Made by the pioneering cartoon studio UPA (United Productions of America) in 1948, “The Rover Boys in Peril” or “Accidents resulting from unfamiliarity in aircraft”, is a U.S. Navy flight training film. It features three brave pilots who are challenged by an arch enemy Dan Baxter to fly unfamiliar aircraft. The result: three accidents. At 4:30 the commander lays into the Rover Boys for biting off more than they could chew.
This cartoon was doubtless inspired by the work of Lt. Robert Osborn, who in 1943 in collaboration with Commander Seth Warner, created a “sage of safety” character known as Grandpa Pettibone for a column in the BUAER News Letter (produced by the Bureau of Aeronautics). The column addressed the increasing aircraft mishap rate. Osborn’s illustrations commingled with Warner’s narrative accounts of aircraft accidents. Following a description of a mishap, the old curmudgeon aviator railed at young fliers for making stupid mistakes. More than one aviator caught in a pinch in the sky has suddenly remembered a timely pearl of wisdom from Gramps that helped the flier avoid a costly- and perhaps fatal-error.
Osborn was also the creator of more than 2,000 “Dilbert the Pilot” and “Spoiler the Mechanic” posters. These safety gems were liberally displayed in hangars and aboard ships during WW II and into the 1950s. In addition, he produced “Sense” pamphlets, which gave WW II fliers common sense safety rules on aviation subjects, such as “Flight Deck Sense.”
In 1977, Osborn’s dedicated service to Naval Aviation was recognized when he was designated No. 14 in the elite group of Honorary Naval Aviators.
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