WW2 nose art *caution for younger viewers*

[Chevy454]

Here's my grandfather, in the nose of B-25...you can see parts of a falcon's head, denoting that the plane is from the 498th bs...

[SS427]

"Poontang"

another of those words made famous in the 70's but Ted Nugent.

[Belair62]

Whats really sad is today some cry baby sonofabitch would grab an attorney and there would be no artwork because it would be "offensive to _______" .You can fill in the blanks

[Chevy454]

"Last Horizon" , B-24

Here is a piss poor scan of what looks like an intricate portrait of the San Francisco bay and the Golden Gate bridge...this was a negative, and this is about all I could do with...the "Last Horizon" moniker was probably all too true for a lot of soldiers, though...

[TimG]

Nose art cowls were cut and hung from the air museum in Harlingen, TX for years. When the museum moved to Midland, TX I don't know if the nose art went along. They had dozens of original cowls hanging on the walls of the original museum. Anyone been to Midland to see if they're there?
Thanks for posting, I love it.

[Verne_Frantz]

Rob,
The "Last Horizon" obviously referred to their statement to the enemy, who would not see another horizon after their arrival. Those crews were full of bravado and committment. In my book, they were ALL heros, living or dead, including your grandfather. We here, and many around the world, are free today because of them.
God Bless them all.

Verne

[Jim_Becker68]

That B-25 of your grandfather is I think a model B-25H. They had the bombadier compartment blanked out and had 8-50 cals mounted in the nose. Plus 2-50 cals on pods on each side of the aircraft. These saw extensive service in the Pacific against Japaneese convoys. According to what I read, the forward fire power could nearly cut a Japaneese transport in half. Then after turning the vessel into swiss cheese.....you drop a few 500lb bombs to finish the job.....

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
Plus 2-50 cals on pods on each side of the aircraft.

According to what I read, the forward fire power could nearly cut a Japaneese transport in half.

[/ QUOTE ]
I can't remember off hand what caliber it was (75mm, 90mm, ?) but I remember by grandfather talking about the HUGE single gun they tried in the nose for a while...said when it fired that it had such a recoil that it would feel like it briefly stopped the plane in the air!

Simply old school trial and error stuff, but it's amazing the amount of technology that came about in those few years...just prior to the start of WW2, if I recall, the US military was only the 14th largest in the world!

[Jim_Becker68]

75mm cannon. Crews said that they felt like the plane went backwards when the cannon was fired.

Another weapon against the Japanese supply vessels.

[SS427]

Here is a picture of myself (at 15) and some friends after backpacking approximately 15 miles up a mountain to reach a WWII B-17 that crashed in heavy snow during a training exercise. Interesting items I found were an airmen's leather helmet, a boot and the radio. The airplane missed clearing this mountain by less then 100 feet and the remains scattered over 200 yards with the largest piece we found pictured behind us.
Rick