Nose Art in WW1?

[cwebster4]

Was nose art popular, or used, by flyers in WW!? If so, where might I find information listings or pictures? I've found a few online but not enough to make me believe it was a common practice. Or is WW2 where nose art really took off?

Charlie

 

[Snautzer01]

Nose art? Whole plane could be art. Wild.. wild schemes

A bit to look through...

WW1 The great War: the eBay finds

Foto, Segelflugschule Elten DLV, Blick auf Schulungsflieger, Doppeld.; 5026-398 | eBay

ww2aircraft.net

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yeah, I don't remember too much purely nose art, or even the simple painting of names on the crates, but they sure loved fanciful squadron identifiers, which I've seen most often on the mid-fuselage rather than the nose.

 

[cwebster4]

Nose art? Whole plane could be art. Wild.. wild schemes

A bit to look through...

WW1 The great War: the eBay finds

Foto, Segelflugschule Elten DLV, Blick auf Schulungsflieger, Doppeld.; 5026-398 | eBay

ww2aircraft.net

I'm focused more on actual nose art not German crosses or similar markings.

 

[cwebster4]

Yeah, I don't remember too much purely nose art, or even the simple painting of names on the crates, but they sure loved fanciful squadron identifiers, which I've seen most often on the mid-fuselage rather than the nose.

Yeah, I saw a lot of identifiers, but I'm talking about nose art like I posted above

 

[GrauGeist]

Quite a few German pilots had personal artwork applied to their aircraft, like Georg Hantelmann's skull and crossbones, Kurt Monnington's macabre paint job complete with a skull and crossbones, etc.

Many had Edelwiess artwork like Otto Kissenberth or swastikas for good luck like Fritz Beckhart or Werner Voss (who also had hearts). Many had family coat of arms or other favorite images.

Many aircraft were completely painted in personal color schemes, which was way above and beyond simple nose art.

 

[buffnut453]

Yeah, I saw a lot of identifiers, but I'm talking about nose art like I posted above

It's really hard to answer your original question about how common was nose art during WW1. For starters, cameras were a rather rare commodity and image processing was less advanced. Those factors combine to result in far fewer images being available from WW1 compared to WW2, which means your catchment pool is relatively much smaller. It's hard to identify a definitive trend when WW1 images are relatively scarce.

It's abundantly clear that personalization of airframes was pretty common, including the addition of names, personal colors, nose art, and whole-airframe art. It's readily apparent that all combatant air forces indulged in such personalizations.

It should also be born in mind that many WW1 airframes had rotary engines, which had rather short, cylindrical cowlings. Those don't make a very good "canvas" for nose art.

The one thing that's seldom seen on WW1 airframes is artwork of scantily-clad females. There were a few, including a rather nice Polish Nieuport with a reclining female figure on the fuselage. However, I think that "sexy" anircraft art is definitely a WW2 thing.

I'm unaware of any book solely dedicated to WW1 nose art, probably because the quantity of available images is so small, for reasons cited above.

 

[hw97karbine]

Here is one on a Farman F.40 in service with the Aviation Militaire Belge:

 

[MikeMeech]

Was nose art popular, or used, by flyers in WW!? If so, where might I find information listings or pictures? I've found a few online but not enough to make me believe it was a common practice. Or is WW@ where nose art really took off?

Charlie

Hi
I think you will find you will have to search through various books if serious research is required. If you are only interested in "nose art" rather than identity markings, then you will have to rule out a lot of art painted on French and Belgian pusher types as a majority of the art work on the nacelle of these types is actually unit markings, sometimes with a bit of art work added.
French unit markings can be found listed in 'L'Aeronautique Militaire 1914-1918 - Traditions & Heraldique' by Philippe Jourdan (duel text). Also 'French Aviation During the First World War' by Vital Ferry, which is more general but has lots of photos plus drawings, including art on aeroplanes. The larger and more expensive 'French Aircraft of the First World War' by Davilla & Soltan, again includes lots of photographs plus some coloured art work. For the Belgians then 'The Belgian Air Service in the First World War' by Walter Pieters, has photographs and some art work to look through. The Russians are well covered in the four volume 'Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922' series by Khairulin & Stepanov.. Plus there are many 'Aeronaut', 'Osprey', 'Windsock' etc., books and monographs that have photos and drawings, so there is a lot of source material, other than the online option. that can be looked through for serious research and enable you to rule out the ID art work from the 'nose art'.
However, as has been mentioned during WW1 there was not much 'nose' on single engine aircraft to do art work on, the obvious exception was pusher aircraft, with the caveat, I repeat, that much of the art work on these was squadron identifying art work. WW2 nose art was really forward fuselage art work ahead of the leading edge of the wing, where there would be a large area of fuselage that could be painted, at least on bombers. Many single engine fighters also had a 'nose' that extended a fairly long way ahead of the wing leading edge in comparison to WW1 aircraft (which were also much smaller) so a good explanation to there being less nose art during WW1. It was the fuselage on WW1 aircraft that had the most space for any 'art' as well as the identity markings, which were quite important to have for many roles.

