Throwback: Ginger Punching Hitler in WW2!
Today’s Throwback Thursday: Ginger Meggs punching Nazis!
From the Australian War Memorial: LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND. 1943-09-08. "K" FOR KATIE, A LANCASTER AIRCRAFT OF A FAMOUS NO. 460 SQUADRON RAAF OF BOMBER COMMAND, BASED AT RAF STATION BINBROOK, WHICH BEARS AN EMBLEM "GINGER MEGGS", WELL-KNOWN CHARACTER OF AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIP PAGE. DEPICTED ALSO ARE THE TWENTY-ONE OPERATIONAL TRIPS, BOMBS REPRESENTING RAIDS OVER ENEMY TERRITORY, ICE CREAM CONES THE ITALIAN TARGETS, AND THE PARACHUTE A MINE-LAYING EXPEDITION.
Ginger has been featured on the nose and sides of many-a-plane in the war. He was a sign of good luck, Aussie battlers and the larrikin spirit.
1/48 DAP Beaufighter 21 A8-159
From Peter (OzHawk40) on the above tail art:
To start with, he (Stan, pictured above) had a good photo of the tail art of A8-159. He told me that the cartoon of Ginger Meggs was inspired by Nancy's younger brother Bill, a red head that Stan had taken to calling "Ginger Meggs" while dating Nancy. He related a few stories of how Ginger (Bill) would interfere in their dates, trying to protect his older sister!
Ginger Meggs cartoons were and still are a popular comic strip cartoon that originated in Australia before the war and is still being produced. Stan said that his aircraft was the first to get tail art and this was due to seeing US aircraft with this sort of adornment. He recollects that once others in the squadron saw "Ginger Meggs", the rest followed with their own. The tail art was painted by one of the ground crew, but unfortunately, he cannot remember his name. He asked for the painter to paint Ginger Meggs on the tail, and a little afterwards the painter suggested that it should also have a rocket underneath, so that was done. It was also suggested that the rocket should be shown with a little smoke for effect, and you can see this emanating from the front, so this was done. It kind of looks like a hand, and the decal has this coloured green, but maybe this was not the case. Probably white and gray. The style was all down to the painter, and Stan doesn't know why the smoke is coming from the front and not the back!
Stan also said that A8-159 was the best aircraft in the squadron, and was renowned for being the fastest of the bunch.
Here is the Detail of Operations for the Squadron. A8-159 is 6th from the top.
