One of the thirteen - “Drum Major Girl”

On 5 August 1944, Halifax Mk VII, serial number NP714, was assigned to 408 squadron and coded EQ-V. It was decided to give her some nose art and a suitable design was painted onto a section of fabric which was then applied to the nose of NP714. The art work was never named but it featured a girl drum major and the 'V for Victory'.
The girl is reported as originating from one of the Bell brothers comic characters who appeared with the fictitious Canadian band leader 'Drummy Young'.

Young was always shown as fighting against the forces of evil during World War II, and many of the plots featured well endowed young ladies and a scantily dressed girl drum major.

Needless to say, these young female characters were always seen at the mercy of some evil villain, and would always be rescued in the nick of time by Young.

The original Drum Major Girl is part of the collection owned by the War Museum in Ottawa.  This reproduction of the original Nose Art was created by Clarence Simonsen.

Canadian 'Whites' and Nose Art

The first known comic magazine was published in London, England, on 1 April 1796, aptly titled “The Comick Magazine”. In the same year a French publisher, Jean-Charles Pellerin pioneered the use of printed comic pictorial sheets, which later in 1820’s became comic strips. In 1894 the Pellerin company translated into English a special edition of 60 French strips, which were exported and expressly printed for the Humorist Publishing Company, Kansas City, Mo., USA. The first American comic books evolved from the comic strip and were published on 23 November 1902, printed by the Randolph Hearst owned New York Journal newspaper.  In April 1938 the appearance of Superman marked a major event in comic book heroes. Created by Toronto born Joe Shuster and American writer Jerry Siegel, the comic book was the mould from which all other super heroes were cast. The following year, with the disruptions of the Second World War a Canadian comic book industry was formed and flourished until 1946.

With the passing of the War Exchange Act on 6 December 1940, certain 'non-essential' goods were banned from being imported onto Canada. In short, this meant that, among other things, American comic books were banned from import. Canadians could still read their own comic supplements in Canadian newspapers and man American comic heroes appeared in these, but they could never replace the originals. When Cyril and Gene Bell, two brothers who printed banner advertisements for Toronto's fleet of street cars, heard of the ban, they purchased a second printing press and began printing Canadian comic books featuring Canadian heroes. These comics were known as 'Whites' because they lacked the colour associated with their American counterparts. The Bell brothers published the first, the most and the best war-time Canadian comics and by the end of the war has printed over 20 million. All retained a similar theme based on patriotic Canadian attitudes towards the war. They may be gone but one Bell character which had been painted as Halifax Nose Art remains to this day.
Cy and Gene Bell employed about 60 different Canadian artists during the war, with nearly all of them in their teens, some as young as fifteen. They were paid $6.50 per page and sent home to complete their drawings.  Due to their age they drew for love as much as for money, most loved the comic book for itself. The Canadian “whites” showed two consistent traits, “All-Canadian” heroes and their patriotic attitudes towards World War Two. The Bell brothers imposed no “house style” on their artists but were very careful to ensure the books never got dirty. One young artist named Jerry Lapare devoted adventure heroes to all-Canadian women, titled “Wing”,. “Air Women” and “Drummy Young”.