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Bombs on jackets.. colours?
- Thread starter Tim P
- Start date
TankBuster
Active Member
There wasn't any reason to the color of the bombs. Yellow, and white seemed to be the most used colors for some reason. Maybe they were just the easiest to get their hands on. Normally credited recalls were just shown as bombs as well.
One pretty cool thing I've seen on a few jackets, is the parachute painted above a bomb for a bail out.
One pretty cool thing I've seen on a few jackets, is the parachute painted above a bomb for a bail out.
better duck
Well-Known Member
I'm having my ELC Star "Knee-ding a lift home" painted with a yellow mission / bombtally on the right chestarea. When researching, as far as I could see white and yellow were both used, with white maybe being the majority.
I'm having a parachute symbol painted over the 17th mission, the story being, that the flyer had to bail out over England coming home from Germany in a battledamaged plane.
I think once a mission was credited, even if it was a late abort, the crewmen were allowed to count it as a mission. If memory serves me right, a mission that was aborted without mission credit was called a "Noball".
I'm having a parachute symbol painted over the 17th mission, the story being, that the flyer had to bail out over England coming home from Germany in a battledamaged plane.
I think once a mission was credited, even if it was a late abort, the crewmen were allowed to count it as a mission. If memory serves me right, a mission that was aborted without mission credit was called a "Noball".
TankBuster
Active Member
Chris is right, the names in the bombs or above/below them was a fairly common practice as well, like Chris, I always thought that was very cool.
TankBuster said:
My thoughts too, the props had yellow the lettering was often in white and I cann't inmagine them going out and buying
a nice paint kit off the base. I think yellow, white, black and red were the most used, if they could get their hands on
blue they could paint almost everything. (see primary colours)
Abort or recall would be signified by ducks like the ones on this jacket. You can find the pic and the post about it on the
photo section of the forum.
CBI
Well-Known Member
Most jackets were painted using enamel based paint from the maintenance shops as mentioned above so a pretty limited use/choice of colors. The ducks on the jacket in the above photo signify decoy missions. On page 13 of Battle Colors Vol. III - the 9th Air Force by Robert Watkins, there is a chart that lists the many mission symbols and what they mean.
Just as an aside, I avoid bombs and swastikas on my jacket art as it can offend people if the jacket intends to be worn in public-which mine are.. I know this sort of topic has come up before with most folks saying "its my jacket, I will put whatever I want on it" but for me, if someone notices the jacket, I want it to be a positive experience for all and lets face it, most people really don't have a clue so if they see bombs they don't think it through or know they are "missions". I recently purchased some T-shirts from cafepress.com that have WWII squadron insigina on them - very cool. Two are bomb squadrons and the insignias have bombs in/on them. The only comments I received are "it that a bomb? shame on you?" "that cartoon character is holding a bomb, isnt that lovely (with eyeball rolling). To each his own. I am sure bombs will end up on the back of one of my jackets at some point. Yes, the same is true for nudes on the back - love it but .................................
I think a balance can be reached and one can still have a cool jacket. I was at an airshow once and saw a guy get ripped by a mom (with her kids at her side) for his "Murder Inc." A-2.
Just as an aside, I avoid bombs and swastikas on my jacket art as it can offend people if the jacket intends to be worn in public-which mine are.. I know this sort of topic has come up before with most folks saying "its my jacket, I will put whatever I want on it" but for me, if someone notices the jacket, I want it to be a positive experience for all and lets face it, most people really don't have a clue so if they see bombs they don't think it through or know they are "missions". I recently purchased some T-shirts from cafepress.com that have WWII squadron insigina on them - very cool. Two are bomb squadrons and the insignias have bombs in/on them. The only comments I received are "it that a bomb? shame on you?" "that cartoon character is holding a bomb, isnt that lovely (with eyeball rolling). To each his own. I am sure bombs will end up on the back of one of my jackets at some point. Yes, the same is true for nudes on the back - love it but .................................
I think a balance can be reached and one can still have a cool jacket. I was at an airshow once and saw a guy get ripped by a mom (with her kids at her side) for his "Murder Inc." A-2.
442RCT
New Member
Planes, Dames, and Names
I sorta agree with you, in the Republic of California where I reside, all references to bombs and almost nekkid wimmens, is as they say politically incorrect, (this from a state where they make 1000s of movies chock full of gunfights and nekkid wimmens.) When I wore my new Jerome jacket, Winn's Warriors, it had a vintage 40's non offending pin-up girl, 30 bombs and a swastika over the silhouette of an airplane.
I was pleased when a group of ladies showed interest in the artwork on the back of my jacket, they asked about the significance of the bombs. While explaining what the bombs represented, I also told them what the swastika over the airplane meant. They were totally awed by the sheer artistry of the work and the level of detail in the B-17. They thought the girl was 'cute' in a wholesome way.
Some of my other jackets...hummm, the girls in them weren't so...ah, wholesome, but ya know what, I'm gonna keep collecting them. Planes, Dames and Names
I sorta agree with you, in the Republic of California where I reside, all references to bombs and almost nekkid wimmens, is as they say politically incorrect, (this from a state where they make 1000s of movies chock full of gunfights and nekkid wimmens.) When I wore my new Jerome jacket, Winn's Warriors, it had a vintage 40's non offending pin-up girl, 30 bombs and a swastika over the silhouette of an airplane.
I was pleased when a group of ladies showed interest in the artwork on the back of my jacket, they asked about the significance of the bombs. While explaining what the bombs represented, I also told them what the swastika over the airplane meant. They were totally awed by the sheer artistry of the work and the level of detail in the B-17. They thought the girl was 'cute' in a wholesome way.
Some of my other jackets...hummm, the girls in them weren't so...ah, wholesome, but ya know what, I'm gonna keep collecting them. Planes, Dames and Names
