100thBG Nose Art jacket !

This one is from a B-17 F 364th SQ of the 100th BG…..Its a wonderful Eastman A-2 from a private collection….great art work !

BlueNoser352!

A-2 Jacket “Dialbolical Angel”

More images of this vintage A-2 Nose Art Jacket from Diabolical Angel !

Comparison photo of A-2 Diabolical Angel !!!!

Here is a better side by side comparison photograph of both men in the crew of The Diabolical Angel. Stunning art work and painting of these classic Eighth Air Force jackets. Considering the material and supplies they had to work with on each station, its remarkable to see the craft of this artist who worked on these jacket ! I spent about 3 months tracking down the men in this crew and enjoyed their helping me in trying to locate one if not both of these jackets. Will post another photograph of a different crew member who gave his jacket to his son and it survived the war!

BlueNoser352!

Let’s see if this work……!!!! Diabolical Angel Part II!

Lets see if this scan works on the original nose art of 612 SQ – 401st BG B-17 “Diabolical Angel”…and a modern day tribute found on an A-2 to this Flying Fortress!

BlueNoser352!

My A-2 “Mary Alice ” 401stBG Jacket!

I think the was taken around 1992, this is my A-2 Jacket I had done in tribute to Dan Knight the original pilot of the “Mary Alice”. Great concept by Dan Knight and many of you have seen him looking at his battle damaged B-17 in Roger Freeman’s fine book “B-17 at War” while wearing his A-2.

Thanks!
BlueNoser352

Top of the day to you Last Lighting, great question and from all the guys in the Eighth I have spoken to over the years . Most times the senior officer in command, the pilot got to name his aircraft in general. Also have really never read about any hard or fast rules when it came to putting personal drawings , nose art on your uniform. Which was GI ( Government issue ). Of course today this is not allowed to any great extent. Most guys painted their own or had anyone in the bomb or fighter group who had artistic ability paint it for them for a few bucks ! I know in the 352 FG, pilots did repaint their planes. For example…Major Preddys famed “CRIPES A’ MIGHTY 3RD was assigned to another pilot in the group after he completed his first tour with the group and went home to the states for a few weeks. This P-51 in which he scored his 6 kills on Aug 6th 1944 , was repainted and renamed and shot down while attacking a Luftwaffe airfield. I am sure this happened in other groups..for both bombers and fighters! Great question ! Of course Chuck Yeager..another P51 ace in a day member !

Thanks !
BlueNoser352!

401st BG pilot Dan Knight’s “Mary Alice”

Of course many of you know this jacket that belonged to 401st BG pilot Dan Knight ,who flew “The Mary Alice” and named the plane after his mother. I have a jacket just like this in my collection and visited Dan at his home to look at his original jacket. Nice to see he has placed the A-2 there at Duxford for all to enjoy. One of his gunners downed an Me-410…can’t get any better than this real McCoy!!!!

Enjoy!
BlueNoser352