Mike

 

[MikeMeech]

It's really hard to answer your original question about how common was nose art during WW1. For starters, cameras were a rather rare commodity and image processing was less advanced. Those factors combine to result in far fewer images being available from WW1 compared to WW2, which means your catchment pool is relatively much smaller. It's hard to identify a definitive trend when WW1 images are relatively scarce.

It's abundantly clear that personalization of airframes was pretty common, including the addition of names, personal colors, nose art, and whole-airframe art. It's readily apparent that all combatant air forces indulged in such personalizations.

It should also be born in mind that many WW1 airframes had rotary engines, which had rather short, cylindrical cowlings. Those don't make a very good "canvas" for nose art.

The one thing that's seldom seen on WW1 airframes is artwork of scantily-clad females. There were a few, including a rather nice Polish Nieuport with a reclining female figure on the fuselage. However, I think that "sexy" anircraft art is definitely a WW2 thing.

I'm unaware of any book solely dedicated to WW1 nose art, probably because the quantity of available images is so small, for reasons cited above.

Hi
The Polish Nieuport you mention was actually a captured Russian (early Soviet) one, they replaced the national markings but kept the Russian art work. The book 'Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922' Volume 3 Red Stars, by Marat Khairulin, has photos and drawings of a number of different 'nude' art works on the sides of aircraft, the images appear to be based on classical art themes.

Mike

 

[buffnut453]

Hi
The Polish Nieuport you mention was actually a captured Russian (early Soviet) one, they replaced the national markings but kept the Russian art work. The book 'Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922' Volume 3 Red Stars, by Marat Khairulin, has photos and drawings of a number of different 'nude' art works on the sides of aircraft, the images appear to be based on classical art themes.

Mike

Thanks for the clarification, Mike. Always enjoy your insights into WW1 aviation. I'm truly glad that you share your expertise here. It's greatly appreciated!

 

[cwebster4]

Quite a few German pilots had personal artwork applied to their aircraft, like Georg Hantelmann's skull and crossbones, Kurt Monnington's macabre paint job complete with a skull and crossbones, etc.

Many had Edelwiess artwork like Otto Kissenberth or swastikas for good luck like Fritz Beckhart or Werner Voss (who also had hearts). Many had family coat of arms or other favorite images.

Many aircraft were completely painted in personal color schemes, which was way above and beyond simple nose art.

I'm seeing it now. My Google search didn't bear much fruit because I wasn't using the right search terms. But I knew I could count on this community. Thank you for your contribution and some names to go on.

 

[cwebster4]

It's really hard to answer your original question about how common was nose art during WW1. For starters, cameras were a rather rare commodity and image processing was less advanced. Those factors combine to result in far fewer images being available from WW1 compared to WW2, which means your catchment pool is relatively much smaller. It's hard to identify a definitive trend when WW1 images are relatively scarce.

It's abundantly clear that personalization of airframes was pretty common, including the addition of names, personal colors, nose art, and whole-airframe art. It's readily apparent that all combatant air forces indulged in such personalizations.

It should also be born in mind that many WW1 airframes had rotary engines, which had rather short, cylindrical cowlings. Those don't make a very good "canvas" for nose art.

The one thing that's seldom seen on WW1 airframes is artwork of scantily-clad females. There were a few, including a rather nice Polish Nieuport with a reclining female figure on the fuselage. However, I think that "sexy" anircraft art is definitely a WW2 thing.

I'm unaware of any book solely dedicated to WW1 nose art, probably because the quantity of available images is so small, for reasons cited above.

Interesting point. I did not take into consideration the photographic element. I'm so used to seeing Civil War era photographs I lose sight of the fact that outdoor photography was a relatively small contribution. I would agree with you on the scantily clad ladies. My theory is sexual morals had loosened by the time WW2 occurred. I learned something about why I see a lot of cylindrical cowls. Thank you for your insights and willingness to share your knowledge.

