Pilots and Painted Ladies Author Blog Post

Lawrence V. Drake author of Pilots and Painted Ladies, writes about his father’s legacy as a World War II bomber pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater, preserving his legacy through personal memories, family artifacts, and historical research.

The photo above depicts author Lawrence V. Drake next to a display of his father’s World War II memorabilia from his time serving in the Army Air Corps. (via Lawrence V. Drake).


A large, blonde, cedar chest sat at the end of my parent’s bed for years. I first became aware of the significance of its contents as a boy around seven years of age. Once a year during the Christmas holidays, Mother would open the chest as we gathered around. Smelling of cedar, old papers, and ancient cloth, it held the wonders and the history of our family. Shiny medals with colorful ribbons, carved ivory figurines, hand-woven doilies, picture albums, bundles of letters, Army uniforms and hats, insignia patches, air navigation tools, and more. I didn’t know then that all these things were threads that, when linked with other things in my small universe, told an amazing story of heroism and bravery.

Pieces of that story existed all around me… the scratchy brown wool army blanket that kept me warm on winter nights… my father waking my brother and me in the morning singing, “You gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up in the morning — hup, two, three, four”… the leather A-2 flight jacket with the flying cobra patch on the front he wore when he worked on his hobby ranch—the same jacket I was allowed to wear as a teen riding my motorcycle… his insulated OD green parka and fur-lined flight boots I wore delivering papers on my paper route when the snow fell knee deep.

The cedar chest belonging to the Drake family filled with the belongings of Vernon Drake during his time in the Army in WWII. (via Lawrence Drake)

From my earliest memories, I had a passion for aviation. Having a father who flew bombers in the ‘Big War’ and private aircraft as a civilian only fueled my desire to fly. I built simulated cockpits under the basement staircase using drawings of instruments I copied from the military instruction manuals he had kept. I flew them wearing his canvas flight helmet, complete with earphones and microphone. Charts and navigation tools I could only imagine how to use cluttered my little makeshift cockpit.

By the time I had reached my teens, I had devoured those training manuals. I particularly liked the illustrated ones with the gremlins crawling throughout the aircraft. Those manuals kick-started my own quest to become a pilot. By that time I had discovered the photo albums of my father’s life in the Army Air Corps as a B-24 Liberator pilot in the China, Burma, India (CBI) Theater. Of particular interest to this young teenager were the paintings of scantily clad girls painted on the sides of airplanes, many of which my father had painted. A gifted artist, he had been drafted to display his talent for painting nose art on bombers when not flying a mission. Of course, Mother was not too fond of those pictures so the album was relegated to the bottom of the pile in the bottom of the chest.

Illustrations by Vernon Drake that were used on some of the aircrafts. (via Lawrence Drake)

As the years passed, my interest in my father’s role as a pilot during WWII continued to intrigue me. He didn’t talk much about those days but towards the end of his life, he began to write down the history of his experience. As an avid historian who highly valued genealogy and preserving family history, he felt the importance of documenting his life. Having saved almost every significant piece of paper he put his name to along with logbooks, notebooks, class books, certificates, licenses, and such, plus having an impressive memory, provided all the resources he needed.

Somewhere along the line, I discovered the Hump Pilots Association, an organization of veterans who had served in WWII flying gasoline and supplies from India into China over the Himalayan Mountains. I passed that information on to my father who joined the organization. Soon after, he discovered that two of his nose art ladies painted in India had been saved and were in the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Museum. He wrote extensive accounts of his time in the CBI Theater and submitted them to both organizations. The CAF had him recount his experiences on audiotape, which is now part of the display of his paintings in the museum.

Over the years, the contents of the cedar chest have been divided up among family members. I don’t know what happened to the chest itself. I now have a steamer trunk containing much of the documentation and memorabilia from my father’s war years. The family donated uniforms, logs, class books, and other items to the National Museum of WWII Aviation. They are now on display including the leather flight jacket and original sketches for the nose art he painted.

With the threads from the cedar chest, the saved memorabilia, and my father’s writings, I have been able to piece together in great detail the fascinating story of a young man straight off a Montana farm, crafted into a pilot, and sent into war half a world away to fly dangerous bombing missions into Burma and haul fuel in converted bombers over the highest mountains in the world. Although he is no longer with us, my father will always be my greatest hero and why his generation is called, “the greatest generation.”

Lawrence V. Drake next to a display of his father’s World War II memorabilia from his time serving in the Army Air Corps. (via Lawrence V. Drake)

Lawrence V. Drake has worked as a flight instructor, crop duster, and aerobatic instructor, owning and flying a variety of airplanes including antiques and amateur-built. He became an entrepreneur in manufacturing and established a national trade association. Fascinated by his father’s WWII experience from a young age, Lawrence has collected an extensive library on the CBI (China, Burma, India) Theater including first-hand accounts and audio histories. Lawrence V. Drake is the author of a number of books including Schellville, Red Boots Rebel, and When Silence Calls.

Pilots and Painted Ladies

493rd Bomb Squadron and the Air War in the CBI

Lawrence V. Drake

$34.95

9781636244952

Hardcover

240 Pages

Casemate