Don the Beachbomber?

Here is a cool photo I found of Don the Beachcomber painted on the nose of a WWII B-26 Marauder:

Here is the website:

http://home.online.no/~alfjoha/ww2_b26_noseart_4.htm

That is very, very cool. Rotted off the plane after the war in the Mojave desert I bet. Great nose art.

regarding that don the beachcomber b-26:

this b-26 marauder was part of the 391st Bombardment Group - 573rd Bombardment Squadron, stationed in 26 January 1944 to September 1944, Station No.166, Matching Green, Essex. 42-95850 DON THE BEACHCOMBER T6-R
http://www.markstyling.com/b26_research.12.htm

sadly, hit by flak May 28,1944 igniting the right engine, causing the wing to fall off.
http://home.fuse.net/vaughan/aircraft.htm

3632 42-95850 B-26B-50-MA Don the Beachcomber 391st 573rd T6-R 2Lt. Robert G. Goodson

p.s. re-adding the nose art photos:

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2010-11-11 08:52 ]

Raise one high to these rock-stars today... Veteran's Day!
Aloha,
:tiki:

Happy Veteran's day!

That's really cool, thanks for that thread awakening....

Very Cool J$.
Now, where was it shot ? Maybe the remainings are somewhere in my family's village in Normandy ?! Maybe I'll find the nose of the plane someday at a flea market there (we often see rockets, or guns, helmets...)

according to this website, http://merlinsroared.tripod.com/id2.html,

The 391st commenced operations, and stayed until the 1st October, 1944, just nine months. but during this time they flew 6,000 sorties with the loss of 197 men killed, wounded, or missing in action. On D-Day, 6th June 1944 the group flew two missions against enemy gun positions on the invasion coast, with two German fighter aircraft being shot down by the groups gunners .

On the 2nd October 1944, they moved to Roye-Amy, France (A-73).

but this plane had already been damaged by the move to france, although it could have flown over it during d-day.

Since it is Veteran's Day I think that it is important to remember that Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, aka Donn Beach aka Don The Beachcomber not only invented the Tiki Bar and Exotic Rum Cocktails, but that he also served his nation during the Second World War. Don served in the United States Army in World War II as an operator of officer rest-and-recreation centers. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star while setting up rest camps for combat-weary airman of the 12th and 15th Air Forces in Capri, Nice, Cannes, the French Riviera, Venice, the Lido and Sorrento. If there's a hero in all of Tikidom that we should all look up to, it's Donn Beach in my book.

J$ - thanks for re-posting those photos. I had forgotten about this old post. That nose-art looks even better to me now that I've studied the old Don The Beachcomber artwork a little more over the years.

thanks for the kind words sabuuuu. i was sad to see that this photo had disappeared, but then glad to find that i had saved it somewhere. seemed appropriate for veterans day to revive it.

Very cool piece of history.

Posting here since its the most recent veterans day posts...

From the auction of ebay user gorban2000

Two incredible posters 20"x14" from 1944. Discovered in the drawer of a desk from a former Polish American Legion Post. These posters are marked: "Air Poster Series prepared for Army Air Forces distribution by Training Aids Division Office of the Assistant Chief of Air Staff Training.

The first warns: "When You Smell Green Corn - It's Phosgene Gas" and the other reads "When You Smell Garlic It's Mustard Gas"