Warbird Information Exchange

My friend Ken asked me if I would post this on the WIX. Any info or photos would be Great!
Steve,

Here's a WIX question for you: The #7 plane on the Doolittle raid was Ted Lawson's "Ruptured Duck", 40-2261. The movie "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" was based on his experiences and features a B-25 painted to look like the original Duck. My question is ... did Lawson's original B-25B actually have nose art or was the airplane only named, but not painted? I have never seen an original photo of the nose art ... all I've ever seen is recreatations of the art as it appeared on the plane used in the movie. The only pre-raid nose art photos I've seen are of the "Hari-Carrier". Wikipedia goes on to say that the "Ruptured Duck" nose art was recovered by the Japanese and displayed in Tokyo. Since the airplane was ditched offshore and no photos seem to exist, I'm beginning to wonder if this is untrue. Does anyone know any differently?

Ken

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"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

I'm pretty sure that the nose art DID exist - though not exactly as shown in the movie. I would recommend you contact Todd Joyce through his website at: http://www.doolittleraider.com.
He's the son of one of the Raiders and should be able to help out a bit.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

I could only find this.
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-25/40-2261.html
and
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Ruptured_Duck_%28aircraft%29

And the only image I could find was this.
http://www.johngreavesart.com/hornetdl3.jpg

I don't know if this was the original image or not.
http://www.historysaver.com/assets/noseart/b25rduckphoto.jpg

That last picture I'm pretty sure is of the movie aircraft.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

I did a search using a Japan search engine for any images. Tried to locate any photo of the display in Tokyo.
no luck.

http://www.af.mil/photos/media_search.asp?q=doolittle&page=1

I guess RyanShort1 is right... looks like doolittleraider.com is the best way.

The Ruptured Duck did indeed carry the nose art. Ted made a bad landing and drug the tail bumper on the ground. As a joke, some of the guys in the middle of the night drew Donal Duck with headsets on and the cord around his neck. Stars around his head, and crutches crossed beneath him. This was done with chalk. The next day lawson's crew saw it and like it. They had a guy paint it on. I have talked to Ellen Lawson abou tit, and she said that the nose art looked more like what comes in the Accurate minatures modle kit. They actually talked to The Lawsons when they were developing the kit. David Thatcher is still alive, he would be the on to talk to.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager