Sweet Dreams Nose Art: Difference between revisions
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I | I made a request for images to the US Militaria Forum. Shortly afterward I received a message from Mr. John Conway who wanted some help in identifying a section of nose art that he had in his collection. In his case, it wasn't a picture, but an actual section of fuselage. | ||
According to Mr. Conway, he acquired the piece from a lady in Massachusetts. It had belonged to her father, who had recently passed away, and it was among his possessions in the barn. The lady had never seen it before and knew nothing about it. | |||
Mr. Conway explained that he had spoken with someone several years before who thought it might have come off of an Invader. He sent me this picture of "Sweet Dreams", asking if I could help. | |||
[[File:SWEET_DREAMS_NOSE_ART.jpg|500 px]] | [[File:SWEET_DREAMS_NOSE_ART.jpg|500 px]] | ||
Upon seeing the image a few things were immediately clear. First was that this most likely was not a fake plane panel. Many people sell "nose art panels" that they allege are from bombers or fighters but are really not from any plane at all. This piece, in addition to having actual wear, bore actual rivet holes down the left side, and features a distinctive curve. Plus, the fake pieces usually have the entirety of the image captured, whereas this one is missing part of it. Based on this, it's either a very convincing fake, or its authentic. I operated on the assumption that it was authentic. | |||
The second thing that was immediately obvious, assuming a genuine piece, was that it definitely was not from an Invader. Here is a picture of an Invader below. | |||
[[File:MaggiesDrawers.jpg|500 px]] | [[File:MaggiesDrawers.jpg|500 px]] | ||
On the Invader nose art is usually applied on the actual nose, which is not very big and has a high curvature. This piece is too flat. Also, the Invader has a tell-tale trapezoidal panel on the nose which this piece lacks. There are a very small number of Invaders, like [[Beautiful Katey]], where the art is applied higher up on the fuselage. But in this cases the fuselage panels on an invader run horizontally whereas the panels on this piece run vertically, so it's not a match. | |||
The size and shape reminded me of the angles of the Martin Marauder. | |||
[[File:MarauderRuthless.jpg|500 px]] | [[File:MarauderRuthless.jpg|500 px]] | ||
I wanted to double check and do my due diligence, so I took note of the size and shape of the panel lines on the Sweet Dreams piece. | |||
[[File:SweetDreamsPanelLines.jpg|500 px]] | |||
I know that the curvature for this piece is entirely too large to be from a fighter, so that left a bomber. I checked the B-17, B-24, B-25, and B-29, but none of those matched. But I did find a plane that does match, the B-26 Marauder, as I suspected. It's not the actual nose, but if you look at the panel lines I've highlighted in red, just under the cockpit, they seem to match the piece that Mr. Conway has. | |||
[[File:RuthlessHighlight.jpg|500 px]] | [[File:RuthlessHighlight.jpg|500 px]] | ||
This leaves little doubt in my mind that we are looking for a Martin Marauder. So that's part of the question answered. | |||
Revision as of 17:09, 21 February 2019
I made a request for images to the US Militaria Forum. Shortly afterward I received a message from Mr. John Conway who wanted some help in identifying a section of nose art that he had in his collection. In his case, it wasn't a picture, but an actual section of fuselage.
According to Mr. Conway, he acquired the piece from a lady in Massachusetts. It had belonged to her father, who had recently passed away, and it was among his possessions in the barn. The lady had never seen it before and knew nothing about it.
Mr. Conway explained that he had spoken with someone several years before who thought it might have come off of an Invader. He sent me this picture of "Sweet Dreams", asking if I could help.
Upon seeing the image a few things were immediately clear. First was that this most likely was not a fake plane panel. Many people sell "nose art panels" that they allege are from bombers or fighters but are really not from any plane at all. This piece, in addition to having actual wear, bore actual rivet holes down the left side, and features a distinctive curve. Plus, the fake pieces usually have the entirety of the image captured, whereas this one is missing part of it. Based on this, it's either a very convincing fake, or its authentic. I operated on the assumption that it was authentic.
The second thing that was immediately obvious, assuming a genuine piece, was that it definitely was not from an Invader. Here is a picture of an Invader below.
On the Invader nose art is usually applied on the actual nose, which is not very big and has a high curvature. This piece is too flat. Also, the Invader has a tell-tale trapezoidal panel on the nose which this piece lacks. There are a very small number of Invaders, like Beautiful Katey, where the art is applied higher up on the fuselage. But in this cases the fuselage panels on an invader run horizontally whereas the panels on this piece run vertically, so it's not a match.
The size and shape reminded me of the angles of the Martin Marauder.
I wanted to double check and do my due diligence, so I took note of the size and shape of the panel lines on the Sweet Dreams piece.
I know that the curvature for this piece is entirely too large to be from a fighter, so that left a bomber. I checked the B-17, B-24, B-25, and B-29, but none of those matched. But I did find a plane that does match, the B-26 Marauder, as I suspected. It's not the actual nose, but if you look at the panel lines I've highlighted in red, just under the cockpit, they seem to match the piece that Mr. Conway has.
This leaves little doubt in my mind that we are looking for a Martin Marauder. So that's part of the question answered.