In the last posting I showed the movie of this guy and then mostly spoke about the soldier heading to Afghanistan so I thought today I would share some images of this guy and share some other info. For now back to the man of the hour, my WWII pilot. Many may know that I have always had a fondness for the pilots of old and the early days of aviation. Many also know that the majority of my pilots are done with the leather flight cap and a Christmas cap on that. Well I thought this time I would do one with the crushable pilot cap. I am not a military historian but I would bet they called these crushable because they would be crushed down by the head set, yet as I say not a historian by any stretch of the imagination. I plan on doing a few more in this style as I was extremely happy with the way he turned out.
On a completely unrelated note (besides the obvious, it's about a carving) I got a package in the mail the other day and it was from the CCA, a third place ribbon. Somehow it got missed in the shipping and was delivered separately from the carvings and the other ribbons. the irony here was I had shortly after the first package arrived joked with my family how I may never get a third place ribbon which would give me a royal flush. Of course when I opened the package my youngest son was quick to point out that once again my predictions were wrong. (See blog posting Saturday, August 20, 2016) What a wonderful surprise especially since my carvings had by now made it home and I was no longer expecting or hoping for anything. I also am very fond of this carving and was hoping he would do well on the day of competition.
as always,
Good night and May God bless
Love the pilots. When I was in the Air Force, 1967-1971, the "crush" in these hats was always called the forty mission crush and was very popular with us all. Most of us never saw the cockpit of a war plane, (although I did enjoy flying my 1947 Ercoupe before I had to sell it)but almost all of us had a "forty mission" hat by the time we were out of basic training. Easy to make; all you had to do was to bend up a wire coat hanger to the appropriate shape and stuff it inside the hat. I think it was beginning to be frowned upon by most officers by the beginning of the '70's. Hmmm, seems like I'm beginning to sound like exactly what one of your pilots might say...age does that to us all. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to see the next one. Maybe a WWI German or French pilot?
ReplyDeleteWell 1st and foremost thank you for your service. I served a short stent in the Army Reserve as an 81-E, graphic Illustrator. My favorite experience in a plane was a flight in a Stearman bi-plane and it was awesome.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason I wanted to do this guy was the uniqueness of the cap, seemed to place him in a certain time frame that hopefully many can relate to. If nothing else it may take them back to a favorite movie from back in the day. I am hoping to do a WWI doughboy in honor of my grandpa who serve in the 91st back in the day. But there will definitely be more pilots soon. thanks for the comment and for stopping by my blog, have a great day sir.