in a painted crest there was a beer mug. The crest included the text AD EXTREMUM!

THE TERROR OF AXIS NIGHT LIFE — either HE687 or HE515, both Wellingtons of 424 Sqn. Each op was signified by a wine or champagne glass.

In aircraft lists in the book there are other alcohol-named aircraft, as well.

Cheers,

Matt

My dad was with the 463rd BG, 15th AF, Italy. The Group has a website with crew photos and more, you might find your father there.

Thanks for the info. Are you aware of any photos of the G&J or your dad’s crew?

“Mild & Bitter” first Allied bomber to 100 missions.

She was the first Allied bomber in the European Theater of Operations to complete 100 operational missions. This was accomplished by Mild and Bitter on an afternoon raid on a Nazi airfield at Evreux/Fauville, southwest of Rouen, France, on 9 May 1944. She was a B-26B-25, Serial Number 41-31819, of the 450th Squadron in the 322nd Bomb Group (M) of the 9th Air Force and had flown her first mission on 23 July 1943. She did all this on her original engines, amassing a total of 449 hours and 30 minutes on them, 310 hours and 40 minutes of that in combat! During this time she never aborted due to mechanical failure, and not one of her many crewmen was a casualty. She was taken off operations after her 100th mission and flown back to the States to conduct War Bond selling tours.
Below taken air to air on her 50th mission

And below some close up’s of her nose art after the personnel had signed her before retuning to the US.

:very_drunk:

My father flew in a B17 named “Gin & Juice” out of Sicily. He was the tailgunner. I have heard there was a Gin and Juice flying out of England as well. Which was your dad’s plane?

My dad was with the 463rd BG, 15th AF, Italy. The Group has a website with crew photos and more, you might find your father there.

One more — a Lancaster of 467 Sqn, RAAF, denoted ops with beer mugs. From http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-air-support/ww2-allied/nose_art.htm comes this info:

Lincolnshire, England. 1943-08-31. Emblem on “G” for George, a Lancaster aircraft belonging to No. 467 squadron RAAF of bomber command based at RAF station Waddington. The foaming mugs of beer represent raids over enemy territory, thirty-four being registered here. The kangaroo with a bomb in its pouch was chosen by the captain, 415204 Flight Sergeant H. C. Warren, Somerset, England.

BREWERY WAGON was a U.S. B-24 shot down on the low-level Ploesti, Romania raid of 1 Aug 1943. Along with the wording, there was an alcoholic-themed cartoon for nose art. The following photo was found at http://warbirds.wikia.com/wiki/B-24D_(Brewery_Wagon)_41-24294.

[Added April 1st: a crash photo of BREWERY WAGON, in Romania.]

A B-17 my father flew..though I don’t believe it was his…was named
“Gin & Juice”.

My father flew in a B17 named “Gin & Juice” out of Sicily. He was the tailgunner. I haven’t been able to find any history on his time there, his military records were destroyed in a fire in the US Army archives years ago. I have heard there was a Gin and Juice flying out of England as well. Which was your dad’s plane?

Alcoholic B-26

Quite a few of us must have made an Airfix kit of a B-26 called “Mild and Bitter” many years ago?

Looking thro’ my copy of the B-17 nose art name directory it looks as if there was a B-17 called OXO (601 Sq, 398BG, serial 42-107080) but I wonder weather that refers to the stock cubes or a game of noughts-and-crosses (or tic-tac-toe).

K

VAT69

Here’s a photo for you all. B-17G 42-107054 “VAT 69” with artist Leo Lorenzo who painted the nose art.

This B-17 was flown over to the UK by the Rice crew (600th BS, 398th BG), on the 22nd April 1944, but was then flown out of Nuthampstead to Langford Lodge on the 28th April 1944. It would appear it then resurfaced with the 385th BG, where a typo seems to have been made on microfilm records and it was recorded as 42-107034.

VAT 69 logged 100 missions with the 385th and a distillery in Scotland sent the crew a case of VAT 69 Scotch to mark the event. It survived the war and the 385th BG flew it back to the USA in June 1945.
(history detail from Cliff Bishop’s ‘Fortresses Over Nuthampstead’ and image from the Nuthampstead Airfield Research Society collection)

Russ

OT – Not exactly Alcoholic

Also, on the commercial side of things, how about sponsoring a B-17 with an authentic name and trade name such as Lucky Strike or OXO? Couldn’t see OXO :rolleyes: coming up with sponsorship money but Lucky Strike?

Quite fancy the Southern Comfort one myself – at least 10 B17’s had that name.

Regards

Graham

Hi Chaps,
It wasn’t commercially sponsored but there was a B-17F called Snap! Crackle! Pop! featuring some elves from a certain breakfast cereal…there’s an illustration of it in a Squadron/Signal book.
K