| Bats
in 'NOSE-ART'
Bats
have appeared in nose-art, or have contributed to aircraft
nicknames painted on the sides of individual airplanes for
quite some time. The
185th Aero Squadron
of the American Expeditionary Force of 1918 deserves that
honor of being the first Unit to display a 'bat' on their
aircraft and cloth insignia. Of all the American Pursuit Squadrons,
only 185th
Night Pursuit Sqd was designated as a night-pursuit
squadron and saw service (October 12, 1918) in the last month
of the war Flying Sopwith Camels. Single
seat fighter duties were hazardous, but night interception
duty was truly dangerous stuff. The insignia of the 185th
started out as simple bat, oulined against a yellow
disk. The design was subsequently refined with larger wings
on the bat all against what became the disk of the moon.
Canvas section of fuselage bearing the squadrons' Insignia.(
www.earlyaviator.com)
 
The second documented example of a bat painted on an aircraft
can be observed
on this Nieuport 17 of the 30th
Air Detachment of the Red Army
(Winter 1920).
The
first use of bats as Squadron insignia by the US Navy was by
Observation Squadron VOS-3S
(circa 1923). They had been supplied with scout aircraft (Vought
O2U-1 Corsair) that were so poorly suited to
observation duties that both pilots and the observers complained
of being "blind as bats". During this time, several
related observation squadrons often flew out of Guantanamo Bay,
and all designated a "Cuban bat" (perhaps Artibeus?)
to represent their "blind" status. VOS-3S
utilized this insignia throughout its history even as its designation
changed to VS-5S,
VS-5B, VCS-2 (see
below) and finally VS-6S.
Aircraft pictured below is a Vought O2U-1 Corsair
that flew with squadron VOS-3S
from the USN Cruiser SS Raleigh.
 
 
Collectors stamp from the late 1930's: Scouting
Squadron VCS-2 [See also: 'The
Plane that wouldnt fly.' ]
US
Army Air Corps, USAF
 
During
WWII, the nose-art of a 6th Nightfighter Squadron
Northrop P-61A-1 Black Widow
depicted a large bat wearing boxing gloves on its hind feet
(named "Jap Batty")(Photo E. Mcdowell),
and the nose of another P-61A of the
548th Nightfighter Squadron was graced
with a painting of Batgirl
(named "Bat outa Hell"; Davis and Menard, 1990).
 
"Wicked
Witch" - 92nd
Bomb Group Boeing
B-17G Flying Fortress with bat and witch (USAF
Museum)
"Bat
out of Hell" - Consolidated
B-24-J Liberator of the 11th Bomb
Group (Lloyd,
1986)
'Bat-outa-Hell
II' was a Martin B-26 Marauder
that flew with the 387th BG, 557th BS. Left:
early in war before what appears to be 29 missions markings
appeared below cockpit (right). http://www.b26.com/marauderman/billh/02.htm
One
group of particular interest was the 499th
Medium Bomb Squadron that operated in the
Pacific during WWII. Their unit flew the North American
B-25 Mitchell that had taken part in the first bombing
raid of Tokyo much earlier in the war, one of these being
named "Lucky Bat" by her crew. This group was involved
in ground-attack missions and anti-shipping strikes and each
aircraft in the squadron had the entire nose section painted
to look like the head, body, and wings of a huge bat.
 
North American B-25 Mitchell of the
499th
Medium Bomb Squadron (D.
Greer)
 
North American B-25J-32 Mitchell of
the 499th
Medium Bomb Squadron (S.
Ferguson)
"Hung-Lo"
- North American B-25 Mitchell of the
499th
Medium Bomb Squadron (R.
Voitier)
See Richard Voitier's Website
concerning this particular aircraft. Below, Additional a/c from
the 499th
 
Two different
Lockheed P-38 Lightnings with the
entire nose section painted to look like the head of a huge
bat.
P-51B "Bat Cave" Flown by Lt. Charles D.
Sumner of the 364th FS, 357th
FG. # 43-1212; Named for hometown of Bat Cave,
NC.
Thanks to Tim @ Celtic48@aol.com re:http://www.littlefriends.co.uk
 
Late (post?) war Republic P-47(N?) Thunderbolts
of the 44th Fighter Squadron,
Below: EF-104 from same squadron
 
During the Viet Nam conflict, the Republic EF-105-F
Thunderchief was the aircraft designated to
fly "Wild Weasel"
surface-to-air missile suppression missions. One of these
aircraft flew with the 44th
Tactical Fighter Sqd. ("Vampires")
and displayed a caricature of a bat on its wing-root (named
"Sinister Vampire"; Davis, 1993) (J. Robinson)
 
C-130 Hercules of the 43rd
Electronic Combat Squadron. (small
logo on forward fuselage)
  
Blind
Bat Operations: (Blind
Bat Patches): Left: AC-119(?) "We
get ours at night" (Photo: Bill Tkacs)
Right: AC-130 (R. Charles in doorway) Bat
Stencil above door
 
KC-135
Tanker of the 351st ARS
(Left)
'Batman - Dark Knight': Rockwell B-1B
13th Bombardment Sqd.
(right)
Rockwell
B-1B 9th Bombardment
Sqd (Bill Spidle photo; Dryess AFB) Note: small
bat on black band on tail
 
