and maybe you've seen the above before, hell, I've probably posted it already. But here is what effing kills me... there is a couple more painted guys on this plane that no one ever shows!
TIL NOW! Rowen made this scale model and this is the 1st I've ever seen the whole plane, to learn there were 3 more characters on the rest of the plane
http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=48014
So I looked up Jack Kellogg, and scored these, as Life Magazine photographer JR Eyerman was out to Tarawa and saved the wall art for posterity
is that an operating table, and ether used to keep the patient knocked out?
https://www.google.com/search?q=source:life&tbm=isch&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=isch&q=source:life+March+1944+J.+R.+Eyerman&imgrc=_
http://segui-riveted.blogspot.com/2012/11/98th-seabees-in-tarawa-missing-link.html
and Jack was the artist for the Sea Bees' "yearbook" and there is one on Amazon. Ebay doesn't have any copies. ABE books lists the same one as Amazon, from the same bookseller, for $50
but you can look at a lot of them on http://tarawatheaftermath.com/PhotosFoxholeA.html
Above the O Club, and below, an obviously experienced signpainter (just before they diversified and became pinstripers too)
http://www.formerdays.com/2012/04/south-pacific.html#more
And he seems to have been the artist in residence for the Seabees newspaper of the 98th, called 98th C.B.'s Seabreeze, and he did the cartoon page, called... The Ink Squirts. Now we know how the bomber got it's name and characters.
but there is only one online source for that and it's a sign up registration nonsense site
and one thing that is clear, the "Ink Squirts" was his comic strip's title
this is page 159
The 41st Bombardment Group was a B-25 bomber unit in the Seventh Air Force, consisting of the
47th, 48th, 396th, and 820th Bombardment Squadrons that took part in the fighting in the Marshall Islands, Tinian and Guam in 1943-44 and the air campaign over Japan in 1945. The group was activated in January 1941 and trained with the B-18 and A-29. It converted to the B-25 in 1942 and used that aircraft to fly patrols off the US west coast in 1942-43. The group was allocated to the forces being gathered for the invasion of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic), and in October 1943 it moved to Hawaii to join the Seventh Air Force. In the event the group wasn't involved in the fighting on Tarawa, but it was one of the first AAF groups to move onto the newly conquered island. Two of its squadrons moved to Tarawa on 15 December, although their airfield wasn't really ready for another week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41st_Bombardment_Group
The 41st moved from Hawaii and on 17 December arrived at Tarawa. Before the Group could mount its own offensive however, the rubble caused by the recent fighting had to be cleared away and the airstrips repaired. The uncomfortable climate, the temporary delay, and an outbreak of dengus and dysentery combined to make life miserable for the men of the 41st. Frequent Japanese nuisance raids added to the sense of helpless frustration. On 28 December, the 820th Squadron launched the Group's combat mission with an attack on the new enemy air facilities at Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. During the month of January 1944 the Group conducted 215 sorties against the Japanese positions in the Marshalls. Maloelap, Wotje, Mili, and Jaluit became familiar to the crews of the B-25s. Those islands contained air facilities from which the Japanese might interfere with the scheduled invasions of Kwajalein and Eniwetok set for February 1944. In low-level attacks, the medium bombers of the 41st effectively raked Japanese installations and shipping. The raids however, were made at a high cost for the unit. Enemy opposition, particularly over Maloelap, was stiff, and at times as many as 50 enemy fighters rose to challenge the Group's formations. Between 28 December and 12 February the Group lost 17 B-25s.
On 19 February the group switched to medium altitude attacks, and the losses dropped. Losses also dropped after the group's 47th Bombardment Squadron took part in a very effective attack on Maloelap that ended the threat from Japanese fighter aircraft. From February 1944 the group began a series of attacks on shipping in the Caroline Islands, although Maloelap and Jaluit remained important targets. In April 1944 the group moved to Makin, and a standard mission would see its aircraft attack one of those two islands, landing at the new Navy airfield at Majuro, refuel and rearm and then bomb the other island on the way home. The group's level of activity rose from 175 sorties in February to 605 in March and 875 in April. In July 1944 the 48th Squadron moved to a temporary forward base on Saipan, and began a series of low level ground support attacks on Japanese positions on Tinian and Guam. Tinian was the target of sixty nine sorties during the last five days of July, while Guam saw ninety-one sorties from 3-8 August. The squadron then returned to Makin and rejoined the campaign against bypassed Japanese bases in the Marshalls. The group's main targets in this period were Nauru and Ponape. In October 1944 the group moved back to Hawaii, partly to get new B-25s and partly to train with rockets. This kept it out of action until May-June 1945 when the group moved to Okinawa. From June until August 1945 the group used its new aircraft to attack airfields, railways and harbours in Kyushi and airfields in China.
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