#air squadron

[electronicsquid]

Navy air squadron

(George Silk. 1950)

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Flight Sergeant ‘Smokey Joe’ No ‘Dark Cloud’ As Flier’s Pal,” Toronto Star. August 22, 1940. Page 21. ---- A would-be recruit in Canada’s air force is ‘Flight Sergeant’ ‘Smokey Joe’ Harris, 9, a colored lad, who has become the particular pet and mascot of Manning Pool at the C.N.E. Joe has discarded his rather careless mufti for a neat little uniform which the air force boys have secured for him. They have also chipped in their dimes to buy him a litte rifle of which he is properly proud.

‘Smokey Joe’ is a self-appointed member of the squad which will be a feature of the fair with its daily drill, chaning of the guard, and lowering of the flag. He trots along with the airmen on their marches, covers miles without a whimper, and incidentally enjoys numerous ice cream cones, bottles of pop and packages of peanuts which are supplied by his admirers. At night, tired out, he goes home. In the morning he is back again, fresh as a daisy.

‘Yes, sir,’ said Joe, ‘I’m going to be an airman. Maybe not in this war, but I’ll be ready for the next.’

His father is dead, he said, but he lives with his mother, three sisters, and four brothers on Spadina Ave.

[danskjavlarna]

The “Jinx” of the 13th Air Squadron.  From Popular Mechanics, 1924.

It’s been said that “skeletons symbolize everyone’s condition in the world, where we are all left abandoned and starving, longing desperately for union with and nourishment from heaven and earth”: see my skeletons gallery.