6 Disney photos from World War II

When the United States entered World War II, the Walt Disney Studios became a place the government turned to help develop a number of training, educational and propaganda films.

In all, Disney produced over 68 hours of films ranging from aircraft production to encouraging the purchase of war bonds to morale boosting shorts like Der Fuehrer’s Face. See some of the films here.

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other characters could also be seen painted on many aircraft as Disney created about 1,200 insignias for the U.S. military, many for Naval units. The most requested character – Donald Duck.

Take a look at some of the Disney movies from that era.

Here’s a look at six photos concerning the Walt Disney Company from that era:

1. British Minister of Food Frederick Marquis (1883 – 1964), with a cartoon and a figure of Mickey Mouse sent by the Walt Disney Studios to help with the ministry’s wartime food campaigns.

2. The movie poster for “der Fuehrer’s Face” starring Donald Duck.

3. From November 1942, a pilot in his Lancaster bomber – Admiral Prine – prior to take off.

4. A 1942 photo of a British Coastal Command pilot at the cockpit window as his plane shows a sketch of Donald Duck battering a U-boat.

5. A 1943 photo of Walt Disney in Hollywood looking over a storyboard for one of the films being made for the Army.

6. A U.S. Navy Department of ship poster entitled “Why Help Gremlins?’ depicts two vingettes; the first, labelled “Square Corners and Gremlins Play,” features a gremlin as it uses a crowbar to widen a crack in a corner, and the second, labelled “Round Corners, They Stay Away,” shows an oblivious gremlin as it walks along, May 1, 1944. During World War II, a concerted campaign was made to reduce cracks in the metal of ships during contruction; rounding corners was one solution. The mischevious gremlin was a concept popularized by British author Roald Dahl in his children’s book ‘The Gremilins,” about mythical creatures who damaged airplane parts, which was adapted for a film by Walt Disney; though it was not made, the gremlin depicted here is very similar to early production sketches.