Airboy, Women, and Codebreaking in WWII

As an adult, I found it hard to take in the "new reality" Americans faced after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. So imagine how children in the United States felt after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly, Daddy and older brothers were signing up for the military, and Mommy was heading off to work in the factory to jumpstart a war program. Comics like "Airboy" would have helped frightened children feel more empowered. Just like the movie "Top Gun," "Airboy" would have helped children make sense of the sudden ravages to their home lives. 

"Airboy" may have inspired their older brothers to join the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. It might have helped Army draftees feel better, thinking that all Americans were joining the fight in some way. At the very least, "Airboy" gave Navy seamen something to distract them while off duty, as they never knew when a squadron of the dreaded Japanese Zeros might bomb them, or a German U-Boat might sink their ship with a torpedo. 

Perhaps young women also read "Airboy." The stories might have inspired them to work in factories, or train to be nurses, just like Agatha Christie did in England during WWI. Women felt a duty to defend the homeland, and support and protect the boys.

Women didn't just work in factories or hospitals during WWII. They also played a crucial role in defending soldiers lives before battles were even fought!

In wartime, it's important to know what the enemy is planning. German leaders coordinated their military by coding messages sent by radio or phone. They did this by using encoding machines.

While other models preceded it, the best known machine used by the Germans was the Enigma machine. The model above was one specially commissioned for Adolf Hitler.

The Japanese also used encoding machines to coordinate military strategy and troop movements. Americans called this model the Japanese Red machine. Like its German counterpart, Red could scramble messages that troops in far flung Japanese outposts could decode, but would make cryptologic analysts puzzle over for days.

To cut down on the time necessary to decode German and Japanese messages, Americans built their own decoding machines. The type below, designed and operated by women as well as men, was known as the Bombe. Catchy, right?

If you ever find yourself in Maryland, visit the National Cryptologic Museum, where I took the above three photographs. There you'll find exhibits on all manner of Crytological devices, from simple code breaking methods used during the American Revolutionary war, to the Cray supercomputers used before the age of smartphones. The knowledgeable staff may not know much about "Airboy", but they can certainly tell you how the men and women who might have read the comic helped defend service members, and our shores, during World War II.

Dragon Dave

Helpful Links
National Cryptologic Museum

Airboy in the 1940s and Beyond

The cover for a 1940s Airboy

A while ago, I shared how I had been reading a 1980s series called "Airboy" by Eclipse Comics. These issues were penned by Chuck Dixon, and illustrated by Tim Truman, Stan Woch, and other artists who today are regarded as giants of the comic field. It was, in fact, a sequel series to the original series, which was published in the 1940s. Recently, I discovered the original series online, and began reading them.

For those unaware of Airboy's origins, the young pilot creates a revolutionary plane with the help of a Catholic monk. Then he goes off to help the military defend the United States against Germany and Japan.

Interior art for 1940s Airboy

The comics shine a light into the mindset of the times. Japanese fighter pilots are called Japs (when they're not called Yellow or Japanazis). Nearly all are villains. 

The Germans are equally dastardly. Service personnel from both countries appear as treacherous and cowardly. Modern people from those countries, or who share that cultural heritage, would likely be offended by everything Airboy or the narrator calls them. 

The stories, while entertaining in their simple way, also represent propaganda from an earlier time. Remember, the U.S. base in Pearl Harbor had been attacked. In one day, the country's military had suffered a terrible blow, and thousands of people died. The United States government, now forced to enter World War II, had to recruit soldiers, build new warships, and create all the infrastructure necessary to fight a war spanning the entire globe. 

Immediately.

So "Airboy," and publications like it, were thought necessary to rally the troops, convince women to trade homelike for factories, and help children make sense of the new situation.

Still, I'll be the first to admit that they're a little difficult to read, and enjoy as fully as I'd like.

Dragon Dave

Tom Wolfe on America's Astronauts

Gemini capsule
Smithsonian Air And Space Museum
Washington DC

Author Tom Wolfe died recently. One of his best known books, The Right Stuff, served as a guide to my travels in Florida back in 2012. The insights he shared helped me understand the people who founded the USA's space program, and the challenges they faced. Later, his book spurred other adventures in Texas and California.

The early astronaut program drew on the men who piloted experimental aircraft. These men packed themselves into canisters that were shot into space. The pilot in Nevil Shute's book who has to spy on his own country reminds me of those early astronauts. 

Remember how the former World War I pilot had to remain in a fixed position for hours, ignoring hunger and cold, battling sleep and maintaining focus with his temperamental airplane? When I look at the tight confines of these early capsules, like the Gemini, I wonder how long I could sit cooped up in there like that, with a helmet and spacesuit on.

Then again, if I got bored, I could just open the hatch and take a spacewalk, right?

If you're interested in looking back, to follow are a few of the posts I wrote about my Tom Wolfe inspired journeys.

Florida
Honoring the Mercury Seven
The U.S. Space Walk Hall of Fame
Everybody's Comin' to Kennedy Space Center

Texas
Meet NASA's Robot Astronaut

California
Our Visit to Edwards Air Force Base Part 2

Enjoy.

Dragon Dave