Short Snort: An alcoholic mixed drink that contains less than one shot of alcohol. A “snort” is an alcoholic mixed drink and “short” means less than full measure. The term “short snort” was in extremely common use during the 1930s and 1940s to mean a quick drink, usually at a bar, and felt by some pilots to “not be drinking” because it was less than full measure.
Short Snorter: Paper currency (dollar bill, British Pound, etc.) signed by fellow aviators (or travelers, or famous people) kept by many military aviators and a few civilian pilots. Alaskan bush pilots started the practice started in the mid-1920s and it quickly grew to include nearly all Army aviators and some civilian pilots (I’m not aware of this tradition existing in Naval Aviation, and Dana “Smudge” Potts has never heard of it).
Over time it became extremely important to keep your short snorter with you, because if you failed to produce yours when challenged at the bar, you bought the drinks. I’ve seen some short snorters that have grown to 15 or more paper currency bills taped together, which had to be a severe PITA to carry in your wallet! I recall the short snorter tradition was occasionally still practiced at some SAC bases in the early 1980s; don’t know whether it’s observed by military aviators today–let me know if it is!
2 Big And Too Heavy: A common complaint among USAAF fighter pilots about the P-47 Thunderbolt when first assigned to fly the aircraft. However, since the T-Bolt was such an excellent ship, eventually the phrase became a sort of joke. Note this phrase was applied to all P-47 variants, not just the early ones.
318th Fighter Group: Flying a variety of fighter aircraft, including P-38s, P-39s, P-40s, P-47Ds, P-61s, and finally the first Army Air Force unit to receive the ultimate Thunderbolt, the P-47N. The group is arguably most famous for having their P-47Ds catapulted off the USS Manila Bay (CVE-61) before flying to their new airbase on Saipan (see a very interesting film of this action here). The group is also quite famous for the stunning nose art carried on many of their P-47Ns while they were based at Ie Shima after May 1945. Some have speculated this spectacular artwork was applied after the war ended and the men had nothing better to do, which is possible but unproven.
Their Most Famous Ship: Short Snorter/2 Big And Too Heavy
Unfortunately not a ton of information about this ship is known. She carried two significantly different markings styles; I’m illustrating the second and much more colorful version with the yellow and black stripes on the tail surfaces adopted by the 318th FG from June 1945.
This markings scheme caused the serial number on the fin and rudder to be overpainted, and for some reason the aft antiglare panel was shortened from full length to a short distance behind the canopy as shown in my illustration. The serial number 44-88043 is confirmed by this photo of the ship in the earlier markings, before the fin and rudder were overpainted.
Some have suggested this aircraft had a green overspray on top of the wings. This opinion is apparently based on the tonal values in some printings of the left side color photo of the nose art; however, this photo has been printed many times, apparently from an original slide, and other printings clearly show silver on the wing top. No known photos of other aircraft in the 318th Fighter Group show any attempt at camouflage on the wing tops, so it is highly unlikely this ship had green wings. However, as you can see in the version of the slide below, it’s easy to see why people have made this mistake.
Note the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer fillet on the fuselage is painted black. Although often portrayed in illustrations and paintings with yellow wingtips, no photographic evidence to support this is available.
Some have questioned whether the black/yellow stripes were applied to both the tops and bottoms of the horizontal stabilizers. Although not of TBATH, the photo below shows the standard 318th FG application of stripes on both tops and bottoms.
I know the PYN-up Decals sets below won’t be for everybody, but only a couple of each are available anyway.
1/48
PYND48005 1/48 PYN-up Decals P-47 Beautiful Jugs Part 1. The most popular decal we ever produced was our PYN-up Decals 1/48 set covering two utterly amazing Thunderbolts. Without doubt the most famous Thunderbolt ever, P-47N-1-RE, 44-88043, “Short Snorter/2 Big And Too Heavy” has been the subject of a bazillion kit and aftermarket decals. Here, for the first time, you’ll get complete and accurate markings that fully capture the beauty and complexity of the shaded nose art and other markings. Obviously this set includes the completely different but equally stunning nose art for each side. Marked Black 21, this bird was assigned to the 333 FS/318 FG, in August 1945 on Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands. The second Jug in this set is the presentation ship “In The Mood/”Jackson County, Michigan, Fighter” flown by Capt Gerald Johnson of the 61st FS/56th FG. This was a P-47D-1-RE, 42-7877, coded HV*D at Halesworth in the late Summer of 1943. This one was a huge research project and resulted in such fine touches as the correct shape of not only the “D” individual aircraft letter, but also the “HV” code painted on the right side (the left side had no squadron codes). This decal set received a ton of simply glowing reviews in modeling magazines around the world.
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PYN-up Decals P-47 Beautiful Jugs Part 1. This set has gone on eBay for over $250. Without doubt the most famous Thunderbolt ever, P-47N-1-RE, 44-88043, “Short Snorter/2 Big And Too Heavy” has been the subject of a bazillion kit and aftermarket decals. Here, for the first time, you’ll get complete and accurate markings that fully capture the beauty and complexity of the shaded nose art and other markings. Obviously this set includes the completely different but equally stunning nose art for each side. Marked Black 21, this bird was assigned to the 333 FS/318 FG, in August 1945 on Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands. The second Jug in this set is the presentation ship “In The Mood/”Jackson County, Michigan, Fighter” flown by Capt Gerald Johnson of the 61st FS/56th FG. This was a P-47D-1-RE, 42-7877, coded HV*D at Halesworth in the late Summer of 1943. This one was a huge research project and resulted in such fine touches as the correct shape of not only the “D” individual aircraft letter, but also the “HV” code painted on the right side (the left side had no squadron codes).