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Beauty didn't kill the beast...Mickey Mouse did


disneydave
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Provocative headline isn't it? But it's true, right? Well, yes, sort of.

 

One component of the Disney Studio's participation in the war was the creation of approximately 1,200 combat insignia.

 

The first insignia request arrived at the Studio in 1939 via a member of Fighter Squadron Seven (VF-7), based aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7). The second request, received in the spring of 1940, was looking for a design for a squadron of patrol torpedo boats (PT boats were high speed wooden craft that carried a compliment of .50 caliber machine guns, 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns, depth charges, mortars and of course, torpedoes). When America declared war in 1941, the number of requests rose dramatically.

 

During the war many units used a Disney character in their insignia design without obtaining proper authorization from the Studio - artistic servicemen drew whatever design a senior officer or fellow serviceman wanted for their unit's insignia.

 

This was the case in the fall of 1931, when an enterprising artist at Naval Reserve Aviation Base Floyd Bennett Field in New York created a design featuring Mickey Mouse. The emblem has Mickey sitting atop a bird, which looks like either an albatross or a sea gull. There is a bomb and a trident under the bird's wings, and the Statute of Liberty is visible in the background.

 

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The very first use of a Disney character on a combat insignia, created in the fall of 1931 for a squadron of Curtiss O2C-1 Helldivers. Ensign Edward F. Conway stands beside one of the planes with the squadron's Mickey Mouse insignia displayed on the fuselage. Ensign Conway also sports a patch of the design on his jacket.

 

Floyd Bennett Field was dedicated in June 1930, as New York's first municipal airport, by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The field was named after Navy Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett, a New York native who had accompanied Admiral Byrd on the MacMillan Expedition to Greenland in 1925. Bennett was also Byrd's pilot on their attempted first flight over the North Pole in 1926.The facility was built on Barren Island at the southern tip of Manhattan.

 

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Patch of the design worn by men in the unit.

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From 1931-1941, the field was one of eight Naval Reserve Aviation Bases that focused on providing primary flight training for Navy pilots. The base received a compliment of Curtiss O2C-1 Helldivers, a multipurpose planed used as a dive-bomber and observer aircraft, from the active fleet in 1931.

 

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Helldivers with the Mickey Mouse emblem on their fuselages, lined-up on the runway at NRAB Floyd Bennett Field.

 

According to Lawrence Suid's book, The Making of the American Military Image in Films, an RKO Studio location manager contacted the Navy in December 1932 asking for the use of four Navy Helldivers for one day's flying time of two-and-a-half hours. The reason? RKO wanted to use the planes in the film King Kong. In late December the Navy denied RKO's request.

 

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1933 King Kong poster.

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When RKO camera crews traveled to the east coast to film location shots for King Kong, an RKO representative contacted the Commanding Officer of NRAB Floyd Bennett Field with an offer: RKO would donate $100 to the Officer's Mess Fund and pay the pilots $10 each to fly around the Empire State Building. The C.O., not knowing his superiors had previously denied RKO's request, accepted the offer.

 

Four Helldivers took part in the filming. The fuselage of each sported the squadron's unofficial Mickey Mouse emblem. According to Suid's book, then Lieutenant John Winston recalled he and three other pilots were given orders to "go and jazz the Empire State Building." It took the pilots less than 15 minutes to accomplish their mission. Winston recalled, "We didn't know what it was all about. They just said there was some kind of movie being made."

 

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King Kong black and white publicity photo, with the emblem seen on the model of the plane.

RKO captured footage of the planes flying in formation, peeling off and then diving at an imaginary target, then looping and and attacking from the opposite direction. According to Suid's book RKO, "intercut twenty-eight scenes of the Navy aircraft with process shots and miniatures to create the fatal assault on Kong atop the Empire State Building."

 

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A miniature model, complete with the Mickey emblem, sold at a recent Profiles in History auction - this model was allegedly used in the filming of King Kong.

 

If you watch King Kong closely, you can see the Mickey Mouse emblem on the plane's fuselages. This YouTube clip shows the four Helldivers taking off from Floyd Bennett Field and clearly shows the Mickey Mouse design on the fuselages as the planes attack King Kong.

 

So, not only was this design the earliest depiction of a Disney character on a combat insignia, but the design is also linked to one of the greatest science fiction films ever made - the mouse, in a roundabout way, had a hand in the death of the so-called eighth wonder of the world.

