A reproduction of the nose art panel of the World War II B-24 Liberator Bomber “Spirit of LSU” was donated to the future LSU Military Museum by Dr. David Baker of the School of Veterinary Medicine on March 6 in honor of LSU alumnus Lt. Alfred M.L. “Smokey” Sanders. The bomber’s official name was “Mike – the Spirit of LSU,” and its crew – the 8th Air Force, 832nd Squadron, 486 Bombardment Group – was under Sanders’s command. Nose gunner A.B. Smith was also an LSU graduate. According to Baker, the panel design is different than that depicted in a painting by artist Glenn Gore (www.lsuart.net) but is true to the original intent of the crew, which provided a model for the painting.
Spirit of LSU