http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/militarynoseart/overview3.htm

Nose art has been credited with increasing morale in dismal times. Men in combat found security in attaching the name and image of a well-known personage such as Rita Hayworth, or a protective symbol such as mother to the machines that carried them in to danger. The choice of ferocious or protective names and decoration -- Brute Force, Sioux Warrior, Hellsadroppin, Ragin' Red, & Rolling Thunder -- as well as the Flying Tigers' shark toothed mouths, is a ritual to guard against bad luck and to strike terror in the heart of the enemy. At its best, the art is the crew's expression of self-pride, a release from the anonymity and uniformity of military life, and an antidote to the dehumanization of war. The images are personal icons for servicemen.

Often the ground crew or flight crew would paint the nose art. But if a really good artist was assigned to the unit then they would be asked to do the art.

While some of the these nose art images are a throwback to World War II nose art of pinup girls and Uncle Sam, I think it is interesting that this style of art is still employed. And in addition to updated images of scantly clad women (often posed on a phallic looking warhead) current nose art shows updates in “patriotic” images (often including the WTC on 9/11) and often appropriates non-violent images for obviously violent purposes. (Comments on Iraq War Nose Art) http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/04/06/gender-and-military-power-iraq-war-nose-art/

Gunship "Gladiators" Vietnam190th Assault Helicopter Co.

Iraqi Scud SeekerDesert Storm/Shield F-4,

National Museum of the Air Force, 4-06-07.

http://shock.military.com/Shock/gallery/arts.do

121st AHC "Vikings"Nose art from an UH-1

gunship from the 121st Attack Helicopter Company, the

"Vikings."

Cuckoos NestA picture of AH-64A,

Balad,Iraq. All ways hungry for more action. Cuckoos Nest is

the aircraft's name.

After Vietnam, there was a long break in the creation of nose art, probably because restrictions were enforced during peacetime.

Nose art would appear on the aircraft after arriving at it's assigned combat base. Generally the crew that flew the plane overseas from the states would have the option to name it since they would be flying it the most. Sometimes the ground crew maintaining it would name it. Many times they would start to name it and get shot down before they could paint it. Anyone would paint them, however if there was a good artist in the group- everyone would want that person to paint their aircraft. Many of the planes were never named since for each mission there was a different crew. Hope this helps Frank Ambrosehttp://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gregkrenzelok/Joseph%20Military.html

Although wildly painted squadron insignia was common in World War I, true nose art did not occur until the Second World War. At the beginning of World War II, before the idea of painting an image on the skin of a plane arose, crews of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) pasted pages from Esquire Magazine, Men Only, and Look magazine on the nose section, fuselage, and tail sections of the B-17 bombers known as Flying Fortresses. By the end of the war, there was such a demand for artists, who received up to $15.00 per aircraft, that nose art could be called an industry (Logan).

http://www.ww2planenoseart.com/

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/12581

Heraldry \’her-əl-drē\ n (1572) Webster’s dictionary describes heraldry as “the practice of devising, blazoning, and granting armorial insignia and of tracing and recording genealogies.” This is an apt definition for the discussion of “nose art ™” and its roots. Nose art is the vernacular term for original works of art painted on the fuselages of aircraft for the purpose of individualizing the aircraft.(National Park Service/ War in the Pacific)http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/PacTheatTopics/noseart.htm

For a 32-day trip on the Pacific Ocean in an overcrowded Liberty Ship most young men bought booze and cigars, not Hal Olsen. Young Hal spent $50 on a set of oil paints. His ship mates laughed at him and told him he was crazy for blowing his money on that stuff. Hal would have the last laugh though. After an enemy bomb blew up the paint shed used by the local nose artist Olsen started to charge for his work, $50 a painting, and he made so much money in his spare time that after the war he was able to take a three-month honeymoon and put himself through art school! http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/PacTheatTopics/HalOlsen.htm

http://mffclan.org/index.php?page=7;wap2

This is Italian Ace Francessco Barracca with his Spad XIII World War I fighter. He was part of the 91st Squadriglia. *Note the black horse artwork on the side of the airplane, it was later used by Enzo Ferrari as the company logo. http://aerotoons.com/blog/?m=200912

The A-10 Thunderbolt “Warthog” on the left features a sharks mouth like the P-40 and F8 Crusader.

F8 Crusader