The Squadron Artist by Clarence Simonsen
A poignant and humorous view of WWII from fellow blogger [and my friend], Pierre Lagacé.
Hi Pierre,
Spring is here and I am getting busy. Here is a change of pace story, that proved to be very important in saving RAF and RCAF lives during WWII. The power of cartoons is sometimes forgotten, but their image remains forever in the mind and helped prevent stupid flying accidents. It’s amazing that stunting for a girlfriend, cost a number of pilot lives !
Cheers – Clarence
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The Squadron Artist
There is usually an airman in a Squadron who possesses some measure of cleverness with a brush. It is his job to paint the emblems and mascots of various pilots on the side of their planes. Sometimes the pilot suggests one himself, sometimes the artist suggests one: if he does and it doesn’t prove so lucky he better not be around when the “pilo” gets home. No doubt this strange trade has its opposite number in…
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Posted on May 30, 2015, in WWII and tagged 1940's, Canada, ETO, History, Military History, nose art, USA, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
Thoroughly enjoyed reading that post, informative and entertaining.
The ground crew and others did a remarkable job.
All are to be commended in their own way of service in uniform.
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I usually try to explain the workings of the military as the domino-effect. Every piece is vital to the successful outcome – one piece fails and the chain of operation is broken. Pierre did a great job of putting the work of these men into a very interesting article. Thanks for reading it, Ian. [I see you changed your Gravatar picture.]
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Thanks gp, always enjoy your posts, reminds me of my classroom days when I first joined the Army.
Would like to change my gravatar and title or just close one site down altogether, how about some advice mate.
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Hard to say, Ian. The one is romantic, both the poems and photos and the other is a variety of subjects. It would depend on what you want to share with the rest of the world. Which do you enjoy doing the most? When you think of doing a post, which one do you usually have in mind?
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Damned if I know gp, Emu site was started because my Aussie Ian was closed down many years ago, because one of my pics with my love poems showed a titty, under a microscope, was reinstated and I ended up with two sites, ones all Lovey Dovey and the other just me, damned if Aussie Emu didn’t send Aussie Ian an email Christmas card one year, think it was the grog kicking in as I sent him one back, nice to be remembered at Christmas.
Cheers.
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Ah see, you like them both too much to drop either!! Looks like you’re stuck, buddy!
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Feel like a schizophrenic or a transvestite or a Jekyll and Hyde.
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I just see it as that we all have different sides to our personality. I read posts during the day dealing with math, humor, photography, on and on…. I’d go nuts merely having just one interest.
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Love the humor and the pictures!
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I’m glad you did, Kathy. It’s always a pleasure to see you here. How’s the new place coming along?
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It is coming along. Still not quite unpacked but we are getting there, Everett. Really enjoying the area. Thanks for asking 🙂
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That’s fascinating. I use comics to teach writing skills. I should be using them (and cartoons) to teach history.
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It couldn’t hurt, Jacqui. Humor helps grab a person’s interest and can make a point at the same time.
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Love those ‘nose paintings’, especially on the flying fortresses. They boosted morale, and gave a sense of individuality when flying in huge formations. Perhaps they should bring it back, on modern aircraft?
Best wishes, Pete.
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As I understand it, nose art was not banned by the US military in 1993, but it is restricted to gender-neutral type pictures so they will not be offensive to anyone…. The British did the same in 2007. I think they were great – but nowadays, we all have to watch every word we say and every move we make or we’ll offend somebody!!
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Strange that they worry about nose art being offensive on an aircraft dropping cluster bombs! They need to sort out their priorities GP.
Best wishes, Pete.
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They are concerned with the feelings of females personnel being offended being as most of the pictures were of pin-up girls. I’m merely stating the way things are these days – I didn’t say I liked it.
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I got that GP, no problem. Thanks for telling me about the ban by the way. I had no idea.
Best wishes, Pete.
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They just had to find some humour.
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Of course they did!!
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How can I not click on the Like button?
Thanks for sharing Clarence Simonsen’s work and research.
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You don’t have to click the LIKE button if you don’t like your own handiwork…… ?
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I had nothing to do with this. Just posted his many stories with some formatting for the pictures and some copy editing.
Yes folks there are much much more to read and learn, and you can reblog all you want to share with your readers. All his stories are amazingly well researched…
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