Laraine Day(1920-2007)

She was the photo girl of the World War II plane "Lucky Lady". A P38 headed by Max Pyles debuted the plane in September 1944. Laraine (who was at the time a favorite with lonesome G.I.'s) was asked for a photograph to be put on the plane. Laraine immediately wrote back and attached photo of herself in a negligee. The "Lucky Lady" soon held the honor of having the highest number of record flights in the autumn of 1944. Her photo remained pasted on the L/gun door, and the crew and Laraine frequently sent letters back and forth. She was very proud and interested to get updates about "her airplane".

I recall playing practical jokes with John Wayne. I once got a whole bunch of keys and had little tags made that said, "If lost, please return to John Wayne, RKO Studios. Reward." And I just dropped them all over town. [He got a lot of] phone calls, people showing up at the studio. He never learned who did it.