Vintage Headlines: Mosquito Master

Relating to today's Window to the Past post is this corresponding Vintage Headline from June 24, 1940.  This Associated Press photograph features Lieutenant Earl S. Caldwell, the Mosquito Fleet commander who was identified in the Library of Congress archived image.  Both photos appear to have been taken at the same press junket on June 19, 1940.

The full text of the photo's caption:

MOSQUITO MASTER--A Disney-drawn mosquito rides a torpedo in the Insignia of the U.S. torpedo squadron dubbed the "mosquito fleet." Lieut. Earl S. Caldwell, commander of squadron, is shown aboard the PT-9, navy torpedo boat.

Walt Disney himself was featured in a subsequent AP photograph published seven months later in February of 1941, that also showcased the Mosquito Fleet Insignia.

That particular photograph ran with headline, "Disney Plays Part in National Defense" and was published with the following caption:

Along with practically every other industry in the country Walt Disney is playing his part in national defense. Prompted by requests for insignias by all branches of Uncle Sam's service, Disney artists are now working on defense orders for Army, Navy and Air Corps insignia. Above Disney, left, shows Lieutenant Claude Pevey the design recently made for the Navy's torpedo boats (inset), known as the "mosquito fleet."