Throwback Thursday: World War II Jayhawk Edition
June 1st, 2017Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
University Archives contains many examples and images of Jayhawks over the years. In honor of the 73rd anniversary of D-Day next Tuesday, this week’s photographs show variations of the combative 1929 and 1941 Jayhawks during World War II.
World War II bombers with Jayhawk nose art, 1944. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/25 1944 Prints: University General: Jayhawk mascot, dolls, etc (Photos).
Click images to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Update, February 2026:
Since publishing this post in 2017, I have learned some additional information about the servicemen in the above photos.
Top: KU alumnus Harold E. Goss (1923-2022), who provided the following information in 1998:
“I had taken a KU calendar when I went overseas in 1944. I was assigned to the 53rd Squadron of the 36th Fighter Group flying P-47s. After a certain amount of experience and missions, a pilot was assigned his own airplane. This means the first letter of his last name goes on the airplane, along with any desired design on the engine cover. I asked one of the crewmen if he could paint my Jayhawk from the picture in the calendar. He stated that he thought he could do it. I told him to make my Jayhawk fierce and to put a 500-pound bomb under his wing. This symbolized the dive bombing we did carrying a 500 pounder under each wing…This is the clearest picture of the Jayhawk and yours truly is the pilot.”
Bottom: Lt. Col. Jay B. Smith from Valley Center, Kansas. Smith served in the 450th Bombardment Squadron of the 322nd Bomber Group (Medium). The 26-year-old was killed in action on February 22, 1945, and buried in Belgium. According to a Wichita Eagle article published on June 5, 1944, Smith had been a restaurateur and stockman in Valley Center before the war. The article below, also from the Wichita Eagle, summarizes Smith’s military career through July 1944.
Article about Lt. Col. Jay B. Smith, “Flak is Heavy on D-Day Trip
Over France,” Wichita Eagle, July 6, 1944. Courtesy Newspapers.com.
Click image to enlarge.
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