“Willie McKnight” Skeleton

Willie McKnight was the most outstanding of all Canadian fighter pilots in the first two years of the Second World War. It is also believed that McKnight himself painted the skeleton brandishing a small scythe, which appeared on each side of his Hurricane beneath the cockpit area in December 1940. 

The fuselage art painted by F/O Willie McKnight [Calgary, Alberta] on Hurricane Mk. I, serial P2961. William L. McKnight was shot down and killed in this aircraft on 12 January 1941, possibly by Helmut Brugelman of 8/JG26, who was killed three days later. The crash site has never been found.	Replica art of Willie McKnight Skeleton, painted on an original panel from a Hurricane. This panel was presented to Mr. Ken Delve, Editor of Flypast England aviation magazine while on visit to the Aero Space Museum of Calgary, 5 August 1998. In the background is McKnight Blvd, named in honor of William McKnight.

This replica nose art is painted on an original skin from Canadian built Bolingbroke serial 9041. The 41^st aircraft [mark IV] built by the Fairchild Aircraft Corp. under licence from England, in October 1941. It is 21 by 24 inches, and contains 302 original rivets and original 1941 green paint. This aircraft flew with No. 8 and No. 147 Squadrons of the RCAF on West Coast patrol duties and arrived at No. 4 Training Command, Calgary, Alberta, on 1 October 1946. As the worlds oldest surviving Bolingbroke, it was rescued from a farmers field in 1988, dismantled and moved to Nanton Lancaster Museum for restoration.