1st Disney character insignia design

[disneydave]

 

I have been researching Disney's involvement in the war for around 15 years. I have a huge database containing info on almost 1,100 Disney-designed combat insignia. This post looks at what I believe to be the very first use of a Disney character in a combat insignia.

 

Floyd Bennett Field was dedicated on June 26, 1930, as New York's first municipal airport by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The facility was built on Barren Island at the southern end of Manhatten. The airport was officially dedicated on May 23, 1931 with a ceremony attended by famed aviators Charles Lindbergh and Jimmy Doolittle.

 

The field was named after Navy Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett, a native of New York. Bennett accompanied Admiral Byrd on the MacMillan Expedition to Greenland in 1925 and in 1926, was Byrd's pilot on their attempted first flight over the North Pole.

 

From 1931 to 1941 the field was one of eight Naval Reserve Aviation Bases that focused on providing primary flight training for Navy pilots. Pilots at the base flew the Curtis O2C-1 Helldiver, a multi-purpose plane used as a dive-bomber and observer aircraft. The base received a compliment of these planes from the active fleet in 1931.

 

During World War II, NRAB Floyd Bennett Field transformed into a Naval Air Station from which newly manufactured planes were embarked to points overseas. The station was also home to several anti-submarine patrol squadrons that scoured the Atlantic for German submarines.

 

The Walt Disney Company Archives has no information on this early design. The insignia was not sanctioned by the Walt Disney Company and was probably created by an enterprising airman serving at the base.

 

 

The above photo shows Ensign Edwin F. Conway standing proudly beside a Helldiver aircraft at NRAB Floyd Bennett, circa 1931. Information on the reverse of an official Navy photograph of the design indicates the insignia was created for the base in October 1931. A Navy fact sheet described the insignia as "A 'Mickey Mouse' type character riding a diving goose carrying a bomb under [its] left wing and [a] trident. The Statue of Liberty [is] in the background." That's definitely Mickey Mouse atop the goose...the mouse was quickly becoming one of the top cartoon characters in America when this design made its appearance.

[BEAST]

DisneyDave,

Do you know of an unofficial use of Disney images by units prior to this 1931 official image? Early use of nose art, insignia etc.?

[disneydave]

Hello Beast.

 

This design was not official. There is no record of this design at the Walt Disney Archives. That, plus the fact the mouse appears to be a crude incarnation lead me to believe the design was created by a member of the base/unit and not a Disney artist. So in my books, this is the earliest identified use of a Disney character on a combat design.

 

The very first design officially created at the Studio was for VF-7 stationed aboard the USS Wasp CV-7. That design was created in May 1939 and features a wasp with boxing gloves.

[BEAST]

Hello Beast.

 

This design was not official. There is no record of this design at the Walt Disney Archives. That, plus the fact the mouse appears to be a crude incarnation lead me to believe the design was created by a member of the base/unit and not a Disney artist. So in my books, this is the earliest identified use of a Disney character on a combat design.

 

The very first design officially created at the Studio was for VF-7 stationed aboard the USS Wasp CV-7. That design was created in May 1939 and features a wasp with boxing gloves.

 

 

DisneyDave,

Thanks for the clarification. I missed this paragraph that you had written "The Walt Disney Company Archives has no information on this early design. The insignia was not sanctioned by the Walt Disney Company and was probably created by an enterprising airman serving at the base."

 

Thanks again! Please keep posting info on the use of Disney!