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teufelhunde.ret
So, not only was this design the earliest depiction of a Disney character on a combat insignia, but the design is also linked to one of the greatest science fiction films ever made - the mouse, in a roundabout way, had a hand in the death of the so-called eighth wonder of the world.

Great story...!

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When RKO camera crews traveled to the east coast to film location shots for King Kong, an RKO representative contacted the Commanding Officer of NRAB Floyd Bennett Field with an offer: RKO would donate $100 to the Officer's Mess Fund and pay the pilots $10 each to fly around the Empire State Building. The C.O., not knowing his superiors had previously denied RKO's request, accepted the offer.

 

Four Helldivers took part in the filming. The fuselage of each sported the squadron's unofficial Mickey Mouse emblem. According to Suid's book, then Lieutenant John Winston recalled he and three other pilots were given orders to "go and jazz the Empire State Building." It took the pilots less than 15 minutes to accomplish their mission. Winston recalled, "We didn't know what it was all about. They just said there was some kind of movie being made."

 

post-524-1302467394.jpg

King Kong black and white publicity photo, with the emblem seen on the model of the plane.

RKO captured footage of the planes flying in formation, peeling off and then diving at an imaginary target, then looping and and attacking from the opposite direction. According to Suid's book RKO, "intercut twenty-eight scenes of the Navy aircraft with process shots and miniatures to create the fatal assault on Kong atop the Empire State Building."

 

post-524-1302467464.jpg

 

A miniature model, complete with the Mickey emblem, sold at a recent Profiles in History auction - this model was allegedly used in the filming of King Kong.

 

If you watch King Kong closely, you can see the Mickey Mouse emblem on the plane's fuselages. This YouTube clip shows the four Helldivers taking off from Floyd Bennett Field and clearly shows the Mickey Mouse design on the fuselages as the planes attack King Kong.

 

So, not only was this design the earliest depiction of a Disney character on a combat insignia, but the design is also linked to one of the greatest science fiction films ever made - the mouse, in a roundabout way, had a hand in the death of the so-called eighth wonder of the world.

 

If you look at the model pictured here the vertical stabilizer is different than the ones in the publicity photo. I also looked at the video of the airplane sequence and as far as I can tell none of the planes have vertical stabilizers like this one. I'm not saying it wasn't used in the movie...it's just an observation.

Thanks.

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If you look at the model pictured here the vertical stabilizer is different than the ones in the publicity photo. I also looked at the video of the airplane sequence and as far as I can tell none of the planes have vertical stabilizers like this one. I'm not saying it wasn't used in the movie...it's just an observation.

Thanks.

Btw my previous post has nothing to do with the Disney Insignia. Just that it appears to be two different types of airplanes. Both with Disney Insignia.

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Btw my previous post has nothing to do with the Disney Insignia. Just that it appears to be two different types of airplanes. Both with Disney Insignia.

 

I agree with your observations, and that's why I said "allegedly used" in my photo caption. There was a huge debate at time the model came-up for auction, as to the model's authenticity.

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I agree with your observations, and that's why I said "allegedly used" in my photo caption. There was a huge debate at time the model came-up for auction, as to the model's authenticity.

I didn't know anything about the auction. Do you know how much it went for? And yes I was aware that you said "allegedly."

Thanks Disneydave for this info. Really appreciate your Disney collection and knowledge.

Btw Dave I figured since you used the "allege" word that you obviously were already aware that the models didn't exactly match up.

Still the model in the auction looks kinda neat. Do you know the dimensions?

Thanks again.

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Hey Ronnie...no worries...the authenticity of the model was discussed in-depth on a sci-fi collector's site...I'll see if I can dig up the url for it and if I can, I'll post it here.

 

Cheers,

 

David

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Hey Ronnie...no worries...the authenticity of the model was discussed in-depth on a sci-fi collector's site...I'll see if I can dig up the url for it and if I can, I'll post it here.

 

Cheers,

 

David

Thanks David. Appreciate it.

Ronnie

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Hey Guys !!

 

Great stuff !!! Really cool !!!

 

And here's the actual Army Air Corp dress blue uniform of a pilot who was actually flying one of those airplanes in the film...well there's a close up of him flying the plane !!

 

Oh...and coincidently he was also the director of the film !!

 

Here's a link to the original post on this uniform and its owner: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...3&hl=cooper

 

Thanks !!

 

Vic

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