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S/Sgt Don E Allen
4th Fighter Group, 334th Fighter Squadron
Debden, England
Having graduated from
Cleveland School of Art in 1941, where he majored in illustration, Don Allen
started work in drafting before joining the USAAF in February 1942 to train as an
engine and airframe mechanic. Although trained on B17s, Sgt Allen was
assigned to 4th Fighter Group's Spitfires on arrival in England and worked
with British crews at Debden. By March 1943, 4FG had replaced its Spitfires
for P47 Thunderbolts and Sgt Allen became crew chief to Lts Pisanos and
Stanhope. His first nose art was for Lt Aubrey Stanhope and portrayed a
black panther with a fleur-de-lis, to honour Stanhope's French mother.
Allen's next pilot, Vic France,
wanted "Miss Dallas" for his plane's title and the artist obliged
with a design which became one of his own favourites. When the 4th Fighter
Group exchanged its Thunderbolts for Mustangs
a similar design was painted onto Lt France's new P-51B but this plane was
ditched in the sea and lost soon after the completion of its nose art. Don
Allen completed at least 39 nose art designs, several being painted on P47s
and then repeated later on P51 Mustangs. As many
as 16 additional airplanes were painted with only titling. Although many
pilots requested nudes for their nose art embellishment, Allen insisted on
a little more decorum. His sexy pin-ups were never blatant or crude and
always covered -- albeit sparingly. Although inspired by Vargas, Petty and
Elvgren his profilic imagination ensured original images that were not
copied from magazine or calendar illustrations. His cartoon work was bold,
colourful and apt. The average charge levied for his illustrative work was
8 Pounds (roughly $35 during WWII) but just 5 Pounds for lettering alone.
After the war he returned to the
world of advertising and commercial art, rising to become corporate
President. In recent years, Allen painted many of his wartime nose art
designs again, following as closely as possible the originals produced
almost half a century earlier. Better paint and working conditions almost
certainly produced brighter crisper images than the originals which had
been produced using paint scrounged from hangars -- blue, red, zinc
chromate, primer, black, etc, and lacquer which dried too fast to achieve
the smoothest of finishes. These beautiful reproductions were donated to
AMC Museum, Dover, Delaware to be viewed by future generations.
© Ray Bowden
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