Harry and Oscar

The late Harry Galpin was a navigator in the Korean War, serving with both the 8th and 13th Bomb Squadrons of the 3rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, Far East Air Force of the United States Air Force.
In this illustration, I think Harry Galpin epitomizes the "Wild West" swagger that American airmen have, the leather bomber jacket, the Colt 1911 45 cal. sidearm and the rugged good looks. Swagger is not a cockiness as much as it is an extreme air of confidence that sets Americans airmen apart from their opponents. That's not to say that there wouldn't be moments of extreme fear and terror, but when you are confident in your skills, your ground crew, your air crew and your machine, well you have the swagger.

Also of note is the 354th Bomb Squadron Patch on Harry's jacket, Harry was a veteran on WWII as well. I've seen photos of him wearing an 8th Air Force patch on his uniform while serving with the 5th Air Force in Korea.

Harry is shown standing in front of a 6 gun nose, B-26B Invader at K-8, Kunsan South Korea. This particular B-26 was called "Satan's Courier / Hot to Trot", this aircraft is unusual for several reason, it's the only B-26 that we know of that features "Oscar", the squadron's mascot in a rounded cornered square format as opposed to the traditional oval format featured on most Korean War B-26 Invaders. Also unusual is the nose landing gear, it is square tubular rather than round tubular as on other B-26 Invaders.

Adobe Illustrator 8.0 on a Power Mac G4 and iMac G3 600, OS 9.2.