 

[cwebster4]

Here is one on a Farman F.40 in service with the Aviation Militaire Belge:


View attachment 824143

THIS IS AN AWESOME PHOTO!!! What is the source, please? It surely illustrates the use of nose art in WW1. I love the nose gunner position. Is that a V-12 or Straight six motor sitting back there. Thank you for sharing this.

 

[cwebster4]

Hi
I think you will find you will have to search through various books if serious research is required. If you are only interested in "nose art" rather than identity markings, then you will have to rule out a lot of art painted on French and Belgian pusher types as a majority of the art work on the nacelle of these types is actually unit markings, sometimes with a bit of art work added.
French unit markings can be found listed in 'L'Aeronautique Militaire 1914-1918 - Traditions & Heraldique' by Philippe Jourdan (duel text). Also 'French Aviation During the First World War' by Vital Ferry, which is more general but has lots of photos plus drawings, including art on aeroplanes. The larger and more expensive 'French Aircraft of the First World War' by Davilla & Soltan, again includes lots of photographs plus some coloured art work. For the Belgians then 'The Belgian Air Service in the First World War' by Walter Pieters, has photographs and some art work to look through. The Russians are well covered in the four volume 'Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922' series by Khairulin & Stepanov.. Plus there are many 'Aeronaut', 'Osprey', 'Windsock' etc., books and monographs that have photos and drawings, so there is a lot of source material, other than the online option. that can be looked through for serious research and enable you to rule out the ID art work from the 'nose art'.
However, as has been mentioned during WW1 there was not much 'nose' on single engine aircraft to do art work on, the obvious exception was pusher aircraft, with the caveat, I repeat, that much of the art work on these was squadron identifying art work. WW2 nose art was really forward fuselage art work ahead of the leading edge of the wing, where there would be a large area of fuselage that could be painted, at least on bombers. Many single engine fighters also had a 'nose' that extended a fairly long way ahead of the wing leading edge in comparison to WW1 aircraft (which were also much smaller) so a good explanation to there being less nose art during WW1. It was the fuselage on WW1 aircraft that had the most space for any 'art' as well as the identity markings, which were quite important to have for many roles.

Mike

This is my first foray into writing about military aircraft and my project has simply led me to WW2 aircraft, so naturally I was drawn to the Nose art and my editor thought it might be a good idea to provide some history of nose art before and after the war. So, once again, I am working on expanding my research to pre-WW2 and WW1 was the obvious next step. But truth be told, I see a much larger project focused on nose art in my very near future thanks to all the information, insight, and knowledge I am benefiting from in this group. BTW, I ordered a few books last night about nose art including a book about early nose art.
The unit markings and other identifiers are interesting, but the personalization with skull and cross bones, painted ladies, shark jaws, etc. is really of interest to me.

 

[cwebster4]

Hi
The Polish Nieuport you mention was actually a captured Russian (early Soviet) one, they replaced the national markings but kept the Russian art work. The book 'Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922' Volume 3 Red Stars, by Marat Khairulin, has photos and drawings of a number of different 'nude' art works on the sides of aircraft, the images appear to be based on classical art themes.

Mike

Great information. Thank you.

 

[hw97karbine]

What is the source, please?

I found it in some national archive but I don't remember exactly, possibly Dutch.

Here is another one also from the Aviation Militaire Belge in 1916:

 

[buffnut453]

I found it in some national archive but I don't remember exactly, possibly Dutch.

Here is another one also from the Aviation Militaire Belge in 1916:

View attachment 824421

That is just BRILLIANT. Love it! Charlie Chaplin was such an international superstar of the era. Many thanks for sharing!

 

[GrauGeist]

I'm seeing it now. My Google search didn't bear much fruit because I wasn't using the right search terms. But I knew I could count on this community. Thank you for your contribution and some names to go on.

You are most welcome.

Some other names to check out:
Ernst Udet, Jasta 4
Rudolf Stark, Jasta 35b
Bruno Loerzer, Jasta 26
Paul Baümer, Jasta "Boelcke"
Helmut Dilthey, Jasta 40

By the way, scantily clad women were not unheard of in those days.

Here, Spanish Ballerina Encarnita Alcarez strikes a risque pose with an aircraft in the 1920's:

 

[CATCH 22]

On the ground at Toul, France, 17 March 1916, in front of MF.11bis named 'The Kangaroo' and decorated accordingly:

Pilot is in the middle and is an Australian - Oswald Watt.
Copied from here.
Farman F.40 bis N° "10""Brownie":

Copied from here. The latter site gives you a lot of possibilities to search for real nose art, not nose markings.
You migh have better luck finding photos by type rather than under "nose art". It's a tedious work but with "Farman F.40" for example I "scored" the above and many more photos.