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Johnny Signor
5/10/2010 8:11:15 PM | Hello, I am an avid WW-2 military aviation unit historian and unit emblem design researcher, in my many years of doing research on USAAF unit emblem designs I've found that a lot of them were of "Unofficial" or "Unauthorised" forms, thus never being properly documented into the Group's specific history lineage , I think this in a way is a loss of history in a small part as the emblems were worn proudly as a "Icon" if you please !
I have found many of these types of emblems and am collecting photos and details such as thier colors when/who/how of thier being made etc, and in this process I've come across the "early" 612 th Bombardment Squadron's emblem of the Bear with the bomb which was better known as "Mangler", it is my understanding that this emblem was an early design for the unit while being trainede stateside out of Great Falls, Montana and came about via an actual bear cub given to the unit as a "mascot" and thus the patch came into existance sometime shortly thereafter.
I think that this emblem although short lived should be tracked down and documented into the 401st page here seeing as it was "originally" the first "True" 612th Design ! This is only my opinion but I'm sure there are 612th members out there along with historians like myself that feel the same way, I know searching various sites etc that there were both cloth and leather versions of this emblem produced and worn by aircrews and it was also painted on the wall of a quonset hut either stateside or overseas at Deenethorpe as again I've seen a photo of this too .
I also know that I'm not the only person that has an intererest in this emblem via postings and e mails I had with and from others , I sincerely hope that the men of the 401st and specifically of the 612th will get toghether and try to go throuh thier old uniforms/jackets and photographes and see if one of these can be found and posted into this great site, after all it was a part of all that the 401st did and went thorugh !
Anyone who wishes to contact me directly about thier feelings of this post please feel free, I'm at WeBeEmblems@aol.com
One other note to remember is that all the veterans are passing away a lot lately and once gone this part of history will be lost, so again another reason to document all the info possible on things like this !
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EDanaII
5/11/2010 11:01:17 AM | Just read the forum, Johhny. 🙂 Not only is it the second item from the top, it's pinned, so it's not going anywhere: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=611
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Johnny Signor
1/3/2011 9:31:44 PM | Hey Ed , just a quick note to let you know I finally tracked down a full color image of the "Mangler" design from a Daughter of a Group Navigator and I sent it to the website historian , so hopefully it will be posted somewhere here on this forum for viewing .
Johnny
WeBeEmblems@aol.com
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EDanaII
1/5/2011 1:30:38 PM | Excellent, Johnny. We do appreciate that. Let us know how your reproduction of it turns out. I'm sure there will be some here interested in that.
Ed.
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Jackie Sharp Sheflin
4/3/2011 4:33:13 PM | I think this kind of information is very important as is the stories behind the design. I hope more will be uncovered so they can be documented.
Jackie
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