Cartoons and symbols known as nose art often decorated military aircraft during the Second World War. Nose art images ranged from symbols of bombs and swastikas to well-known cartoon characters and pin-up girls. Although a great number of aircraft were decorated in this way, only a few examples survive. These panels would have become scrap metal had it not been for RCAF Flight Lieutenant Harold H. Lindsay. While waiting to be repatriated he decided to explore an aircraft junkyard in England. He saw nose art on many Halifax bombers and suggested that a number of examples be cut and shipped back to Canada.