Lady Luck

© Photographed December 3, 2016, with permission of
EAA AirVenture Museum

Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin

43.984169, -88.577507

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LADY LUCK

Nose art artist Robert Silva painted Lady Luck and Yellow Fever. Silva may have been influenced by a Paul Benson cartoon that was reproduced in Yank and Stars and Stripes.

Silva drew on a wealth of symbols in an effort to bring good luck to the crew. In addition to a horseshoe and a strategically placed four-leaf clover, the figure holds a wrench, possibly a tribute to the ground crews who kept Lady Luck flying.

Ground Crews

The success of bomber crews in the air dependent on the support of the crews on the ground. Ground personnel included mechanics, armorers, propeller specialists, parachute riggers and a number of others. Often two or three mechanics worked exclusively on a bomber, becoming as much a part of the crew as those who flew it. 

Working at all hours of the day and night, ground crews in India encountered 120°F days. Always in short supply, spare parts were often culled from the wreckage of aircraft too damaged for additional missions.

B-24L

Serial #44-41430

China-Burma-India Theatre

14th Air Force

308th Bomb Group

374th Bomb Squadron

Pilots: Robert Weidl, Richard Wolfersperger

Crew: Runner, Rich, Cooley, Czenik, Rogo, Johnson, Purdy, Hicks, Farnsworth, Crugnole, Quigley, Herzog

Lady Luck is part of the Commemorative Air Force WWII Nose Art Collection, on display November 2015 through December 2017, at the EAA AirVenture Museum located at 3000 Poberezny Road, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54902.

EAA AirVenture Museum

More than 30 pieces of nose art from actual World War II combat aircraft made their first-ever trip outside their home museum, with the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh chosen as the first public display location for this rare collection.

The collection from the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) headquarters in Dallas, Texas, made its debut in November 2015 after a month of preparation in the EAA museum’s Eagle Hangar, which honors the people and aircraft of World War II. The artifacts have been designated by the National Trust for Historical Preservation as an official project of Save America’s Treasures, which seeks to preserve historic structures, art, and published works throughout the nation. It will be on display at EAA throughout 2017.

Commemorative Air Force Headquarters

Click here for more information about the collection and to view all nose art photographed.

The artist of a B-29 named Miss Shorty also

drew inspiration from the Benson cartoon.

Lady Luck is part of the Commemorative Air Force

WWII Nose Art Collection, on display during 2016

at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Click here for more information about the collection
and to view all nose art photographed.