WALT DISNEY, the pappy of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Dumbo and an assorted collection of strange characters who cavort across the screens of a nation, has taken on a part-time job which bids fair to become an industry of itself. The new "industry" is strictly non-profit, patriotic and a help to the morale of our armed forces.
Disney is not only patriotic, but he is air-minded. He flies wherever he can. And, what's more, his huge new plant in the San Fernando valley is virtually bounded by the Griffith Park Airport of the California State Guard, Grand Central Air Terminal (on which operates a primary training school of the US Army Air Corps), Lockheed Airport and Lockheed Air Terminal, plane testing base and western terminus of all transcontinental airlines. He's come to admire the daring young men who practically blacken the skies directly above his big new studio. More than that, he's wanted to be of service to them.
And, June, 1939, a letter showed up on his desk which told him exactly how he could contribute to national defense. The letter was from Aviation Cadet Burt Stanley, USNR, who was in training at San Diego.
"During the last World War," Cadet Stanley wrote, "various aviation squadrons had their own insignia, such as the 'hat in the ring' design used by Capt Eddie Rickenbacker. Today, we don't have clever ones, the kind needed to kick up our morale and give us a feeling of personal pride in our outfit. Why don't you design us a suitable insignia'?"
He suggested that Disney might get off to a good start by designing one for an aircraft squadron aboard the new Navy carrier, the USS Wasp.
"You bet I can," Disney replied. He turned the job over to an artist named Henry Porter, better known to the hundreds of Disney artists and his boss as "Hank." One of Porter's men went to work and from his facile pen came a magnificently belligerent wasp, a wasp who really meant business.
The wasp suddenly blossomed out aboard the aircraft carrier. It went on planes, flying jackets, mechanics' uniforms, letterheads and anything else handy. And it wasn't long before the Disney insignia was known from coast-to-coast.
And what happened'? Just what you'd think. The lads who saw the wasp wanted something of their own. Requests started to pour into the Disney studio almost every day. Disney summoned Porter.
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