This was the first nose art painting done by Amos Nicholson. The B24 is believed to have been previously assigned to the 345th Squadron as a radar equipped sea search plane and was assigned to Nicholson in early 1943. The special radar was removed and bomb racks re-installed to make it a regular bombing aircraft. Amos painted the charging, snorting razorback hog at the request of one of the combat pilots, believed to have been Lt Carl Clinton. "It wasn't a real good painting," recalled Amos. "I didn't clean the metal. If there was a clump of something on the airplane, I knocked it off with the side of my brush. I painted over dirt and everything else, thinking my artwork wasn't going to last too long!"

Nicholson's first attempt at nose art was well received. "The guys seemed to like it," he said. Quite what happened to the "Arkansas Traveler" is still unresolved but it is known to have completed its combat flying in early April 1943 and was re-assigned to the Service Group. In mid-June the plane was destroyed by fire whilst on the ground but the cause is subject to conjecture. The most likely is that it was accidentally set on fire while ground crew were washing it down with gasoline but sabotage and even German paratroops have also been suspected.

© Ray Bowden