1. 489th BS Insignia from B-25 at MAAM, 2. 340th BG Insignia from Q. Kaiser's A2 flight jacket (1944), 3. NASA space shuttle photo of Corsica, 4. 12th Air Force patch, 5. U.S. Army Air Corps Patch .

A Tribute to Bill Mauldin

487th Bomb Squadron Nose Art.

The 487th Bombardment Squadron/ 340th Bombardment Group/ 57th Bomb Wing recognized the genius, sincerity and the average soldier's appreciation of Bill Mauldin's cartoons by adopting his classic "Stars and Stripes" characters, Willie and Joe, for nose art on their B-25J Mitchell medium bombers during WWII. Time ran out for Bill Mauldin on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 but his humor, wisdom and editorial statements will live on forever.

Bill Mauldin Cartoon 1.
My father has a book containing many of Bill Mauldin's cartoons that he bought at a yard sale. I selected a few of them which seem to relate to the 57th Bomb Wing in one way or another. I include them here as a tribute to Bill Mauldin.

Bill Mauldin Cartoon 2. Bill Mauldin Cartoon 3.
But there's no place to dig a hole in a B-25 when they're firing their 88s at you.


Bill Mauldin Cartoon 4.



Bill Mauldin Cartoon 5.



Bill Mauldin Cartoon 6.

I like this one because it shows what it was probably like for the other side too after the B-25s of the 57th Bomb Wing knocked out their bridges.

487th Squadron Bill Mauldin Noseart B-25J Model from Hank Del Percio.

Here's a really nice model of B-25J-7X from the 487th Bomb Squadron showing Bill Mauldin's classic noseart. I received this model from 487th BS tail-gunner Hank Del Percio. Thanks Hank!

Go on to the 487th Bomb Squadron Bill Mauldin Nose Art.