WW II US Navy 2nd Air Group VF-2 Fighter Squadron
The Fighting Two, The “Tall Dogs”

This World War II, wartime group includes:

1. A board of mounted identified photographs of officers, pilots and crew of aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La, Air Group Two, known as the “Tall Dogs.” This board would have hung in the unit’s “ready room” in the USS Shangri-La.

2. An original painting on plywood of the Tall Dogs’ squadron insignia which shows a Dalmatian urinating on the Japanese Emperor’s palace. This painting hung in the office of the Tall Dogs’ executive officer aboard the USS Shangri-La. While the insignia’s artist is unknown, the scene’s distinct aesthetic style was clearly inspired by Disney.

3. A squadron patch of the Tall Dogs' insignia

4. 1945 cruise book “Oriental Odyssey” illustrating the fighter squadron’s 1945 tour of duty on the USS Shangri-La

5. The book “Tall Dogs and Hellcats,” a history of Air Group Two published 2002 and signed by the author, containing many photographs of items included in this listing.

The photographs of the pilots and crew were taken while on tour of duty on the aircraft carriers USS Shangri-La and USS Hornet. When the fighter squadron reformed in 1945, on the Shangri-La, they were known as the “Tall Dogs.” It was then that the board of photos included in this lot was constructed to be hung in the ship’s ready room. The portraits are mounted in rows secured and decorated by aluminum brackets and each has a typed label identifying the pilot or crew member. There are 76 photographs in total mounted on the plywood board, which measures 24 by 33 inches. The framing of the images and lettering “FIGHTING TWO” are constructed with thin aluminum strips fastened by small screw rivets. The board has been secured in an acrylic case (modern conservation).

The two larger images on the board are of Commander Alfred Boyd and Lt. Cdr. Ainsworth. Several images of ace pilots are present (Clyde Spitler, A. W. Skon, and R. F. Robinson). Nearly all the photographs are identified by typed paper labels naming the pilot or crewman; the others can be identified from photos in the included 1945 cruise book “Oriental Odyssey of Air Group Two. ‘This board was put up at the time of their tour of duty on the Shangri-La in 1945, but many of the photographs were taken from their time on the USS Hornet in 1944 as well.

While the scene that the insignia depicts is offensive to modern sensibilities, it reflects the attitudes and context of its time. The use of provocative imagery in military insignias during World War II was not uncommon and often served as a means of boosting morale and fostering camaraderie among soldiers.


[World War II, WWII, Navy, Naval History, Historic Photography, Early Photography, Insignia, Relics, Ephemera, Militaria]