Raymond Daniel Kowalik

Raymond Daniel "Jack" Kowalik was with the 310th Bomb Group, 380th Bomb Squadron as their "Instrument Specialist" by day and "Artist" by Night.  Ray is credited with nearly all of the Nose-Art on the 380th BS B-25 Combat Ships. 

Kent Smith of the CAF MN Wing writes about some of the history and information they used to restore Miss Mitchell. "Ray Ostlie , the Crew Chief, told me they intended to paint mission markers on the left side with the nose art. That is why Kowalic left the cape off the picture. ... The girl is from the December,1943 issue of Esquire, and entitled There will always be a Christmas. Alberto Vargas was the original artist for Esquire. Then they ended up painting the tally on the right blast plate. I painted 122 little bombs because on the back of a picture he sent home to his Dad, he wrote on the back " the old girl has 122 missions on her". My logic was this is probably how she looked on 10 March, 1945, when the group was awarded The Presidential Unit Citation for the mission to bomb the bridges at Ora, Italy. I documented that she flew to the end of the war and returned home. She was stored at Phillips Field, Laural, Mississippi, along with most other surviving 380 airplanes. ...Then , in the summer of 1946 she was flown to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for weapons testing. They would aim a camera at a spot then film an experimental projectile piercing the spot, and film the results , so they could review in slow motion. I was told that B-25's were parked in between the entrance and exit there well into the 60's. There was also a scrap dealer who had one in front of his business for quite a while. So it's hard to tell how long she survived. " "Miss Mitchell" has been replicated and flys with the CAF MN Wing . Miss Mitchell's" original Crew Chief , Ray Ostlie is a member of our CAF Wing. So is her second pilot Art Ensley, although he lives in Ohio and we don't see much of him. Her first pilot was Max Bell who was in Covina, California...

 The last pilot named on the side was Donald E. Oliver. He was K.I.A. 4 April, 1945. We display his name as Airplane Commander on our restoration. Ray( Jack )Kowalic was the nose artist on both (MISS MITCHELL and HOW BOOT THAT?!) originally, and painted both restorations.

******* Barbi Ennis Connolly***** 57th Bomb Wing Historical Researcher 2012 (21 Feb. 2012)