Calgary Herald Sunday 18 July 2004

At 3:45 pm Sunday 18 July 2004, replica nose art painted on original Halifax skin from NA337, was presented to Betsy Platt at the Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Drive, Washington, D.C. This panel pays tribute to the 704 Americans killed while wearing the uniform of the Royal Canadian Air Force in WW II.

 

Halifax Mk. III, serial NR271, was built 23 November 1944 and delivered to No. 425 [Alouette] Squadron, RCAF, the following day. On 7 December 1944, the aircraft was assigned to the crew of American pilot F/O Lesesne [Chuck], from Sumter, South Carolina, USA. The Halifax was named “Nuts For Nazis” and painted with impressive nose art. The French Canadian/American crew completed 19 operations in “Nuts For Nazis”, until 31 March 1944, when they were shot down in another Halifax [MZ418]. Pilot Lesesne ordered his crew to jump and five French-Canadians survived [Cable, King, Hilliard, Trudeau and Pigeion]. Australian F/Sgt. N.E. Peters and pilot Lesesne were found in the crash area.

 

Halifax “Nuts For Nazis” continues to fly operations, completing 43 trips by the end of World War Two. The bomber was sent for disposal on 27 April 45, struck off charge by the RAF on 16 May, then scrapped in late 1945.

 

This panel was one of 16-17 original nose art cut from the Canadian flown Halifax bombers at Rawcliffe and High Ercall, England. Today 14 originals remain in the War Museum, Ottawa, Canada.

 

Color replica painted by Clarence Simonsen and now in Smithsonian collection.