Skip to main content
Black and white cartoon of pilot kissing the flight deck after just landing and anthropomorphic…
Zoomies First Strike Ends!
Black and white cartoon of pilot kissing the flight deck after just landing and anthropomorphic…
Black and white cartoon of pilot kissing the flight deck after just landing and anthropomorphic airplane that is tired

Zoomies First Strike Ends!

Object NameCartoon
DateOctober 1944
Mediumpaper, ink
ClassificationsCommunication Artifacts
Credit LineCollection of the Intrepid Museum. Gift of Edward Arthur Ritter and Valerie Junge. 2009.35.35a-b
Object number2009.35.35a-b
DescriptionCartoon; Horizontal black and white photograph of an Edward Ritter cartoon (a) and accompanying caption on piece of paper (b).

The comic (a) depicts a plane and pilot who have just landed on the flight deck. The pilot is Snipo, a character who appears throughout Ritter's work. He has quickly exited the cockpit, as shown but the curved lines following him and text that reads “Swish.” He is bent over kissing the flight deck. The pilot wears a flight suit, flight helmet and goggles, and has light skin. The plane, which resembles an F6F Hellcat, is anthropomorphic and appears tired from the flight; it has a downcast eye and a tongue sticking out as if panting. In the background of the image, the aircraft carrier's island is visible with two flight deck personnel on either side of a doorway. Handwritten inscription in the bottom of the artwork reads "Zoomies First Strike Ends! // Ritter // Oct 1944”.

The paper (b) is a partial sheet and has black typed text that reads "Home sweet home! // The carrier deck, to the Zoomie on his first // return from a mission, looks good enough to kiss. // The Hellcat too looks as though it could use a // little ‘shut-eye’.

On View
On view
Collections
Black and white cartoon of an airplane landing on an aircraft carrier while the pilot flails hi…
Edward A. Ritter
October 1944
Object number: 2009.35.26
Black and white cartoon of an airplane that has been shot in both wings, and its pilot is wavin…
Edward A. Ritter
October 1944
Object number: 2009.35.23
Black and white cartoon of eight men sitting around a table playing poker
Edward A. Ritter
1944
Object number: 2009.35.30
CD with sepia image of USS Intrepid at sea with text that reads "Oral History Collection"
John Lawrence Donoghue
September 14, 2021
Object number: OHP.216
Black cover of photo album with the word "Pictures" in white text at the upper left corner
Edgar Gerald Blankenship
1944–1959
Object number: 2016.44
Black and white photograph of four Navy officers watching Ed Ritter draw a cartoon of an airpla…
Edward A. Ritter
November 10, 1944
Object number: P2019.57
Black and white portrait of U.S. Navy pilot Edward Ritter in an aviation working green uniform
Edward A. Ritter
December 1941–September 1945
Object number: P2009.35.13
Printed Naval Aviators Monthly Achievement Report for Charles P. Amerman dated October 9, 1944
Charles Paul Amerman
1943–1956
Object number: A2021.27
Cover of red scrapbook that has “Photographs” embossed on the top left corner
Richard J. O'Brien
1944–1945
Object number: 00.2016.06
Black and white cartoon depicting Edward Ritter drawing the scene of the ready room in front of…
Edward A. Ritter
October 1944
Object number: 2009.35.22
Front of child’s handwritten letter in green ink written to her father on board USS Intrepid
Edward C. McConkey
May 19–September 7, 1966
Object number: A2019.23
CD with sepia image of USS Intrepid at sea with text that reads "Oral History Collection"
Robert A. Bloomfield
April 16, 2019
Object number: OHP.194