Disney’s Long Relationship With the Military

From the quick-tempered Donald Duck to the loveable Dumbo, Walt Disney Productions created some 1,200 designs during World War II. Such recognizable characters were used for aircraft nose art, flight jacket patches, pins and other memorabilia for American and allied military units. The Disney brand may be a “cash cow” today, but all of this work was done by the studio free of charge as a donation to the war effort.