Artist Owen Hughes, now in his early 80's, still has the flne and steady touch he's always had. Owen said that painting "DOC" is the high-light of his career. Owen went all out on this one as the master’s touch is obvious.
Owen Hughes patted the paint carefully and then looked at his hand. He had to make sure "Doc" was dry before he could continue.
"If I start putting the second coat on before the first is dry, it'll be just like putting the first coat on again," Hughes said, studying the good natured dwarf from Disney's "Snow White."
That won't do. There are colors to mix, hues to match. Hughes wants to get it just right because he's putting a brush to history. He's painting the nose art on the-last B-29 bomber that can be restored to flying condition.
"Nobody," Boeing spokesman Dick Ziegler said, "will ever do this again."
Hughes knows a thing or two about painting nose art; he painted dozens of B-17s and B-24s in England during World War 11 while with the 8th and 9th Army Air Forces. His official job was sign painter, but when flight crews discovered he could paint they sought him out.
They'd say; 'Hey, could you paint something on our plane?" "Sure", Hughes said.
Normally, it was a pinup girl from Hollywood or some voluptuous woman whose likeness couldn't be printed in a family newspaper. He'd usually get 10 bucks, unless he could talk them into taking him up in the plane.
"That's what I really wanted to do - fly," said Hughes, now 83 and Living in Newark, N.Y.
Painting nose art "is the second love of my life," he said while taking a break from painting Thursday in a hangar at Boeing Wichita, "I'd have to say my wife is the first love of my life."
"Nose art doesn't just help identify planes", said Wayne Gomes of the U.S. Aviation Museum. "It gives a plane its personality. It brings it to life," Gomes said, watching Hughes work. "That's what Owen's doing bringing it to life."
Hughes is using the same enamel paint he does on signs, and figures "Doc" is good for years before it might need a touch-up. He has had to take his paint outside to get an honest look at whether he's captured the right hues of red and green, because they look different in the hangar than they will outdoors in natural light.
The B-29 that Hughes is painting this week at Boeing was one of nine in a squadron that flew in the South Pacific during World War II. The planes bore the names of Snow White, the seven dwarfs and the wicked queen from the Disney movie."Doc" was built in Wichita late in 1944, was decommissioned in 1956 and flown to ChinaLakeNavalWeaponsCenter for use as a bombing target. Tony Mazzolini of the U.S. Aviation Museum became aware of the bomber in 1987 and spent years trying to acquire it.
Volunteers, including several who helped build B-29s in Wichita during the war, have been restoring "Doc" in a Boeing hangar. "The fuselage is scheduled to be rejoined in July", Ziegler said. The plane is expected to be completed in December.
