Thursday, August 22, 2013

Disney and the War



Amy over at Old Fashioned Girl, is doing a neat Disney Tag, and she tagged me. Unfortunately, I have three tags already, which are spinning their wheels, waiting for me to get a fire lit under me and do them, and I am already feeling a trifle guilty about them, so I am not actually going to do the Disney Tag, as she set it up. However, it seems rather rotten to let it go by completely unnoticed, so I am going to share a bit of trivia instead.

During WWII, Walt Disney and Company designed military insignia for Allied Troops. They designed over 1200 different insignia, which would end up featuring nearly every one of their cartoon characters. The designs were immensely popular,and were often adapted for 'nose art' on planes and military vehicles. Two of their best known designs were for the Flying Tigers - the American Volunteer Group who fought with the Chinese against Japan: 



Eagle Squadron - a group of American pilots who flew with the RAF:


Eagle_Squadrons.jpg
picture from usmilitaryforum.com

The designs were quite diverse and humourous. They could be quite clever and sometimes rather whimsical:

6605 USAF Hospital Emblem
Picture from Air Force Historical Research Agency






Donald Duck was a particular favourite with the troops:


USS Reliable cb
Picture from USNI News


World War II Military Insignia.
Picture from The Comic Journal


Picture from @ issue


There is apparently a whole book on the subject, Disney Dons Dogtags, which is, unfortunately, out of print, and rather dear to own. There are a couple websites which tell a bit more about it here and here; and this blog has lots of pictures, so you should look at it too. 


9 comments:

Treskie said...

THAT IS SO FREAKING COOL!!!!!!!!!! HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS????(here insert an Olan Rogers scream)

Mahri said...

Aye, verra cool indeed. I discovered it by sheerest accident, whilst browsing about for something else entirely. I got particularly excited about the Eagle Squadron one :-)

Katrina said...

That is really cool! I love the Donald Duck pictures. He looks so... grumpy. LOL

Amy said...

Holy cow! I LOVE THIS! That is just possibly the coolest thing I've read in ages. The Donald Duck ones were genius. And the red cross Mickey? Love him! :) This post totally counts and you are in the drawing for the giveaway. *Nods*

Mahri said...

I know. I love them. I think they must really have provided the young fellows over there with a laugh and a boost of morale. You really should do an image search for them, there are so many, and they are all so much fun.

Jack said...

That is sooo cool! I never knew that! I am still surprised at how many...non war related things ended up in the wars, like everyone was doing everything they could to help the soldiers.

In reply to your comment.
You're welcome for reminding you to watch Grimm *evilish grin* It is one of my goals in life to get everyone to watch it.
Aye, Julette is actually becoming rather sweet and cool. She no longer...she's not real bad in the beginning of the show, but later on she refuses to trust Nick and gets very annoying. Now she is getting SO much better.

Ranger's Apprentice are really fun books. As you said, the writing is not the best in the world, I have to shut my editor in the closet when I read them, but the fact that they are just fun adventures makes up for it. There aren't enough books in the world like that.
Did you hear?! There is to be one more, the real final one. I am so gleeful I am having trouble containing it. I plan to rush out and snatch up a copy as soon as it is out.

Jack said...

World building is a lot of fun, I never realized how much till I started The Broken Blade. It is as much fun as the actual writing, so I can see why you would spend so much time on it for your book 8-D
Do you plan to do anything with your book someday, or are you just writing it for fun?

Jack said...

Oh yes, I feel your pain with trying to find books worth reading. It is never easy, which is one reason I stalk book blogs. I find good titles there sometimes, though other times I go away disappointed. Hopefully you can find something good soon. It is depressing, going for long, without a good book.

Isabella DeLallo said...

I tagged you!

http://isabelladelallo.blogspot.com/2013/09/here-i-am-im-alive.html#comment-form

I'll comment again when I have more time