Nice collection of A-2 Jackets !!

Thanks Ron, is this B-17 crew from the 100thBG?, great looking art work on the back. I am sure that those who did paint jackets and aircraft did not have access to quality paints and supplies back in 43-44 & 45. In a story about 91st Bomb Group Tony Starcer, who painted so many of the famous B-17 nose art at Bassingbourn, said he only had house paint and few colors for his work. Somebody in the 401st was a great artists and I have tried to find out who it was but no veteran in the group can think of a name. Thanks for posting that jacket art…very nice !

BlueNoser352!

Nose Art Book Reference list !

If anyone is looking for reference books for their library on A-2 Jackets and nose art, here is a few that are outstanding.

1.” American Flight Jackets, Airmen & Aircraft” by Jon A Maguire & John P. Conway. Schiffer publishing, ISBN 0-887-40-511-8 247 pages loaded with B&W and Color photos of flight jackets from WWI to Desert Storm. Outstanding work and full of great A-2 jackets from Eighth flyers.

2. ” Talisman ” by John M & Donna Campbell Schiffer publishing ISBN 0-88740-414-6 250 pages of color photos of nose art and some flight jackets

3. ” Hell Bent For Leather” by Derek Nelson & Dave Parsons Motor Books
ISBN 0-87938-438-7 Great 160 page book on the history of leather jackets in aviation from the early days until now. Nice collection of photographs and historical text.

4. “Vintage Aircraft Nose Art, Ready for Duty”, by Gary M. Valant Nice big
200 page coffee table book, has over 1000 photographs, 118 color ones.
Nice photos of A-2 jackets from the 401st BG B-17 group in here as well.
Motorbooks Publishing ISBN 0-87938-266-X

5. “COWBOYS OF THE SKY” by Gilles & Jeff Clayman very colorful book full of
nice color photos of A-2’s, Motorbooks Publishing. From the folks at AVIREX.
ISBN 0-87938-354-2

6. “WAR PAINT” Fighter Nose art from WWII to Korea, Nice coffee table book full of great photographs on nose art , P-51’s, P-38’s, P-47’s, US Navy carrier aircraft, F-86’s in Korea. Another John M. Campbell & Donna Campbell work from Motorbooks International..205 pages loaded with nose art ! ISBN number
0-87938-451-4

7. “Art of The Flight Jacket” by Jon A. Maguire & John P. Conway ,outstanding reference work here…175 pages full of color shots of A-2′ B-3’s from WWII & Korea. These two authors have done a fantastic job of finding so many vintage photographs here. Schiffer Publishing !

Those are just a few out there…the great British aviation historian Roger Freeman has several out as well on nose art of the Eighth & Ninth airforces.
The late writer & flyer Jeffrey L. Ethell has many works in print on nose are , with many in color. Feel free to add or update any more works out there and of course..your photographs as well.

Thanks !
BlueNoser352 !

Ron:

WOW….is that an original….great nose art ? Think that says “Fletchers Castoria”?
I did a search on http://www.abebooks.com for “Flying Cowboys” and nothing came up!!!!
Found one title with that name on amazon and sent you and email, not sure this is about A-2’s. Great looking jacket, they had some great originals in the tower museum at Thorpe Abbotts, but someone told me that had a break in and many were taken. Is that true? Very sad it that did happen…something terrible is going to happen to them if they did! Wouldn’t you like to have Robert Rosenthal’s A-2? Now I did a search in my collection and found a book called “COWBOYS OF THE SKY” by Giles Lhote & Jeff Clyman, published by Motorbooks ISBN 0-87938-354-2. Jeff Clyman owes a store that sells aviation jackets,books,etc called Avirex in NYC or at least they had a store there at one time. Use to publish a great catalog called “The Cockpit”. Thanks for posting that A-2….yours I guess !

BlueNoser352

Steve:

Much thanks for note & info on the HE-111 at Duxford, hope the fine folks at OMFC can restore this Spanish built HE-111 to flying status. Saw the one based here in the states several times as it made the airshow circuit. Of course a very sad tale of its fate and that of the crew. It made two stops in the last several years here in the state of South Carolina where I live, nice to hear those two Merlins going at the same time. Thought that was the shape of a HE-111 sitting way down there all by itself…thanks again Steve!

BlueNoser352!

Ron…Great Looking A-2 In Historical setting !

Eighth Airforce A-2’s !

Ron, great looking A-2 and historical setting….100thBG home to the century bombers…the square D boys! I noted the title of “Flying Cowboys”, will have to find that one. I have tried to acquire any books out there on nose art. While not a collector of actual jackets, I have been getting old photographs from 8th & 9th veterans and make a copy of the actual photograph with a copy negative and have several books filled with A-2 photographs. In the late 80’s and early 90’s I use to attend the annual Georgia state chapter of the Eighth Historical Society and about 10 to 15 of the men still had their actual A-2’s and many wore them to the meetings. Saw some great individual art work and took many photographs that way. The 401st at Deenethrope had some of the best nose art on their A-2’s I have ever seen. Of course my favorite is “Diabolical Angel” a B-17 with the 401st. I tracked down all living members of the that crew and found one waist gunner who still had photographs of his jacket , crew and plane. Sadly like many returning veterans they wore their A-2’s to work since many came back and went off to university or joined the general work force and just didn’t have a large clothing collection to wear. I have heard so many stories of jackets being wore out and thrown away, or found at some salvation army store in horrible shape. Today these original jackets are worth a fortune and I don’t like what has happened in this situation. I would hope that many veterans if they still had thier original jackets who doniate them to a museum, like the Eighth Airforce Heritage Museum in Georgia. Where you can see so many real original jackets, its here everyone can look and enjoy them. I think its great that Dan Knight of the 401st who flew “Mary-Alice” named after his mother…doniated his original great looking A-2 “Mary-Alice” to the American Air Museum at Duxford and its their for all to see. I went to see Mr Knight at his home in Flordia in the early 90’s and took many photographs and had my new A-2 painted like his . Sometime you will see them on Ebay and of course they want a kings hoard of gold for the jacket. Now if I could fit into an Eastman A-2 that would be nice, great A-2’s but cost quite a bit. I will post all the books I have on A-2 jacket art next time , will have to locate a copy of “Flying Cowboys”. Thanks for posting the photograph ! I will do the same !

BlueNoser352!

In looking at those truly amazing photographs from Mark Brotherton of old airfields of The Mighty Eighth, I came across those from the 401st Triangle S group at Deenethrope. Sorry to read that the owner had the control tower torn down, not sure why this was done, perhaps it was a dangerous condition that resulted in this action.
I visited there around 1996 and could still read “flying control” on the outside on the building. This group has some if not the best “Nose Art” on their A-2 Jackets and aircraft. At the time I visited , they were operating sail planes from the field. I love the photos you see of one jacket called “Diabolical Angel” I found most of the members of the crew and located one of the waist gunners who had this jacket. It had it painted for $5.00 dollars on the base in 1944. Sadly he gave the jacket to his younger brother who wore it into the Navy in Korea and has not seen it since. If you ever get the chance when on holiday in the States, you need to visit The Mighty Eighth Historical Society Museum in Savannah, Georgia. Here you’ll find many original A-2 flying jackets on display. This museum is well worth a visit, full of displays and all sorts of items from the Eighth. Nice to see a few at Duxford in the American Museum and there were some nice A-2’s on display at 100th BG museum. Sorry to read that the control tower was torn down at Deenathrope! Here is a link to the 8th msueum in Georgia.
http://www.mightyeighth.org/

Thanks!
BlueNoser352!