Disney was a lot more active in World War II. Propaganda and other war-related films aside, some of the nose and patch art were official and donations from Disney.
Walt Disney Productions created approximately 1,200 designs during World War II for both American and Allied military units. Designs were also created for other organizations such as civil defense and war industries. All of this work was done by the studio free-of-charge as a donation to the war effort.
Walt Disney Productions created over 1,200 unit insignia during World War II for all branches of the U.S. armed forces. In addition to U.S. military units, designs were also accomplished at the request of Allied military units from Britain, Canada, China, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Poland. Individual units were allowed to request designs directly from the Disney organization and accept finished work without having to go through any higher headquarters.
Virtually all of the Disney characters appeared in Unit insignia. The most requested was Donald Duck who appeared in at least 216 unit designs. Donald’s quick temper and fighting spirit had universal appeal to all services. Pluto appeared in 45 designs, Goofy in 38 insignia, and Dumbo the Elephant in 20. Mickey Mouse was featured in 37 designs, but none associated with combat units. Mickey’s nice-guy persona seemed better suited to represent home front and defense industry activities. Snow White, while unofficially utilized in aircraft nose art, was used only once for a medical unit. Additional Disney characters appearing on insignia included Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, the Reluctant Dragon, Flower, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey & Louie, Little Hiawatha, all of the seven Dwarfs, Ferdinand the Bull, Peg Leg Pete and others. The only major Disney character that did not appear in any insignia designs was Bambi.
EDIT: Looks like people are still making patches with the designs today:
The celebrity they’re mentioning is Mark Hamill
also shoutout to !tankiejerk@piefed.social
“This message brought to you by Disney”
This feels like an insane trivialization of open warfare, it’s very surreal.
I don’t think Disney signed off on Mark doing that but none of the articles mention Disney at all, so
Disney was a lot more active in World War II. Propaganda and other war-related films aside, some of the nose and patch art were official and donations from Disney.
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196132/disney-pins-on-wings/
EDIT: Looks like people are still making patches with the designs today:
https://popularpatch.com/walt-disney-patches
EDIT2: Walt Disney personally drew some of it, like this bomber nose art:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/04/07/casper-wwii-pilot-flew-b-29-bomber-with-nose-art-drawn-by-walt-disney/