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Ann Haywood
385th Bomb Group
Great Ashfield,
England
Born half-Austrian, half-English, Ann Haywood spent two years in Austria
tutored by French and Austrian governesses before attending an English
finishing school. Having been painting since the age of two, she
planned to go to Paris to study art after leaving school. But
the onset of war changed things and like many women in Britain she sought work to aid
the war effort. Living at that time in a thatched cottage
in rural Suffolk, Anne applied to the British Red Cross but her application was refused
because her mother was Austrian. Undeterred, Anne joined the American Red Cross and
worked in the Aero Club at Great Ashfield, base of the 385th Bomb Group.
Serving an endless supply of hot coffee and doughnuts she became a
great listener to many an airman's woes. Her artistic talents were soon recognised and put
to work and one of the first assignments was to paint wall murals in the Aero Club
and then the Officers' Club. It was not long before she was heavily engaged in the painting
of nose art onto the group's Fortresses.
The sight of an attractive young 24-year-old woman roaming the airfield
brought many an admiring glance, as did her paintings on the noses of
the planes. Her work was considered of such importance as a morale booster
to the group that Lt.Col. Vandervanter, the group CO, wrote to the local
Labour Exchange to request her deferment from other war work. She was driven
out to the remote hardstands by an MP in a jeep and collected later as she
was not allowed to use the base bus.
All of Ann Haywood's designs were drawn from her vivid imagination based
on the requests of the men. "Dragon Lady" sported a fearsome dragon, "Off
Spring" had a cartoon baby, "Madam Shoo Shoo" and "Satan's Mate" carried
sexy ladies. In addition to the huge nose arts painted on the aircraft,
Ann also embellished dozens of A-2 jackets with miniature masterpieces.
After the war, when the GIs had all gone home and left Great Ashfield
all but deserted, Ann went to Oxford to pick up her art studies again
and continued to paint for the rest of her life.
© Ray Bowden
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