Let’s keep the car-and-airplanes theme going a bit longer. Here’s three fine renderings of 1942 Mercurys with airplanes from the three main branches of the armed forces. This woodie wagon is posed in front of an Army transport plane, which looks more like it was made up, as it’s not a C-47. Or am I missing something? And there’s a brand new Jeep in the background.
Here’s a Navy theme. I don’t have time to try to determine if this amphibious plane is an accurate rendering of a real one; I’ll leave that to you.
And here’s the convertible with fighters. I’ll leave those to you too; it’s getting late here.
But in any case, the Mercurys (yes, that’s how the plural of proper nouns ending in “s” is spelled) look a lot closer to real live than The Armstron-Siddeley Hurricane did the other day.
Real people for once! The only slightly off note is that the Jeep seems to have hubcaps.
Ford was building about 1/3 of all Jeeps, so there’s no cross-branding.
Great history. I was born during the War. By 1946 I remember that we still had ration books with coupons and could not always get good quality beef. These paintings depict encouragement, as I see it, for Americans to persevere. On SiriusXm Satellite Radio one can dial (yes “dial”) the Forties Channel which is #73. Listen to some of the songs that encourage people to get us through the war. “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old.” “And We’ll All be Free” “When the Lights Go On Again” “Milkman Keep Those Bottles Quiet” and so much more.
Those Mercs are lovely .
-Nate
The Army airplane appears to be a C-73, military conversion of the Boeing model 247 airliner. Smaller and less capable than the Douglas DC-3/C-47 because it came first, but pioneered some of the technology.
Not a 100% accurate rendering, but close enough.
The Navy airplane looks to be a PBY Catalina, and I think that the fighters in the convertible picture are Curtis P-40 Warhawks.
The other 2 planes are a Catalina and P-40 fighter. Obviously the Mercury renderings are the stars with high degree of accuracy!!
The transport plane might be a Lockheed Ventura patrol bomber…..?? DFO
There’s only about seven documented ’42 Mercury woodies left in the country, out of about 800 built. It’s my favorite, based on that front end styling. They had a perfect front end angle shot of Robert Ryan’s, in Bad Day at Back Rock, where he’s on a cliff overlooking Spencer Tracy and Ann Francis. There was also one in an episode of The Twilight Zone. If you go to the internet movie car database, you’ll find a few others.
OOPS! What I meant to say was the Lockheed Electra airliner. The Ventura and Hudson were derived from the Electra. The rendering obviously shows a airliner, NOT a bomber!
DFO
Yes, it looks like a Lockheed C-36, not the Boeing I referenced earlier. The cockpit windows are the giveaway.
I love the artwork and everything pictured within!
I’m now reading a fascinating study of WWII home-front production, with all the competing agendas, how much the home-front civilians should be inconvenienced, etc.
31 December 1941 editorial (PM in NY) with contemplated Detroit quota of 100K cars for January 1942, and the raw materials used:
The Navy plane is a Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina (not the amphibious PBY-5A with the retracting landing gear), the fighters are Curtiss P-40s with fuselage mounted guns and no wing armament. The USAAF plane is a Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor.
Beat me to it. The “Bamboo Bomber.”
Whoops! Not the Bamboo Bomber, which was the Cessna UC-78B (civilian T-50) that looked similar.
Very nice renderings!
Amphibious aircraft in second photo is an accurately rendered Consolidated PBY Catalina. Known as the PBY-5A “Canso” in Canadian service.
Third photo depicts the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.
The Jeep in the first illustration was the prototype Ford Pygmy, as the art was almost certainly done before the Jeep went into regular production at Willys and Ford. The rounded front fender corner, and the exaggerated curve of the more broad cutout for passenger access, are the giveaways.
I did recognize the P40 but as always the CCrew comes through with the others!
The first drawing is highly stylized and shortened Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra/Hudson/A-29.
Kinda cool that Ford’s Iron Mountain (Michigan) plant, which made the woodie/woody bodywork, was turning out “Waco” gliders by 1942, according to the Henry Ford Museum:
Dumpy styling (unlike the first series of Mercury), drive train and chassis that had more in common with a decade old Ford than competitors. No Fluid Drive or Hydra-Matic. No wonder FoMoCo got into financial trouble after the war. Drove a 1947 Ford (nearly indentical) and compared it to my brother’s 1947 Chevrolet (virtually the same as a 1942) and the Chevrolet comes out way ahead. These cars just could not compete with Dodge, DeSoto, Pontiac, Olds, Studebaker, etc. even though there was nothing wrong with them in particular.
I say the plane might be part Barkley Grew T8P1 (windows and door placement) and part everything else listed above.
The Howard Aero 500, was an Executive Transport converted from WW2 Surplus Ventura’s and Lodestars which flew in 1959 and could cruise ~28mph faster than the Lockheed Ventura’s maximum speed and nearly twice the range while using the R2800-CB17 Radial Engines and maxed out at ~410mph. Why nobody thought to do the same with the Ventura during WW2 which virtually used the same engine is beyond me…
THANK YOU for sharing the photos ! .
-Nate