This door was inspired by an 80s rock band called...wait
for it..... Dangerous Toys!! The original door (above) was painted on an
aircraft stationed at Woodbridge AB UK (79-0217) by the same Crew Chief
(JB) who came up with the idea and later had what I call Dangerous Toy II
painted on 78-0655 at Pope AFB NC. The clown image was taken
from one of Dangerous Toy's album covers (below) but as the Crew said, it
was simplified a bit and a lot of the background of the cover was not used
to make it easier to paint and better fit on the door itself.
When Woodbridge closed in the early 90s the door went with 79-0217
to the bone yard in Arizona where it sat for over ten years. This door
was removed from 79-0217, while it sat in the boneyard in 2002, repaired
repainted, and placed on an active jet . meanwhile the Crew Chief moved
to Pope AFB NC. and took his idea with him. This was the end of DTI and
opened the door (excuse the pun) for DTII.
At Pope JB was assigned to aircraft 78-0655 and had Dangerous
Toy II painted with a few changes. As you can see the clown became smaller
but the art now included the "jack-in-the-box" and a maverick missile in
his right hand. JB moved from 78-0655 to 80-0205 leaving Dangerous Toy II
on the aircraft.
Looking at the image above it's
also importance to note a few other things. The phrase "so don't clown
around" and the word "boy" was added after he left the jet and was not
part of the original design. Also one thing JB insisted on was replacing
the Texas ear-ring worn by the clown on the album cover with a "75th" ear-ring.
Both the jet and JB were assigned to the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter
Group , Flying Tigers Pope AFB NC.. This art stayed on 655 at Pope through-out
the early 90s until 655 moved from Pope to New Orleans in 1996. I took the
above photo as the aircraft came through Depot at Hill AFB UT in 2002. I
don't know if the artwork is still on the aircraft today but, I do know it
was showing some wear-and-tear from it's decade on the aircraft.
