The distinctive emblem of the 490th Bomb Squadron adorns both sides of the nose of the FHC’s B-25J. The artwork was developed in the early 1930s by engineer Eugene Clay and painted on the nose of a Lockheed Hudson ferried into the Pacific by Colonel James A. Philpott, the first commander of the 490th. The image, always with a fearsome skull and a set of Army Air Corps pilot’s wings in a white and black circle, was used throughout WWII but was never officially accepted by the Army Air Forces.