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Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:07 pm
by Chrisg1978
My Grandfather was Joseph Grohman. He was an Aviation Photographer stationed in the Pacific (PNG mostly) during the war. He left his family with over 100+ photo most of which are of bombers and P38's.

I recall him telling me that he was a good friend of the nose art painter and I have dozens of pictures of actual nose art. I actually have a couple photos where the painting is not finished yet and the painter is standing on his ladder working away....

If anyone has any history on some of these planes that would be very interesting.

American Beauty(Bomber)
Patched UP Piece(Bomber)
Hard To Get(Bomber)
The Flying Stud(Bomber)
Geraldine(Bomber)
Frisky(Bomber)(Lt. Young and FRANCES visible by pilot window)
Bourbon Box Car(Bomber, still silver without cammo paint)
Pleasure Bent
Sky Witch
The Powers Girl(Sweet Sue painted above the lower window below nose turret)
The Wango Wango Bird(Bomber)
Sky Vagabond(Bomber)
Queen Mae(Bomber)
Jini(Bomber)
Miss Jolly Roger(Bomber)
Mexican Spitfire(Bomber)
The Wolf Pack(Bomber)
Cookie(lots of bomb runs painted on her, seen action by the time photo was taken)
Maid In The USA(Bomber)
Star Duster(Multiple Bomb runs painted on her by time photo was taken)
Target For Tonight(Multiple runs on her by time photo was taken)
Saint Louis Blues(Painted and signed by "Merkling)
Road to Tokyo(Bomber)
Ho Hum(Bomber)
Two Bob Tillie(Bomber)


Hope someone knows something about these birds that they can share with my family.

Thank you,

Chris

Names of Planes

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:26 pm
by Susan E. Wolfe
I do know that ONE OF THE MAIN PLANES MY DAD WAS THE PILOT OF WAS TWO BOB TILLIE> THE ONLY KNOWN PICUTRE OF THE NOSE ART IS HELD BY JASON AND BONNIE DILWORTH OF THE JOLLY ROGERS ASSOCIATION. Bonnie helped me decipher some of the codes of my Dad's flights (Bomber Pilot of B-24 in SWPA) and that was one of the planes he flew!!! Sincerely Susan EWING Wolfe, if you have a complete picture of it, send it to me at ranchlady@hughes.net. I think Bonnie sent me a picture of it over the net, years ago, however I would have to dig through my files. Hope this helps. My father was Captain, retired as a Major, had over 200 flying hours in SWPA, from Iron Range to New Guinea and other stations everywhere in between above and below. He passed away at a very young age of 53. I am still trying to find pieces of his life myself!!!! His daughter!

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:56 pm
by W.J.Swain
If your "Hard To Get" is an A-20 with a Pin up girl on a fence, that's Ed Shook's Mount. 8th Sqdn, 3rd Attack Group, Grim Reapers..

Re: Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:15 am
by Huntr
Chrisg1978 wrote:My Grandfather was Joseph Grohman. He was an Aviation Photographer stationed in the Pacific (PNG mostly) during the war. He left his family with over 100+ photo most of which are of bombers and P38's.

I recall him telling me that he was a good friend of the nose art painter and I have dozens of pictures of actual nose art. I actually have a couple photos where the painting is not finished yet and the painter is standing on his ladder working away....

If anyone has any history on some of these planes that would be very interesting.

...
Frisky(Bomber)(Lt. Young and FRANCES visible by pilot window)
...

Hope someone knows something about these birds that they can share with my family.

Thank you,

Chris
If your FRISKY art is a horse, my wife's grandfather was a copliot on it.

Re: Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:42 am
by Chrisg1978
folks if any of you who posted want these pictures in an electronic format please email me at c_grohman@hotmail.com

To answer your questions:

two bob tillies nose art photo istwo bob tillie's nose art is right in front of me. she is a well endowed naked blonde.

Frisky's nose art is a horse. I can make out Lt. Young and 'Frances' just under the pilot's window. The photo must have been take well into the plane's service as I am counting over 35 bomb markings on the side and 6 hearts. I'be interested in knowing what the hearts mean.

Re: Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:21 pm
by Steve Birdsall
From your list and your comments it sounds like your grandfather's "good friend" was Al G. Merkling of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron.

Image

Re: Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 2:23 pm
by Jrbear
Hi, I know it's an aging post, but was wondering if someone still had a photo of the "Target For Tonight (Multiple runs on her by time photo was taken) " listed here. I've seen a few different versions so it might not be the one I was looking for. Thanks for your help.

Re: Nose Art Photos...Curious about their history

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 8:54 am
by RSwank
There seems to be 4 versions of Target for Tonight (or Tonite) here, the first two are 5th AF planes. You have probably seen them, but perhaps some have not.

http://www.b24bestweb.com/Pics-T-TAR-TD.htm