Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(10)

Bell, C. J., and S. Skwarcan. 2025. A Snake Icon in Industrial Advertising: Oldsmobile, the 39^th Fighter Squadron and Life Magazine in 1943. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(10):122–127. 

Snakes, and especially venomous snakes, are well represented as icons on heraldic crests, emblems, patches and other insignia of the United States armed services. Their use may variously represent power, strength, speed, resiliency, tenacity, flexibility, and the danger a unit poses to its enemies. On 18 October 1943 readers of Life magazine encountered a striking, full-page, full-color advertisement dedicated to the “Cobra Cannoneers” featuring a prominently placed cobra rising above a cloud bank with mouth open and fangs exposed. The ad was dedicated to the 39^th Fighter Squadron of the U. S. Army Air Corps and simultaneously promoted the industrial productions of the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors in support of the United States war effort in World War II. The squadron was reactivated as the 39^th Tactical Reconnaissance Training Squadron in 1969. Apart from short service as a test squadron they remained a flying training unit since 1990 and are currently stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.

Throughout that history the cobra emblem was retained but it was modified in several ways. In the early design of the emblem the snake’s mouth is open, a red forked tongue extending between two exposed fangs. In later designs either two or four drops of venom are dripping from the fangs. A special ‘morale’ patch was issued during the COVID shutdown that featured a festive, holiday version of the emblem in which the cobra dons a Santa Claus hat and drips venom towards Santa’s sleigh and reindeer as they pass in front of the cloud bank below the cobra’s head.

It is clear from our preliminary exploration of military heraldry that snakes of various kinds are somewhat common in emblems and unit insignia of the armed services of the United States of America. The Oldsmobile advertisement in 1943 is special because it brought this example of reptilian iconography to the attention of a broad audience in the readership of Life Magazine, one of the prominent magazines of the time in the United States.