B-1B Noseart- 9th Bombardment Squadron, Note
World TradeTowers on patch (D. Hobbs)
Lockheed F-94C Starfire
325th FIW 59th Fighter Interceptor Sqd.
(Fred Adam: http://www.airliners.net) Note bat emblem on nose
of a/c 
Very nice model of the a/c above: I have lost the name of this
particular modeller! Help?
Northrop F-89 Scorpion 325th
FIW 59th Fighter Interceptor Sqd.
(C. Seevers) Note bats on wing-tip tanks and on tail fin.
F-102A of the 59th
FIS Note bat on tail fin 325th FIW
59th Fighter Interceptor Sqd.
(Thanks
to Mike Graf for submissions and edits elsewhere on this site.)
 
Freicudan
Du is Scottish/Irish Gaelic for Black
Watch/Black Guard. Unofficial patch used as the
squadron emblem (mid-1952 > deactivation at Goose Bay in
1967) during the Air Defense Command / Northeast Air Command
period. (Patch: Pedersen colledtion; Sign-board: C. Seevers)
Air
National Guard
 
Flight line: F-16C's
of the 174th
Fighter Sqd.,
185th FW ( (R. Launderville)
Visit
the BATS of the 174th ARS (185th ARW) Site!
F-16
of the 363rd TFW
US
Navy & USMC
Grumman F6F Hellcat
of VFN-90
(J. Valo)
Lt
Cdr Stevens & Lt Cdr Neal of VB-134
(Lockheed Ventura - Tom Tullis artwork)
4
June 1944 - Empire Express FAW-4
(small bat on tail fin)
P2-V Neptune of VP-24
(see
tip of tail fin) (B. Esposito)
P2-V
Neptune of VP-24
(see
tip of tail fin) (D. Husman)
(P2-V
Neptune of VP-24
from
J. Cultice @ P2VNeptune.ORG)
P-3 Orion of VP-24
(see tip of tail
fin) (B. Esposito)
Douglas
AD-5W "Guppy" of VAW-12
(P.
Mersky) [Additional patch pages found in navigation bar]
Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior of VQ-1
(J
Sewell)
Douglas TA-3B Skywarrior of VQ-1
(D
Howeley)
Douglas EA-3B Skywarriors of VQ-1
 
EP-3E
Orion of VQ-1
(see
bat under cockpit window and on tail fin)
 
 
 
Thanks to Mark Swisher for sending along these photographs of
VQ-2
aircraft (EP-3E & EA-3B).
Visit the WWW.A3skywarrior.com
site!
 
 
ES-3A Shadow of VQ-5
(right - VQ-5
DET 14 decal set - Modeller:
Scott Nagle, via R. Sisson)
 
North
American RA-5C Vigilantes of RVAH-13
(note small bats on jet intakes and tail fins)
(artwork:
Jim Laurier)
McDonnel Douglas F-18's of VMFA-242
[Additional VMFA-242 patch pages found in navigation
bar]
Heartfelt thanks to "My friends
at VMFA-242": BUNO-165410
over Fallujah, October 2004.
Thanks to "My friends at VMFA-242":
NAS North Island, San Diego
VMFA(AW)-242 (photo by J.Melampy)
[See http://www.jakemelampy.net]
(I
apologize to some of the donors of this picture, I have lost
your contact info!)
 
Grumman A-6 Intruders of VMFA-242
(Grumman
corporation)
[Additional patch pages found in navigation bar]
F-18 (Pedersen) and F-14 of
VX-9
(unk)
  
Small
Diving bats on tail fins of VX-9 a/c (visit
the Goleta Museum!)
Canadian
Air Force
 
Avro (Canada) CF-100 Canuck of the Royal
Canadian Air Force 440 Squadron
at Zweibrucken, Germany, April 1960. Note Red-bat' logo on the
fuselage below the cockpit.
CF-100 MK 5D (18476) former 414
Electronic Warfare Squadron,
Now painted as 440 Squadron
Mk4B as it was painted during NATO service.
Alberta Aviation
Museum @ http://www.albertaaviationmuseum.com/
Avro
(Canada) CF-100 Canuck of the Royal
Canadian Air Force 440 Squadron
DeHavilland DH100 Vampire Mk III (C. Slater)
De
Havilland DH100 Vampire Mk III aircraft. Aircraft shown
is 17058 painted as 17012 in the markings of
RCAF 442 SQD -
an auxillary Fighter SQD equipped with Vampires until October
1956 at Sea Island, BC.
This a/c is currently displayed at the Canadian Museum of Flight,
Langley BC.
De Havilland DH100 Vampire Mk III - B&W image is
the actual 17012 at Sea Island, Vancouver, July 1956.
Note "claws" that have been painted on the drop tanks.
Thanks as always to Mike Graf (sabrebat@yahoo.com)
British
Air Force
Tornado
GR4 Aircraft of
RAF 9 Squadron (note
green bats on tail fin)
Rather snowy Tail fin of a RAF
9 Squadron Vulcan
Strategic Bomber (RAF Historical Society)
Israeli
Air Force
 
 
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