Comments on: Lion Cubs? Yeah, We’ve Got Lion Cubs, Too.

By: Malia

Malia — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:09:23 +0000

Your post solved a mystery in our household! I took my almost-3-year-old daughter to the Dulles Air & Space Museum last week and lo and behold she saw the cardboard cutout of Gilmore the lion and was enthralled! Lions are her favorite amimal. Yes, we go to the National Zoo to see the not-babies-anymore lions all.the.time. I set out on Google to find out what the heck a LION was doing amid all the cool airplanes. I showed her your blog post last night and she loved the photos and kept wanting to see them over and over. Thank you! (Also, Allan, just ordered your book!)

By: Nick Danger

Nick Danger — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:31:22 +0000

Need pandas in space suits? Nought could be easier–I think you may have heard of photoshop?

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 01:52:37 +0000

Thanks for that link. I hadn’t seen most of those pandas, other than the Tex Hill one, before…

By: Allan Janus

Allan Janus — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:24:26 +0000

Michael, I’m afraid we didn’t have any photographs of the 2nd Pursuit Squadron’s panda insignia – but looking online, I did find these great panda drawings by Allen “Bert” Christman of the AVG:

http://www.warbirdforum.com/bertart.htm

By: Wednesday Roundup: Aviator Lions, Rockwell Models and Baby Anteaters | Around The Mall

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:30:13 +0000

[...] months). To show that the Air and Space Museum can be cute too, they’ve unearthed a series of lion photos from the Air and Space archives. The photos are mostly of pilot Roscoe Turner and his partner in [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 06:46:57 +0000

In addition to the shark mouths, under the canopies of some pilots’ planes (2nd Pursuit Squadron) they had panda art, next to the Flying Tigers art that was designed by Disney. I couldn’t find a real pic using a cursory google search, but there’s plenty of reproductions out there.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:16:33 +0000

I vote for pandas in spacesuits pictures!!! Let’s arrange a photo shoot

By: Allan Janus

Allan Janus — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:02:34 +0000

Michael, it’s a good idea to check the Flying Tiger pictures – thanks. But I didn’t see any pandas in our photographs of American Volunteer Group (AVG) planes – I guess they thought that shark mouths would be more terrifying looking than painting panda mouths on their P-40s.

By: Allan Janus

Allan Janus — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:58:31 +0000

Sadly, we have a terrible Tai Shan photograph gap, Dr. Moore, and could really use a ready source. We do have one photo of FedEx’s Panda One MD-11, but we can’t post it because of restrictions on the rights. We’re now looking desperately for photos of pandas in spacesuits…

By: Dr Don Moore

Dr Don Moore — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:27:22 +0000

Clearly you need photos of National Zoo’s Giant Panda Tai Shan 1) in his clear air cargo crate, 2) being loaded onto the FedEx “Panda Express” jet last year. 3) The Fedex Panda Express may be the only jet ever to be painted with giant panda faces on the nose (Google search “fedex panda express”).
Cute story from NASM!
Dr Don Moore
SI-National Zoo