antedating (?) "ass bandit"

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS I has this from 1954.

This photograph
http://acepilots.com/planes/nose_art/Ass_BanditsLR.jpg

shows a Boeing B-17 bombing plane (an "F" model, I believe) of 1942-45 that
not only bears the nickname "Ass Bandits," but carries also an "innocently"
punning illustration. The plane is said to have flown with the 306th Bomb
Group stationed at Thurleigh, near Bedford, UK. The cartoon is so elaborate
that it's hard to believe that some rascal faked it and the name after the
war (presumably to fool researchers in the 21st century).

But seriously: if this came from some sportive wit of more recent years,
why take such a poorly lit, B&W photo?


Note: HDAS was the  first work of historical lexicography to have cited
aircraft "nose art" from historical photographs.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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