Colonel Joseph Laughlin Grinning in Front of his Original P-47

Colonel Joseph Laughlin Grinning in Front of his Original P-47

Colonel Laughlin takes time to commemorate his first plane with the nose art painted by Captain George Rarey

Colonel Laughlin talks and smiles as he poses in front of his first P-47. Although he had already been called Five by Five (for looking five feet tall and five feet wide) the elephant with the four leaf clover was a surprise. Captain George Rarey had painted it on the cowl of his plane while he was gone from the base. This was his reaction upon his return. The elephant, a caricature of Dumbo, holds a four leaf clover instead of a feather in a nod to Colonel Laughlin's Irish heritage. The black color on the cowl indicates this was before the men had entered combat.

National Museum of the United States Air Force - Research Division

United States Air Force

1943