Bombin' Betti Noseart Piece

[timntex]

I thought I'd share my Bombin' Betti noseart piece that I've had for a few years. Pretty cool piece of art and something you don't see very often. I have 'er hanging proudly in my war room. I'm not totally sure what type of plane she is off of though. Any ideas? My personal guess is a B-17???

[Sabrejet]

Nice decorative piece. Wonder why they spelled "Betti" with an "i" rather than the usual "y"?

 

Sabrejet :think:

[dschneck]

Not sure if this is the same plane or not, but I am familar with a B-17 that used the Betty Boop image. I'm not sure of the actual name and I don't think I have never seen any pictures of it. The pilot was "Tommy" Thompson and he named the plane after his girl friend (also named Betty) who was a night club singer in New York City. She and Tommy got married after the war. She was the spitting image of the cartoon character, even in her later years. They were close family friends and I have heard the story many times, but as I mentioned, if I ever saw a photo, I was too young to remember what it looked like. But definately a B-17.

[timntex]

Nice decorative piece. Wonder why they spelled "Betti" with an "i" rather than the usual "y"?

 

Sabrejet :think:

I've often wondered the same, but never have found any evidence of why. Thanks for the comment!

[timntex]

Not sure if this is the same plane or not, but I am familar with a B-17 that used the Betty Boop image. I'm not sure of the actual name and I don't think I have never seen any pictures of it. The pilot was "Tommy" Thompson and he named the plane after his girl friend (also named Betty) who was a night club singer in New York City. She and Tommy got married after the war. She was the spitting image of the cartoon character, even in her later years. They were close family friends and I have heard the story many times, but as I mentioned, if I ever saw a photo, I was too young to remember what it looked like. But definately a B-17.

Thanks for sharing this story... pretty interesting stuff there. I appreciate your comments!

[zepher11]

That is really a great artifact. I notice it says "ground" near the swastikas at the bottom. Would that mean that these were ground targets such as vehicles, trains or tanks? Just curious. If so, maybe it is from a smaller bomber that was able to make low level strafing and ground attacks such as an A-26 Invader? Or maybe it means something completely different.

 

I was thinking that a heavy bomber such as a B-24 or B-17 would have a bomb painted on it for each bombing mission and a "swastika" for each plane shot down?

 

I may be wrong, but it is food for thought. In any event, I wish I had a cool piece like that. Thanks for sharing!

 

JD

[Bagman]

That is really a great artifact. I notice it says "ground" near the swastikas at the bottom. Would that mean that these were ground targets such as vehicles, trains or tanks? Just curious. If so, maybe it is from a smaller bomber that was able to make low level strafing and ground attacks such as an A-26 Invader? Or maybe it means something completely different.

 

I was thinking that a heavy bomber such as a B-24 or B-17 would have a bomb painted on it for each bombing mission and a "swastika" for each plane shot down?

 

I may be wrong, but it is food for thought. In any event, I wish I had a cool piece like that. Thanks for sharing!

 

JD

 

JD-

I would think that the word "GROUND" is simply a maintenance stencil indicating the location of a grounding lug on the airframe. It doesn't relate to the scoreboard.

 

Bagman

[zepher11]

I figured it most likely would be that, but I initially thought it seemed fairly high on the aircraft, but it is hard to determine the height. I know I haven't seen "ground' used before either, but one never knows... Thanks, JD

 

JD-

I would think that the word "GROUND" is simply a maintenance stencil indicating the location of a grounding lug on the airframe. It doesn't relate to the scoreboard.

 

Bagman

[Johnny Signor]

This may be a "reproduction" piece as there are a few artist that make/sell "Nose art" panels such as yours , the art is probably an "actual" warbird but the metal piece it's painted on I think is current made to look like it came from an aircraft , unless you can find something shwoing the area from the nose of a B-17/B-24 it came off of and it matches up with the panel/rivet lies etc , it most likely is a recently made item .

 

Sorry to be a "Bummer" and I hope I'm wrong .

Johnny

[Sabrejet]

This may be a "reproduction" piece as there are a few artist that make/sell "Nose art" panels such as yours , the art is probably an "actual" warbird but the metal piece it's painted on I think is current made to look like it came from an aircraft , unless you can find something shwoing the area from the nose of a B-17/B-24 it came off of and it matches up with the panel/rivet lies etc , it most likely is a recently made item .

 

Sorry to be a "Bummer" and I hope I'm wrong .

Johnny

 

I agree with you Johnny. I hesitated to say so because I didn't want to rain on the member's proverbial parade. I don't doubt that it's an original panel from a scrapped plane, but the artwork looks artificially aged to me. I hope I'm wrong...but without cast-iron provenance etc. Just my 2%.

 

Sabrejet :thumbsup:

[Cobrahistorian]

This may be a "reproduction" piece as there are a few artist that make/sell "Nose art" panels such as yours , the art is probably an "actual" warbird but the metal piece it's painted on I think is current made to look like it came from an aircraft , unless you can find something shwoing the area from the nose of a B-17/B-24 it came off of and it matches up with the panel/rivet lies etc , it most likely is a recently made item .

 

Sorry to be a "Bummer" and I hope I'm wrong .

Johnny

 

That was my take on it initially too, but the rough cuts along the left edge made me second guess myself. The grounding point (black circle next to the word Ground) would have been a plug-in port where a grounding wire could be inserted to ground the airplane. It doesn't look like there's anything present there other than the black circle and a small hole. Painting the artwork over chipped paint like that makes me hesitant to think it's real too.

 

In any case, it's a nice looking piece.

 

Jon

[renfield]

Authentic or not It is a nice display piece. Either way it is well done.

Steve

[timntex]

Authentic or not It is a nice display piece. Either way it is well done.

Steve

Yeah, without doing to much research, I've always thought it was a repro,,, but its always been for fun to assume it was the Real McCoy.

 

The artist wrote his name on the back but did not date it. His name is JOHN SCHUMICK. I goggled him and called him up. He remembered painting Bombin' Betti but could not remember when. All he said was it was during the war. He said he painted many planes at the age of 18 when he was in the service. Up until his death he painted many repro's but nothing like this one. I really enjoyed talking with him and listening to his stories. Anyways, I do agree its a repro but I feel its pretty darn old according to the late John Schumick.

Here is a link to another guy who met in person with John: (Pretty Cool)

 

http://www.bawidamann.com/scrapbook/jschumick.html

[Jax]

That is a very cool piece!

[Cobrahistorian]

Yeah, without doing to much research, I've always thought it was a repro,,, but its always been for fun to assume it was the Real McCoy.

 

The artist wrote his name on the back but did not date it. His name is JOHN SCHUMICK. I goggled him and called him up. He remembered painting Bombin' Betti but could not remember when. All he said was it was during the war. He said he painted many planes at the age of 18 when he was in the service. Up until his death he painted many repro's but nothing like this one. I really enjoyed talking with him and listening to his stories. Anyways, I do agree its a repro but I feel its pretty darn old according to the late John Schumick.

Here is a link to another guy who met in person with John: (Pretty Cool)

 

http://www.bawidamann.com/scrapbook/jschumick.html

 

Fantastic that you got to speak to him! That had to be great getting the story right from the artist. It is a beautiful piece!

 

Jon