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Sgt Eugene Townsend
301st Bomb Group, 32nd Bomb Squadron
England, North Africa & Italy
Eugene Townsend was a fully trained B17 engineer by the time he was assigned to
the fledgling 301st Bomb Group at Geiger Field, Washington, in early 1942. Having already
had some experience in producing art works prior to his induction, his talents were soon
recognised and put to work on the brand new B17Fs assigned to the 32nd Bomb
Squadron. Starting with the nose art for "The Bad Penny" which utilisd simply lettering,
Sgt Townsend would paint
more than 40 aircraft before the war was over -- working in four countries in three
continents. These included "Leadfoot", "Play Boy", "Plutocrat(e)", "Hun-pecker",
"The Gremlin", "Princess O'Rourke" and many, many more. Some of the Forts never even made
it into combat, while others soldiered on long and hard.
The earliest works were completed at Westover AAB, Massachusetts, prior to the group
being assigned overseas to England in late July 1942. Operating from Chelveston for just 3 months,
the 301BG was then reassigned to 12AF and left for Tafaraoui (and later St Donat, then Oudna)
in North Africa towards the end of November '42. A year later, after the invasion of
Italy, the 301BG moved to Cerignola.
In the extremes of all weather, freezing damp of an English winter to the scorching heat
of the African sun, Townsend painted his impressively varied range of designs onto the B17Fs,
later B17Gs, of the 32nd Bomb Squadron. His inspired talent produced every type of image,
including gorgeous pin-ups and crazy cartoons which boosted the morale of air and ground
crews who were battling against both an enemy and adverse living conditions. And more than
fifty years on, Eugene Townsend continues to paint and exercise his remarkable talent.
© Ray Bowden
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