The men of the Lind crew flew the Star Duster for most, but not all of their missions. Other crews flew in the Star Duster as well. However, the Star Duster was assigned to the Lind crew and they were free to name it and paint it as they wished. Bill Lind allowed the crew to choose the name of the plane as a group decision (as aircraft commander he was free to name the plane himself if he chose it). No one remembers how they decided on the name Star Duster or what other suggestions were. Eventually all nose art would be removed because much of the artwork was risqué. All nose art would be replaced with the 73rd Bomb Wing's insignia. The planes being allowed to keep their names as part of the insignia.
(As a tribute to the artist, much of the artwork painter on the planes of the 73rd was done by Jim Howley. We do not know if he painter the Star Duster or not.)
Plane identification markings evolved. The last four digits of the plane's serial number was painted on the vertical stabilizer (Star Duster's was 42-93858). Also painted here were the plane's squadron identification. For Star Duster this began as A-square-30. Visibility problems caused this to be changed to a large A on the vertical stabilizer with 30s painted on the fuselage at the nose and tail.
This is the Star Duster in flight over the mountains of Japan. According to the military identification strip (see below) is correct this picture was taken April 24, 1945, from A-square-35 (44-69732, the Marianna Ram).
Nose Art
This is the best picture available of the port side artwork. Stars were painted after successful missions with the name of the target painted on the star. The shooting star (extreme left) is a Tokyo mission and probably denotes a fire raid on that target. There appears to be a purple heart painted below this star. Here are the missions commemorated with stars as best as can be told with a magnifying glass (listed left to right).
Cluster with shooting star: Tokyo (with flames), Nagoya, Ham (?)
Cluster under feather duster: Tokyo, Nagoya
Cluster under window: Tokyo, Nagoya
Cluster above cat's head: Tokyo, Nagoya
The bandage painted on the cat's rear (edge of right cheek) represents a mission when the plane received damage. Notice the names painted at the crew positions in this and following pictures.
An earlier picture with only four stars. (The top image was found in a scrapbook belonging to the 73rd Bomb Wing Association.)
A rare shot of the artwork on the starboard side of the plane. Missions were not recorded on these stars. Notice the perspective of the cat has changed from the other side of the plane. (This image was found in a scrapbook belonging to the 73rd Bomb Wing Association.)
Star Duster running up its engines before a mission.
The nose art is gone here and the new tail marking has been applied.
Ground Crew Artwork
This was painted on the forward, starboard bomb bay door. The artwork reads:
GROUND CREW
"Pappy" Swain — Flt. Chief
"Lil John" Ubl — Crew Chief
"Speed" Rodarmel — Asst. Crew Chief
[David] "DC" Curland — Elect. Sp.
"AC" Engle — Elect. Sp.
"Dressel" Banovitz — Mech.
"Scotty" Scott — Mech.
"Whitey" Kilner — Mech.
"Junior" Migl — Mech.
"Shorty" Hall — Eng. Sp.
ARMAMENT
"Dud" Gillin — C. C.
"Trigger" Uren — Arm.
"Willie" Williamson — Arm.
"Moute" Rosenwald — CFC
"Sparks" Pizza — Radio
This was painted above the forward, port bomb bay door. The artwork reads:
"Little John" Ubl — Crew Chief
"Speed" Rodarmel — Assistant Crew Chief
[David] "B'Klyn" Curland — Elect. Specialist
"Bill" Banovitz — Mechanic
"Scotty" Scott — Mechanic
"Dud" Gillin — Arm. C. C.
"Triggers" Uren — Arm.
"Moute" Rosenwald — CFC
"S—ks" Lane — CFC [hard to read from the small photo]
"Sparks" Pizza — Radio
Crew Stations
Irwin Moskowitz below his bombardier's station.
Achilles Stathas' tail gunner's position. Notice the forward window is the escape hatch.
