The Disney Mickey Mouse WW2 Gas Mask
The Disney Mickey Mouse Gas Mask is a strange entry in the long and successful cannon of Disney themed merchandise.
It all came about during WW2, a month after the Pearl Harbour attack.
For the first time in the war an attack had taken place on American soil. Now the threat of a chemical attack seemed very real.
Patriot and business opportunist T.W. Smith Jr (owner of the Sun Rubber Company) presented a sketch of the Mickey Mouse gas mask to Major General William N. Porter, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service.
Clearly designed for children, the mask was designed to look like the famous Mickey Mouse character to reduce the fear of actually wearing a gas mask.
Walt Disney himself was very fond of the idea and gladly approved production.
The Sun Rubber Company went on to produce over 1,000 of the Mickey Mouse gas masks, with the line given the Army-Navy “E” for excellence in 1944.
However, as WW2 came to an end and the threat of a chemical attack over, there was no longer any need for the mask.
Production ceased and those that were made, were discarded or have been lost over time.
In today’s market, the Disney Mickey Mouse gas mask is the rarest and most-wanted gas mask to American collectors.
